I hate to sound like a broken record but it is summer and here on the Central Oregon coast several factors come into play when it comes to paying attention. From where I live in Yachats I can see Highway 101, the mouth of the Yachats river as it flows into the ocean and in the summertime I see some amazing things. My favorites of course are the people who come to the coast on vacation or for a short visit. The village of Yachats is a friendly, lively and entertaining place to be and the mood of the residents and visitors is generally very good even though it can be hard to cross the highway due to the traffic! People watching this time of year is outstanding since we get a plethora of varying styles, shapes, and fashions. It is never boring to be sure.

However, summer also occasionally brings dangerous and scary events and extremely close calls with the influx of people. Traffic wise I witnessed one of the closest calls Ive ever seen the other day when a large pickup towing a large boat was driving through town and suddenly out of nowhere a Mercury Sedan shot right out onto the road in front of the truck and boat. The driver of the truck was observing the speed limit and was fortunate enough to have just enough room to slam on his breaks and avoid t-boning the Mercury. Then to my amazement the passenger in the Mercury starting swearing at the driver of the truck. I was floored, it was totally the Mercury's drivers fault yet the truck driver was getting hammered. It’s probably a good thing the truck driver didn't retaliate or there would have been some blood shed!

Then yesterday afternoon I was once again reminded that the ocean while beautiful, is also very scary. In the afternoon I heard sirens and looked across the river to see emergency vehicles including water rescue ski-doos gathering on the road behind the Yachats Inn. Then I heard the sound of the Coast Guard helicopter and realized that it was hovering over the ocean looking for someone. Some time later as the fog continued to roll in I heard a cheer from the assembled crowd and saw the helicopter set down on the road. It turned out that a 45 year old surfer had fallen off his surf board and got caught in an outgoing riptide. A couple of summers ago the same thing happened to two surfers and it was a helicopter that plucked them from the ocean. The moral of this is; that ocean is very powerful and unpredictable so use the utmost caution when in or around it!

Now today its back to being a delightful day in Yachats and it seems that everyone is paying attention to what is going on!!

Have a great and safe summer...

To reach Rick Schultze: email yarick@pioneer.net.