Doan NT: Lighthouses and Waves

When you don’t live close to a coastline or a major body of water, seeing the waves when you visit is exciting. But there are times when the waves turn into churning monsters of nature that attack man-made objects like lighthouses. Those exciting huge waves are then terrifyingly ferocious. Yet some people are held spellbound by nature’s fury. And some are amazingly brave and talented photographers who capture that perfect split second to share with us.

Lighthouses are found worldwide, marking dangerous coastlines and lighting the way to safe harbor. Can you imagine being inside a lighthouse while nature is doing her stormy best to chew it up and destroy it with punishing waves? In this collection of fantastic photos, it’s nature vs man-made lighthouses and landmarks. It’s a struggle; the power of the storm’s ferocious waves are attacking the architecture of man. Which do you think will win? We love these pics !

Grand Haven Lighthouse. The photographer described, “In this picture is the outer and inner light. The outer light is 36′ tall and the inner light is 51′ tall. I was able to venture out safely about 150′ with out getting washed into the water. Twice I got a bath from the waist down. As the remnants of the record low pressure moved on this past weekend the waves on Lake Michigan were pretty rough. When we got the beach in the early afternoon winds were topping out at 50 mph making for some huge waves breaking on the end of the pier by the outer light. Some of the breaks were reaching 40′ tall.”

The lighthouse is 114 feet high, which means that foam is spraying 100 feet into the air, propelled upward by a raging sea that sinks ships and floods towns up and down the coast. It is Feb. 8, 1978. A blizzard has rammed New England, shutting down roads, businesses and schools. Snow buries everything. Nothing moves. Kevin Cole, chief photographer at The Boston Herald American, is stuck in Plymouth, Mass. Other Herald American photographers fan out around the region, photographing the blizzard’s destruction: Villages buried in freezing flood waters, commuters trapped in snow-covered cars. The newspaper publishes a special section, which chronicles the worst New England storm in 200 years - 54 dead, 10,000 homeless and evacuated.

Aftermath of the Winter Storm: The photographer described this photo as, “30 foot tall outer light of the St. Joseph, Michigan after a severe winter storm. Waves on Lake Michigan were said to be over 20 feet high, which pounded the lighthouse and covered it in ice feet thick in places. Workers were just finishing up a paint job when the storm hit. The scaffold was demolished and is also covered in a thick layer of ice.”

Ice formed on the St. Joseph, Michigan lighthouse and catwalk during a winter storm that churned up Lake Michigan and created 20 foot waves. The ice apparently broke the “hand rail” cables on the catwalk, and they are now drooping down with tons of ice.

One of the most famous lighthouse is the one built on a rock called La Jument, about 300 metres from the coast of the island of Ushant. La Jument became well known in 1989, through a series of photographs taken by Jean Guichard.

On 21 December 1989, a low pressure front coming from Ireland brought gale force winds and huge waves of 20 to 30 metres high which crashed spectacularly against the lighthouse. The waves smashed through the lower windows of the lighthouse, ripped the front door, flooded the tower and washed away the furniture. Lighthouse keeper Théodore Malgorn decided to take refuge up in the lantern room while waiting to be rescued.

About the same time, photographer Jean Guichard was in Lorient hiring a helicopter to take aerial pictures of the storm. Guichard wanted to fly over the Iroise Sea despite extremely dangerous flying conditions. The helicopter made it to La Jument and hovered around for Guichard to take shots of the waves pounding the lighthouse.

Inside the tower, Théodore Malgorn heard what he thought was his rescue helicopter and hurried downstairs to open the door. At that very moment, a giant wave rose over the rear of the lighthouse and Guichard took his world-famous shot as the wave smashed against the tower. Théodore Malgorn, suddenly realising that a giant wave was about to engulf the structure, rushed back inside just in time to save his life.

The Oswego Lighthouse is awash with waves during a November 2003 storm with 80 mph winds.

Porthcawl Harbor Storm.

South Haven Pier. Gale force winds pound the South Haven, Michigan lighthouse and pier during a two day storm. Gusts of over 50 miles per hour created 16 to 20 foot waves in open water.

Furious Lake Michigan Petoskey - waves and ice.

Winds 30-40, gusts to 55, mid lake waves at 17-22 ft, very impressive storm. This was taken from the beach at Frankfort Michigan. The lighthouse in the photo is 76 ft tall.

Gale force winds throughout the day churned up Lake Michigan and created high waves along the South Haven, Michigan shore. The lighthouse tower is 35 feet tall (from the pier) another six feet to the water making that splash around 50 feet tall.