For the Coast Guard, an offshore hurricane provides a great chance to do some serious surf training. And that’s exactly what they did recently, when Hurricane Maria passed about 150 miles off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
In fact, the Coast Guard station at Oregon Inlet decided to take advantage of the storm to do some extra work. They launched a 47-foot Lifeboat near Nags Head to run surf drills for a total of 18 hours as the storm passed offshore, practicing maneuvering, man overboard and emergency tows. “Each time the weather presents an opportunity to train in breaking seas, we exhaust every effort to get underway and train,” said Chief Petty Officer Joshua Perkins.
Don’t try any of this yourself. But to see a great video of how the Coast Guard trains, go to: https://flic.kr/p/YA9qr7
