I only have one Tsunami warning experience, in 2011 (the Japan
disaster.) People were talking on the VHF non-stop, and most of the
chatter was hysterical, redundant, irrelevant, or totally wrong, but it
was still worth listening to. At the time I was in a location where I
could get cellular internet, so monitored NOAA and Googled constantly.
In the Pacific, Hawaii is a great early warning center for seismic
events from Asia. When California falls into the sea I might not have
enough warning, but that's about as likely as Gibraltar...
The funny thing is that I came close to disaster twice that day.
The first time was when I was the only boat left at anchor, and some
idiot nearly hit me while I was drinking my coffee as he came within 3
feet of my boat and shouted "There's a tsunami coming, don't you know?
Head for Deep Water!" I think I said something like "Yes, it hit
Hawaii 3 hours ago. It will arrive here in another 4 hours, and I'm
monitoring the situation. And by the way, I'd appreciate it if you turn
your helm to starboard about 30 degrees so that your stern doesn't smash
me amidships during your current port maneuver." I'm paraphrasing that
last part... I might have said something like "Get the F away from me..."
The second time was when I decided to move. Not because of danger, but
because a fishing trawler was *so* ticked off at all the recreational
boaters motoring full speed for 1000 fathoms and creating havoc with the
fishing lanes, that the captain pulled into the anchorage and set the
hook directly upwind of me. He didn't have to -- there was plenty of
room -- but I was the only recreational boater left. The smell of dead
fish and bird excrement was overpowering. So I figured I'd move, and
since it was only an hour away from 'the event' I decided to stand off
outside the anchorage in 300 feet of water and do some fishing. Believe
it or not, a grey whale surfaced directly under my boat with its entire
body between the keel and rudder, and I looked down into the blowhole
and got a really good whiff of some really bad breath.
At which point I went back into the anchorage, set the hook in 40 feet,
and had a cocktail while waiting for the tsunami. It was a nice wave,
but the most interesting thing was the way the currents moved through
that bay before and after the wave. I did a quite a few 360s in
conflicting directions. Whee.
Wal
_______________________________________________
This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album
http://www.cncphotoalbum.com
CnC-List@cnc-list.com
