Condesa Tsunami

Clark March 16th, 2011

My dad called me at 7AM: “Have you been watching the news?”

I was up, but hadn’t heard a thing. After a briefing I was in the car and off to Condesa at T minus 30 minutes. Condesa and I have been through four deadly tsunamis in the last six years, and we know the drill: Head for deep water!

Bobbing between Alcatraz and the Golden Gate at 8AM, waiting for a tsunami to blow into the Bay, I noticed the other like-minded mariners were those who make their livings from their boats-the fishermen, the excursion boats, and all the Coast Guard and police boats. Condesa and her next door neighbor, who I woke up and gave my opinion about tsunamis and the better side of caution, were the only two pleasure yachts out there.

As it turned out, the tsunami was a non-event in San Francisco Bay, and while I was bobbing out there I realized why: The narrow Golden Gate would provide a dampening effect.

The Coast Guard’s tsunami warning was from 7AM to 8:48AM, so at 9:30 I went back to the berth. I was too early. A few minutes later one of my neighbors yelled out, and over the next half hour we watched the tide pump up and down two or three feet at a time, making five or six cycles over twenty minutes.

When I got home I saw footage of Santa Cruz, Crescent City, and of course Japan. Many flashbacks to the Southeast Asian tsunami.

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