Reason overtakes fear

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I noticed this comment in the Tidybouy thread about him keeping his wits as he was stuck in the attic.

It got me thinking about "Keeping my wits" stories.

Mine was based over 20 years ago. One fall day, a friend of mine (an avid whitewater kayaker) was at the river as I rode by on my bike. He had a spare kayak, and invited me to go along.

In still water, he taught me the eskimo roll in short order. It was a brilliant last day of fall, with colors and foliage exploding, and I was king of rolling kayaks in smooth water. As the last day of fall ended, we parked his boats, and went on our separate ways.

Then winter hit. Then Spring.

One early spring day, I saw him again at the river. He invited me to go with him. "Let's practice some eskimo rolls again" he proclaimed. Eager to roll, I did so, but after a season of no practice, missed the roll back up, and was submerged upside down. The cold spring water shocked the air from my lungs.

I tried the roll again, and with so much force, I came upright, and continued to roll over again, not really gaining a breath, and was now upside down underwater again- this time running low on holding my breath.

Upside down with no air left in my lungs, it occurred to me we had never gotten to my "wet exit" lesson. To add to the confusion, his boat was a size too small for me, I was jammed into it, crammed upside down underwater. There would be no sliding out. No easy exit.

I could feel his boat ramming mine, in an effort to give me something to grab onto, but I was disoriented, and could not grab his bow to leverage against.

I could also reach my hand upward into the air, and feel safety, yet, I was trapped beneath the water.


At this point it hit me, "If I do not remain calm, I WILL die." I had no air left. I pulled the skirt off the boat and tried to loosen my way back. It didn't work. I tried more- slowing down to make it work. The boat tried to hold me in, but I needed to survive, and I kept straining to remove my legs from the boat.

Somehow I got loose, but remaining underwater, still couldn't figure up from down. As I came to the surface, I inhaled a big gulp of water and choked, but broke free to air at the last minute.

Not a fun ordeal at all.

I tried to act like it was no big deal, but it was. We then went down the river in white water. After that episode, the white water experience was miserable. I just wanted out.
After that, I prefer white water canoeing over kayaking btw.... I can at least get out!

What are your stories?

[id10t]

Cave diving at Blue Grotto in Williston, Fl back in the early 80s. Straight down from surface, bottom at 50ish feet, large cave opening at 30 feet, goes back 50 feet - just a massive room. Real cave system started in either corner - 2 tunnels made a Y, and where they intercepted each other (at 90 feet depth) there was a major restriction (can't pass w/o removing tanks) that opened into a room teh size of a football stadium. Anyway, with our basic cave certs, we could do the Y tunnel and *look* through the opening ot the big room, but couldn't attempt to enter it.

Anyway, there was a horse trough attached the ceiling in the big opening to the cavern part of the cave about 30 feet in from entrance (caverns have natural light to some degree), hooked to an air compressor at the surface. You could surface in it, remove regulator, talk to your partner to plan decompression stops, etc. Bottom was 30' below that...

Between dives we were free diving down into the cavern, and surfacing in the air chamber, getting a few breaths, and swimming back out.

I decided to go to the back wall instead. So surface to air chamber, get a breath, air chamber to back wall, down in deep. Fantastic view. Running out of breath. Start hauling ass for not the air chamber just 20 feet away but for the cavern exit.

Was running out of breath, exit seemed too far away, couldn't go back to air chamber.... moment of lucidity set in, and I flipped over and was swimming upside down, about 5 feet down from cavern ceiling, and as soon as I saw daylight above me I ditched my 20lb weight belt and let my very buoyant wet suit pop me to the surface...

[pavulon]

Every so often, someone will make a run at dying on the operating table. Time slows as the pulse ox tone groans its sickly song and months of life abandon us both.

[Crowbob]

Not so exciting as Eskimo rolls, cave diving or vivisection I with two buddies ran out of gas on a fly-in fishing trip on Lake Missinabe in an aluminum fishing boat while wearing nothing but shorts and t-shirts in the fall.

One of the oarlocks broke, the wind picked up and it was suddenly nightfall. We each took our turns with panic when the air turned to about 30 degrees.

We rowed, sort of, against the wind all night long. Just about the time exhaustion set in the plan was to ram onto the rocky shore and spend the night in the overturned boat. Were it not for the harvest moonlight it was a certainty that we would perish.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Not so exciting as Eskimo rolls, cave diving or vivisection I with two buddies ran out of gas on a fly-in fishing trip on Lake Missinabe in an aluminum fishing boat while wearing nothing but shorts and t-shirts in the fall.

One of the oarlocks broke, the wind picked up and it was suddenly nightfall. We each took our turns with panic when the air turned to about 30 degrees.

We rowed, sort of, against the wind all night long. Just about the time exhaustion set in the plan was to ram onto the rocky shore and spend the night in the overturned boat. Were it not for the harvest moonlight it was a certainty that we would perish.

This reminds me of being on the top of the mountain I live on.
One fine day, I decided (in a snowstorm) to test the AWD drive system of my volvo.
I drove it stupidly on the Blue ridge parkway during a snowstorm.
With the whiteout- I was unable to read the snow, and it had blown into 3 foot tall drifts. Like the dumbass I am, I drove right into it, got stuck, and then had to dig myself out. Dressed in work slacks and a cotton shirt, I quickly became hypothermic in 15 degree temps and 40 mph winds. I began to shiver uncontrollably. I discovered AWD sucks ass and is not 4wd.

After a while a guy meandering in his jeep drove up and helped. Sadly, I was SO incapacitated, I was not even able to put tow straps under the car. I was a worthless mess. It took about 30 minutes before I could think straight again.

I will never drive into harms way again.

[Crowbob]

Are you implying I and my two friends were dumbasses for going fishing in the wilds of Canada in October wearing only shorts and t's with no expected outside contact for three days, or that we were dumbasses for running out of gas?

Never mind. Don't answer that.

That was my first real life experience involving myself in a completely avoidable and potentially lethal situation due solely to a total lack of thinking.

[Laneco]

Originally Posted by pavulon

Every so often, someone will make a run at dying on the operating table. Time slows as the pulse ox tone groans its sickly song and months of life abandon us both.

Nicely written...

angela

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Are you implying I and my two friends were dumbasses for going fishing in the wilds of Canada in October wearing only shorts and t's with no expected outside contact for three days, or that we were dumbasses for running out of gas?

Never mind. Don't answer that.

That was my first real life experience involving myself in a completely avoidable and potentially lethal situation due solely to a total lack of thinking.

Ha! I wasn't implying foolishness on your part at all. I can only point the finger of dumbassery towards myself in both my instances! I was thinking more along the lines of sharing my stories due to "seemingly innocent situations that quickly evolved into potentially lethal situations where I needed to stay calm. " Only in writing mine down did I again remember, I was the original fool that got myself into those predicaments.

It is interesting how situations can escalate- not having a tool kit or a flashlight for a roadside breakdown for example becoming a real emergency when it happens. That kind of stuff.

[Tidybuoy]

That story was scary to read. Trust me, being stuck in the attic was a lot easier. My biggest fear was wondering if I was going to have to punch thru my brand new sheetrock.

[GH85Carrera]

Back when I was about 15 we lived in Hawaii. I figured I should try to go surfing, but I had no car or surf board. Dad was an Air Force officer and either busy working or out of the country on another TDY trip. Mom knew a couple that had two boys that surfed all the time, and my mom set it up with their mom for me to go surfing with them. The were several years older than I was and both were experienced surfers. They had a spare surfboard someone had given them but it was HUGE. I could barely carry it.

Mom dropped me off at their place and I was squeezed into the back seat. They were an Air Force family as well and we went to a military base at the far western tip of Ohau near Kaena Point. There were only a few surfers out there and all had military ID. I soon figured out they boys though of me as me as just a pain in the ass little kid that was keeping them from having fun. They had zero interest in teaching me to surf.

The younger of the boys told me to grab the board and we all started paddling out. The way the waves were coming in, all that the "good" waves were a very long way out. My mistake was I figured I was safe with them. We finally get way out there (about a mile) and they all catch a wave and vanish. I figured now is the time so I caught the next wave, stood up for about a second, and fell off.

The board just kept going and I looked around and I was alone and treading water. I could see the shore so my only option was swim. I started swimming but I knew it was a long way to go. There is no stopping to rest, swim or die were my options. I kept swimming. I was going with the waves but swimming in the open ocean ain't easy or fun. I was exhausted but I kept saying to myself, keep swimming or you are dead.

I tried every swim stroke possible to use different muscles and after what seemed to be forever I finally crawled out of the ocean up on the beach and lay there gasping. The older kid came over and asked me where the board was. I told him in no uncertain terms I really truly honestly could not possibly care less about the fuc*ing surf board. I had damn near drowned out there and that surf board was nothing I cared about. They were happy to find it floating around down the beach. I went and waited by the car until they were don and I never said a word to them again.

[Tidybuoy]

I do have one other scary event, but not life threatening. I took my sailboat to Lake Tahoe while on a two week vacation. One day, I took my 15yr old nephew and his friend sailing. My boat is 24' and it took us half a day to sail from the south shore to the north. On the way back, we had the spinnaker flying and the boat was hauling about as fast as it had ever sailed. The wind was picking up and I had to close the cockpit door because waves were splashing all the way from the bow to the rear of the boat - we were getting drenched but having a blast.

All of a sudden, a rogue wave came out of nowhere and hit us from the side. When this happened, the rudder snapped off the boat and yanked the tiller right our of my hand. Keep in mind, this was a 6' piece of 1.5" thick wood and the thing flew thru the air and then quickly sunk to the bottom of the lake.

As soon as the rudder broke, all hell broke loose. The boat was out of control and going over. Neither of my passengers had any idea what to do. I literally leaped from the cockpit to the mast in one giant step and got the sails down. Everything was then ok. After this, we motored (with an outboard) back home which took about 6 hours due to the propeller coming out of the water on every wave.

[GH85Carrera]

One of the other times in that same era I was on the water. It was at Hickam AFB and they had a little sailing club. One of my buddies has graduated and wanted to show me is talents. Well to say the kid was clumsy is polite. I have no idea how he graduated. We were not going out very far so I was not too worried. Heck I even had a life vest!

We got underway and he sailed right into the coral reef. Crunch. We were stuck. The beach patrol saw us and came out and pulled us off the coral. It was the last time I went sailing with him.

[Seahawk]

I grew up in water, kayaking and surfing from a very early age.

There is no more fearsome a result of two elements colluding than water. Water is judge and jury, Yin and Yang, the F and U: Water doesn't care who or what is along for the ride.

Reading the OP made me sweat. I was taught early to get out of the boat depending on where in the river/rapid you found yourself upside down...a big deal indeed.

[Don Plumley]

Snorkeling in a Cenote in the Yucatan: They told us to follow one another in a line. Of course I decided it would be a better view if I went over to the left side.

My snorkel hit the roof of the cave, which caused me to reflexively move my head and fill the snorkel with water. At which point my head and body pinned against the roof the cave and I could not rotate my head back to put the snorkel in air, or move.

I thrashed about for what seemed like minutes but was probably about 10 seconds. Then suddenly I had a sense of total calm, "Okay, let's figure this out or we are doing to die." I stopped thrashing, and started to push myself back towards the center of the cave where I could surface. Just as I hit clear air, fortunately, the guide in the back of the group reached me at the same time and helped make sure I was going to stay in the line.

My kids were there and just shook their heads - their dad is an idiot.

[Bob Kontak]

If I eat big before bed I can lay in such a way that stomach acids creep into my throat. I awaken with no ability to breathe. Throat closed. Probably a half dozen times in ten years.

First couple of times, if there was a video, it would have gone viral. The noises made of trying to suck air through a constricted pipe plus arms flapping and surely death's door facial expressions would have been a hoot.

Now I don't even try to breathe. Walk to the sink, open the faucet and drink some water. It's still scary and I don't breathe for a minute.

[Jims5543]

When Mrs5543 and I were newlyweds we both had a weekday off from work and went to a deserted beach for the day. Never saw another person all day.

We were in the water cooling off, we had swam to a sandbar and were hanging out on there, when we got sucked up into a very strong rip current. Since I surfed a lot I knew what was up immediately, what concerned me most was how fast it had pulled us out.

We swam to the side of it and were trying to work our way back to shore, it must have been shifting or the currents around it were pushing us back into it, over and over.

Any headway we made getting back in kept getting erased. The entire time I knew what was happening and knew not to panic and tried not to get her upset or panicked I just tried to stay cool and work through it.

I have to admit, after 4 failed attempts to get back in I was trying to come to grips with drowning. Not how I wanted to go out.

I decided in my head to give it my final try as I was losing energy and was not sure if there would be 6th try. I was exhausted and already drinking sea water.

I decided to go to the bottom and see how deep we were, I could stand on the bottom, reach up and hold Mrs5543's thighs. I grabbed a little lower, pushed her up, so she could push me down and started walking towards shore.

I am pretty sure I was going to drown at that point and I just wanted to give her a chance to get in. Suddenly the ocean let go, I was making time heading in. I came up for air 2X losing ground both times but not as much as trying to swim.

We finally got to chest deep water and got back into shore, I collapsed on the beach for a very long time, too exhausted to even move.

We only swam out at attended beaches after that and when on deserted beaches we had a waist deep rule.

We loved finding rips like that when surfing, I never wanted to see one again after that.



Many years later a good client of mine would drown in a rip current trying to save his kids, who were on boogey boards. He panicked, swam out, and drown.

[flatbutt]

Mine may be a bit longish, sorry, but there are pictures!

I'm not sure where this ranks on the reason vs fear scale. I am certain that it ranks waaay high on the testosterone vs smart scale.
In my 20's I got into back packing bigly. I started out slow doing local hills then the Catskills and Poconos. When I thought I had some skills I hit the Adirondack park. Again going easy in good weather until I had a lot of time under my feet and a few of the major peaks.
Fast forward some years into my 30s and I start winter packing with the same training curve. I was hooked! No bugs, fewer people and a sparkling wilderness right out of a story book. I promised myself I'd bag the big peaks in winter...solo....before I turn 40.
I was 38 and I planned to do Tahawus/Mt Marcy in one day. Why? Because the forecast was for -40F overnight all week and I DID NOT want to overnight in the hills(BTDT it sux).. It's only 5000 ASL but it's a goodly journey there and back. I don’t quite remember the klik count.

So I signed in at the Ranger station just after dawn, gave them my route and expected timing. They did their due diligence including equipment check and concluded that I was prepped well enough just not too bright.

I started off on skis, switched over to snowshoes at 4000 ft ASL and then to walking crampons as I got to the treeline. I made it to the peak had some lunch took a pic or two and when the Nikon froze I figured it was time to bug out.
Well by the time I got back to my skis I was kinda tired but I was running out of daylight and energy. I was still hours out from the Ranger station when the sun started brushing the tops of the hills. “Oh baby this is getting real” says I. I pound down some GORP and honey, fill my mouth with snow and soldier on.

I get to a trail junction at sundown and realize I still have at least two hours to go. I’m on the verge of a freak out because my thermometer is already reading -5F! I have my gear for an overnight but I do not want to bivouac out there. So deep breath and I soldier on for another hour. Now I need my lamps. I have lamps on my head and both of my legs just at the knees. But I’m so tired now I can just about gear up again. I’m talking to myself now and say “maybe I should stop, no , right, half an hour more should bring me to a trail side shelter and then I’ll stop”. Well I got there quicker than I thought and what did I see? A Ranger with a big shiny snowmobile who was just about to return to HQ. If I had lingered just a few minutes more I’d have missed him.

somewhere on the trail and, coming out of the treeline



at the top, the original selfie stick was a bunch of rocks

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I just got a package in the mail.
It is a Jay Cullen memorial cycling jersey.

He was a close friend of several of my friends. I know I met him on rides once or twice. We were so "connected" through FB, I had his post running on my FB home page as news. I remember several of him attending biking events for his son.

I was catching up with one of our mutual friends on a bike ride when unbeknownst to us, Jay was crashing in the next county over.

At any rate, he was one of the Virginia state police helicopter pilots who died during the recent Charlottesville Va. protest.

I was going to post this to the ultimate bike thread, but I felt this would be a better place.

"Reason overtakes fear."

If there was a snowball's chance in hell of reason overtaking fear, he would have won hands down. In the end, the helicopter broke, and no amount of reason would have saved the situation. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It makes me think of all my dumbassery, and how it was just that- dumb. He was doing his job. If not at the C-ville protest, the copter would have snapped on the next flight.

Receiving this jersey tonight is a grim reminder that reason alone does not conquer all.

[pavulon]

“extreme visual clarity, tunnel vision, diminished sound, and the sense that time is slowing down. this is how the human body reacts to extreme stress.”
― Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

[Crowbob]

The clarity and hugeness of the butt end of the branch I just sawed off silently hurtling toward my left eye was remarkable. There was plenty of time for me to note that this was really gonna hurt.

And it did.