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Incredible Footage of Sunday's Windstorm on Board of a Ferry

So you've kept your car in a garage away from any kind of water, not to mention salty one, but now you've got to make a ferry trip to San Juan Island. Tough luck.
Huge waves on San Juan Island-bound ferry 1 photo
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Riding the ferry is usually something to look forward to. It's not the type of activity most of us experience that often, so whenever we find ourselves on the decks of these ships we try to make the most of it. If the journey is long enough, you can get out and have a stroll, but if it's a short one, sitting in the car and admiring the view is just as good. Or maybe even taking a nap helped by the gentle rocking movement caused by the waves.

Taking up one of the front spots of the ferry's open deck is highly desirable as that ensures you get to enjoy the wonderful vistas, like the ones off the coast of Washington State when headed towards the San Juan Islands. However, with a violent storm like the one from last Sunday setting in, it was becoming more of a thrill than those people had signed up for.

Just imagine for a second you're in a car with nothing but the sea in front and, to use the words of George from the Seinfeld TV show, "the sea was angry that day, my friends." So angry, in fact, that it spat huge waves at the advancing ferry, high enough to sweep the deck and hide whole cars under the foam for a few moments. What exactly do you do? I mean, besides desperately trying to chase away the image of your car falling into the sea from your mind.

You can't get out because the 180 pounds you weigh are an even feebler match for the force of the waves than the 4,000 pounds of the car, so you're pretty much trapped. You pull the parking brake if you hadn't already, but that won't really keep the car from floating if the waves keep hitting the deck.

This video is both beautiful and terrifying, but it's a good reminder of what can happen when mother nature has had enough of us and feels it's time to show everybody who's in charge. The Sunday storm left hundreds of thousands of people in Western Washington without power, with winds reportedly exceeding 70 mph (112 km/h). For a full report of registered wind speeds, you can access this link.

The interesting bit starts just before the three-minute mark.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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