Tourists Feared Dead After Freak Acadia Wave

sweeps some out to sea.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVWjsPEiqe1tEu2mhBIRaxxGi8owD9A8RKJG0

yikes!

sounds like my fear of the ocean is well-founded (i'd never go someplace like that during a hurricane!)

Crazy. And sad.

Strange, too -- I was sailing, or trying to, in Penobscot bay this afternoon and other than slight gusts, there was no wind to speak of. The sails were slack. There looked to be more surf along the coast than usual but other than that... *yawn*

The beach at the Acushnet River dike (Buzzards Bay) was officially closed to swimming (and pretty debris-filled), but was no more than choppy with a mild breeze. There were plenty of craft of all sizes, all doing fine. There ain't no hurricane there.

Sorry to hear of troubles and my heart goes out to the affected. Thank God for the Coast Guard and all who go down to the sea.

How horrible! I hope the find the others, and quickly.

It's actually the Jim Cantore effect. He never loses a bet with Mother Nature... it would be a tragedy on live cam!!!!!! If JIM can do it, so can I....

Ack. Sorry. Getting well down on the stairs there to the Mouth of Thunder Hole is risky biz in a minor blow, never mind when being sideswiped by a Cat 1 H.

The undertow is massively powerful. MASSIVE. It's granite rock, tidal zone, slick when wet. Waves mount up there because the ( rock) bottom shoals up quickly , and the "chasm/cave" of Thunder Hole goes pretty deep into the granite underpinnings of MDI. Granite stairs and lifelines only give an illusion of safety.

Heh, this isn't the first time it's happened and it won't be the last. Glad I'm alive to post on this thread, because I've pushed the package there many times (and remember when there were no railings or lifelines at all).


Breeze

Very sad. I have been in Ogunquit with my wife and kids for the last couple of weeks and have been coming to the coast all my life. I have never seen the surf or riptide as rough as it was yesterday. The high tide completely took over the beach and the lifeguard stand was in the parking lot. The lifeguards were working hard strictly enforcing ankle deep swimming only and helping out many little kids who got briefly caught by the surf. I spent about 2 hours in the water with my 6 year old daughter with what my wife referred to as a death grip. Fun but definitely dangerous if you went out too far.

The strange thing is that at breakfast yesterday, I mentioned to my wife that Acadia would have been the perfect place to watch the surf but we decided to stay close. When I heard that a 7 year old girl had been killed, I felt sick about it.

An update with very sad news.

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/breaking/story.aspx?storyid=108408&catid=112

Sad.

Rogue waves aren't all that rare, just unusual enough so that people think they're fine where they are, then . . . . Even on a pretty nice day you can get one every once in a while that comes way up beyond the average.

I see lots of people standing on the rocks at Portland Head who obviously have no idea what can happen. In the vast majority of circumstances, nothing happens. Waves are even trickier than winds.

Thunder Hole

FWIW: We were up at Acadia over the past week. Reportedly, there were about 1,000 people near Thunder hole at the time of the accident. Thunder hole was roped off with signs and four rangers were warning people about the surf. Despite verbal warnings, ropes, signage, and surf breaking over the roadway, some folks managed to get washed in further down the shore from the hole.

The hole was still gated off when we were there early in the week due to remaining concerns about the surf from Bill. People ignored the gate and simply crawled through the gate to get down to the hole itself.

A ranger remarked that as a result of the accident, future high surf situations would result is closing of the Loop Road altogether.

Fitz said:

FWIW: We were up at Acadia over the past week. Reportedly, there were about 1,000 people near Thunder hole at the time of the accident. Thunder hole was roped off with signs and four rangers were warning people about the surf. Despite verbal warnings, ropes, signage, and surf breaking over the roadway, some folks managed to get washed in further down the shore from the hole.

The hole was still gated off when we were there early in the week due to remaining concerns about the surf from Bill. People ignored the gate and simply crawled through the gate to get down to the hole itself.

A ranger remarked that as a result of the accident, future high surf situations would result is closing of the Loop Road altogether.

Click to expand...

This just confirms by belief that 'common sense' is not very common.

Fitz said:

A ranger remarked that as a result of the accident, future high surf situations would result is closing of the Loop Road altogether.

Click to expand...

This is by no means a judgment of the people involved in the recent tragic events, but it saddens me to see this type of reactive approach taken. Everyone loses, IMO.

There are some beautiful rim trails around the gorges in some of the state parks in Finger Lakes area of New York, where I live, that had chain link fences installed all around the rims of these beautiful gorges many years ago, I presume out of liability and "safety" concerns. (Probably resulting from one or two accidents.) They detract from the natural beauty and from the overall experience of hiking these beautiful gorges.

Fitz said:

A ranger remarked that as a result of the accident, future high surf situations would result is closing of the Loop Road altogether.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, with all the trails around and the easy access to these trails from outside the loop road (rte. 3), it will still be VERY easy for anyone who wants to to access the loop road and Thunder Hole regardless of whether or not they close the loop road...