Back in Jan. 1977 I was a rookie Coast Guardsman stationed in Panama City, Fl. when it snowed there. We got underway before the snow started to answer a distress call from a 42' fishing boat that had lost power and was at the mercy of the ocean. The seas were running 15 - 20, with some at 30 feet, and the wind was around 30 kts. The 82' patrol boat I was on were affectionately known as 'vomit comets' by us Coasties and I will vouch for that moniker. They were seaworthy but road rough in rough seas. I threw up so much I had to re-swallow my own a-hole several times. The seas were hitting us on the stern on the way out and there were several times I thought we were fixing to flip over and disappear like the Edmund Fitzgerald, I was genuinely afraid we were going to die but we got to the boat just before sundown and managed to take them under tow and got back into PC just after sunrise the next day. That was the roughest and scariest ride I had as a Coastie and I'm lucky I never had to do that again.
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