[Nebe]

Hi red herring- yes woody and i both went in but on different occasions- both times, we were alone- I'll let woody share his story if he wishes, but in my case, i was fishing on Indian Rock, way above the waves on a perch that i assumed was beyond safe- a rouge wave came in that was 3 times as high as all of the other waves and sucked me down the face of the rock- As i was being sucked down the face of Indian rock, I was able to jam the butt of my rod into a crack or some depression/edge and stopped myself from going completely in the drink, but where i stopped was below the level of all of the normal wave activity...Before the next wave came in, i was able to get into a crouching position and rode the next rouge wave up back onto the rock and when the wave began to receed I stood up from the crouching position and was safe- I only know how to do that from countless hours of cliff diving as a kid in newport.. The whole ordeal only lasted the time frame of 2 waves and by the time i surfed the 2nd wave back to my perch, I still didnt really know the sevarity of my situation.. I could have died easily as I was going from spot to spot that night and was wearing waders and a wind breaker- I did have a tight wader belt on, but I still think i would have been screwed.

If anyone who reads this has this happen to them, the only advice I can give is to keep your head and dont panic- give yourself a minute or 2 to get out of the water and if you cant, swim out and grab onto a lobster pot buoy until someone can help you..If you cant get out of the water in the first minute or 2 and dont recognize this, you will drown- Ive seen it happen many times with kids cliff diving. (not drowning, but not knowing when to give up and take a break)