One inch from death

   / One inch from death #31  
Still not sure how the guy was knocked over. Did the the back tire hit him?
 
   / One inch from death #32  
I got swept out to sea in strong rip tide. I was young and a strong swimmer. I was swimming outside of the big breakers way offshore before I finally realized what was happening. I was fighting the current but I was definitely going further and further out, fast. Near exhaustion from fighting the current I figured I had to swim up or down the coast. It worked and I got out of the rip tide but I was about all in until I realized I was probably in shark territory... and the thought of being eaten alive while drowning sent me paddling in fear for the now distant shore. Every muscle screamed for mercy and the shore looked to be a mile away. I told myself I only had to make it to the breakers and then I could just body surf in. When I got the shore it took 30 minutes for me to gather the strength to stand and start the long walk along the beach to my blanket. I plopped myself down and my future wife and her friend asked me, where have you been? 😂 One of many, I should have died days. Life is a gift
Sounds familiar, minus the shark thoughts.
 
   / One inch from death #33  
A serious question -

How many of you have that inner voice speak to you just before you do something that resulted in a bad situation?
 
   / One inch from death #34  
A serious question -

How many of you have that inner voice speak to you just before you do something that resulted in a bad situation?
I broke a rib (not my first) last summer, tubing behind a boat. An activity I did several weeks every summer as a teen, but maybe not the brightest idea at my current age.

Rolling off the tube at high speed was a concious decision, it was going squirrely and my son was on the tube with me, one of those tandom-seating hotdog things. I figured, I could just roll off and save him from getting violently launched, but I had that voice in my head saying, "this might hurt." :ROFLMAO: It was right!

Good news is that the driver, who was really going a bit too fast for the conditions, saw me dive off and backed off the throttle to come back around. So, my son was spared the same abuse.
 
   / One inch from death #35  
A serious question -

How many of you have that inner voice speak to you just before you do something that resulted in a bad situation?
I listen to that little voice now that I'm older and wiser but I just passed it off as chicken when I was young...hence all the scars and broken bones of my youth.
 
   / One inch from death #36  
May of '24 my 14 Yr old, great swimmer, granddaughter got caught in a rip current while we were vacationing down on the FL panhandle. I went in after her.

I was both a BSA and Red Cross trained Life Guard in my teens...but that was 50 years ago. The event is still too close to go into detail, but together we both made it out. She had started to give up, and it was only a deep commitment to her that kept me going. I believe either one of us doing it alone would have had a different ending.

At first it generated lots of nightmares, had one again at 4:43am this morning - I can't sleep after them. But they are becoming less frequent.

If you've ever been there you know the feeling...it is the only time in my life which I knew I had crossed the edge where life meets death.
 
   / One inch from death #37  
May of '24 my 14 Yr old, great swimmer, granddaughter got caught in a rip current while we were vacationing down on the FL panhandle. I went in after her.

I was both a BSA and Red Cross trained Life Guard in my teens...but that was 50 years ago. The event is still too close to go into detail, but together we both made it out. She had started to give up, and it was only a deep commitment to her that kept me going. I believe either one of us doing it alone would have had a different ending.

At first it generated lots of nightmares, had one again at 4:43am this morning - I can't sleep after them. But they are becoming less frequent.

If you've ever been there you know the feeling...it is the only time in my life which I knew I had crossed the edge where life meets death.
I was also a certified swimmer. At 24 yrs old I was fit and wanted to swim outside the big breakers. Big mistake. West coast shores are steep and the waters are deep and the currents are strong. Ocean swimming ain't no pool. And riptides ain't no joke. Glad you were able to save your granddaughter and yourself.
 
   / One inch from death #38  
There was a decade or so when I was losing a young colleague or acquaintance a year to sleeper waves. It felt a bit like Cassandra as I was repeatedly telling folks to never, ever turn your back on the Pacific around here. 50-54F is cold water, and even excellent swimmers get into trouble pretty quickly in the cold water and then there are the slippery rocks to get back out...

Come to think of it, it wasn't a great decade. I lost the most experienced technical diver I have ever known to a silt out in a cave with a newbie, and another highly experienced diver to a rare shark attack- his second and last... (the first time the shark simultaneously bit him and his air tank, greatly minimizing his injuries.)

I often hear that little voice. These days it is usually when I am up a ladder, with something sharp, and the voice goes "... You know..., this would not be a good time for an earthquake." 🤣 After decades of being at heights without safety gear or lines, I did gear up last year, but I'm not kidding myself that I'm proficient. Yes, I don't get close to roof edges out here. Neither do I work under vehicles without at least three supports, or work on live electrical circuits anymore.

I definitely owe my life to a bystander who saw me ignoring that voice, and contemplating how I was going to cross a new (and therefore very unstable) landslide that terminated at the bottom in a roaring, icy, white water river. He whistled from half a mile away and waved me off. I would probably still be buried under the rock if he hadn't happened along. Definitely a "there but for the Grace of God moment..."

Stay safe!

All the best,

Peter
 
   / One inch from death
  • Thread Starter
#39  
Missed jumping on and was run over by the back wheel. Was on the side opposite the brakes I believe. Those old Ford 8Ns had a difficult to use brake lock I believe like my old JD M had. You have to reach down and flip a lever to lock the pedal- I think. So they don't get used very often. I know i did not lock my M brakes more than twice in the 45 years I owned it. And the 8N has no FEL to lower to ack as a brake, just turn the wheels up hill but in this case they got turned downhill somehow. I don't have the full story of the chain of events yet. Waiting till he heals up some and then I can seriously bust his ass. He knows that is coming. I have started always pulling the brake lever on my L3600 now.
 
   / One inch from death #40  
I was mowing with the big Terex 640 tractor close to the creek edge. I wanted to see just how close to the 2 ft drop off edge my front tire was on a sweeping curve. So I stopped and foolishly jumped off the off side closest to the creek and my dam T shirt slipped over the loader lever instantly jerking the 1500 lb 4 way bucket skyward, scaring me nearly to death. Thankfully I was not too close to the edge and the sudden change in balance had no effect on the tractor staying up or tipping in. But if it had I would have been seriously injured or worse as I was on the downside hooked to the machine. Be careful and don't do stupid stuff LIKE ME .
 
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