There's a Lion riding on the March wind testing all of our self-reliance skills, boats on the river not a good choice.

  In like a lion and out like a lamb, describes the month of March, this month is a lion. During many years there is a high-pressure area over the ocean just west of the Golden Gate. Some years it moves to somewhere else, this is one of those years.

Yep, like a Lion.

The low-pressure cell has settled there this year allowing the weather from the North to wind around and come directly into the San Francisco Bay area. Even though we live about 50 miles inland we feel the effects, they follow the bays and rivers to the eastern side of the Diablo Range then are pushed either North or South into the San Joaquin Valley. This year is a little different it appears they are coming straight from the North, right down the valley. I was in Sacramento yesterday with my son and his family, The Sierra's looked to be socked in with weather, two souls were lost on the ski slopes, in separate events on different ski slopes. I do not know what happened to them, often it's enough for me to just hear of a person's demise, it's bad enough without the details. (Link to the Fresno Bee's report on the China Peak accident) There was an avalanche on one of the mountains and several people got trapped, one man had to be dug out, the story ended up well. (I am watching the video of the rescue as I write this.) Winter brings about the possibility of an entire array of disastrous events to take place, snow, ice, rain, and wind all combine to make conditions hazardous for travel. I was getting up to uncover my scooter and take a trip down to the garden to check things out when I opened the door the rain started. So I stepped back into the house, when suddenly the sky opened up, thunder, lightning, and Hail, it was coming down hard. I grabbed my video camera, I'm still getting used to it, and started to video the event. Just when I set it up and started to video, a bass boat with two people in it went by, they were getting pounded by the hailstones. I followed them and low and behold right behind them was another bass boat, they too were being nailed hard. (my video of the boats Link) Sometimes through no fault of our own, we get caught in terrible weather, I understand how that can happen. Especially on a day like today, the sky was clear and blue, with a bright sun, however, clouds were on the horizon. Living on the river and knowing a little (humble, be humble) about the river and how it can act. When the slightest chance of a storm blowing in from the ocean, great caution needs to be exercised. The slough that I live on is not real wide, about 33 meters (100 yards or so), but it is connected on both ends with wider rivers and faster currents. The southern end connects with "Dutch Slough" which has an extremely strong current, on its western end is the main river several miles away. On the north end of our slough is the "false river" wide deep and a shortcut for the long-range ocean ships loaded with commodities destined for the docks in Stockton.
  I would not go out on a day like today, not because it's an intense storm which it is not, it's more like squalls, it is due to the unpredictable nature of it. I heard thunder, which means lightning and that equals danger, especially in a boat with a fishing pole in one hand. A man was killed in a nearby city a few days ago trimming a tree, the branch fell across an electric line and followed the wet branch right to him, a terrible accident. A fishing pole acts the same way, albeit a poor conductor, it will still electrocute a person especially with the immense power of lightning. I hope the people in the boats were heading for the marina a few hundred yards from where they were.

It can be bad, stay off the water.

The lightning is not the only danger while on the water here, I say here because all bodies of water have their own personalities. Hypothermia is always a concern, on days like today when the temperature rises to 50-60 degrees F then down to 40 F, people get hot and cold. During the hot periods, many of us remove some layers, on days like today with rain squalls getting wet is a real possibility. We put our coats back on when it starts to get chilly, now it seems even cooler because we are wet. It is colder, the wind blows and seems to penetrate our clothing, even with rain gear on we still get chilled, a cold beer won't help at all. In the chance, we get overly cooled hypothermia can and will set in. There are people on the river during the summer that die from getting too cold, during the winter month's we are generally prepared for it, during the summer we are not. These people in the Bass Boats appeared to be prepared, they did have rain slickers on, and as on the video, they are bent into the ice balls. (Link to how to deal with hypothermia) To complicate matters on our river is the wind, that translates into high water, big waves. The wind blows across the San Francisco Bay, through the Suisan Bay following the river past all the cities and towns along the way pushing the water in front of it. The waves can easily build to four feet, I haven't seen them higher than that, they can swamp a boat with a low freeboard. I witnessed a boat swamping from a big wave from behind, the freeboard is how much of the hull is above the water line to the handrails. If a boat is traveling slower than the waves the following wave can sneak up from behind and whoosh, down it goes. That is what happened to the boat I saw. The wind and waves during a storm are extremely dangerous. Hypothermia is the body losing heat, Hyperthermia is the body getting too hot.
  Docks break loose in the wind and waves, floating down the river they present a real hazard, however, those are visible. Pylons, Trees, and Boats break loose as well, I have seen big boats float by un-manned, hey it happens, in those instances boat insurance is cheap. Trees can be spotted most of the time, they are not water-logged so they float and the branches are normally visible above the water line. Not so with pylons, they are always a threat but more so during and directly following a high wind storm event. This is one of those times, another reason It's not recommended to go out on the river for about a week. The pylons have been in the water sometimes for many decades, some longer than 100 years, and there are a lot of them stuck in the mud on the banks of all the rivers, sloughs, and swamps of the Delta.

The poles are pylons, they do come loose and become a navigation hazard.

The water soaked end of the telephone pole-sized pylons sink, and the end that has been exposed to the air for all of this time float. One end is 20 feet or more below the surface, the floating end is 6 inches to a foot below the water on the floating end. A boat has a draft depending on the size of the boat anywhere from 1 foot to 5 feet or more, most Delta boats have a 3-4 foot draft. Because the wave troughs are about 20 feet apart most people have boats that are 26 feet or longer, so most boat draft is 3-4 feet. A floating pylon is capable of ripping a hole in the hull of the boat, sometimes exiting straight through the vessel. It is unexpected and I'm sure a major league surprise to say the least. I know a man that was on a fishing boat, he was traveling fast across the river below a bridge when he hit a piece of 2x4 about three feet long, it went through his hull. He was close to a marina and with assistance from his pumps he made it, the harbormaster put him on a boat lift and saved his boat. If he had to evacuate his boat it would have sunk never to be seen again, so when on the river it pays dividends to pay attention closely.
  The sky is getting very dark again, I have my camera ready, no boats have passed by and the wind has shifted, we are also on the high tide. With all the rain (it's a good thing) the tides will be higher for a while, the water behind the dams will start to rise. We are all concerned about the Oroville dam, supposedly permanent repairs have been made on the first phase of repairing it. I had hoped a fish ladder would be installed but that is wishful thinking, there's a lot of that going on during these times. My wife just called and told me she had a tire blow out on the highway, she was in the City, AAA is helping her, she will be flustered but uninjured which to me is the most important thing, new tires are cheap in comparison.
  Thank you for reading and sharing, life on the river is good, it's always interesting and always demanding of our self-reliance skills. Be cautious if you decide to go out on the water, do not go out in a storm or when lightning or thunder is part of the experience, it is life-threatening. Thanks again.

jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com