For a free copy of Building and 

 Stabilizing Coastal Dunes with 

 Vegetation (UNC-SG-82-05 ) or 

 Planting Marsh Grasses for Ero- 

 sion Control (UNC-SG-81-09), write 

 Sea Grant, Box 5001, Raleigh, N.C. 

 27650-5001. Please include the 

 publication number with your request. 



It was the worst 

 storm the trail guide had 

 seen in 20 years of climb- 

 ing Alaska's Mount 

 McKinley. And Jim 

 Murray was right in the 

 middle of it. The storm 

 ripped his tent to shreds, forced 

 Murray and his nine teammates into a 

 snow cave, and almost took their lives. 



Murray, director of Sea Grant's 

 marine advisory services, likes to mix 

 adventure with his vacations. He has 

 climbed before — four peaks in Nepal 

 and several others in the U.S. But 

 McKinley proved to be his toughest 

 climb. Measured from base to summit, 

 it is the tallest mountain in the world. 



When the storm struck on May 26, 

 it brought temperatures in the minus 

 40s and winds of 100 mph. The tents 

 took wing, and Murray and his com- 

 panions spent 18 hours huddling in a 

 snow cave they dug with their axes. 

 Finally, the storm broke and they 

 climbed down, cold but okay. 



"It's a simpler life up there," 

 Murray says of the climb. "Things get 

 right down to the basics of survival. I 

 kind of like that." 



His next climb? Africa's Kiliman- 

 jaro, two years away. 



More in his professional line, 

 Murray was appointed recently to the 

 Council of Sea Grant Directors' Task 

 Force on Marine Advisory Services. 

 The task force will make recommenda- 

 tions on Marine Advisory Services 

 policy. 



You're playing in the surf when 

 suddenly you're swept out to sea by a 

 rip current. What do you do? 



Rip currents, which are common 

 along some North Carolina beaches, 

 form when water that normally moves 

 along the shore rushes back to sea in a 

 narrow path. These currents can ex- 

 tend as far as 3,000 feet offshore, reach 

 90 feet in width, and travel up to four 

 feet per second, which is faster than 

 the average swimmer. 



If you find yourself caught in a rip 

 current, don't panic and don't try to 

 swim against the current. Swim 

 parallel to the shore until you get out 

 of the current and then swim back to 

 the beach. If you can't get out, float 

 calmly with the current until it dis- 

 sipates, then swim diagonally to shore. 



How do you avoid rip currents? 

 Watch for these telltale signs: a dif- 

 ference in color from surrounding 

 water, a gap in the breakers where the 

 current is moving seaward, or a 

 floating object that moves steadily to 

 sea. 



For a colorful poster explaining rip 

 currents, write UNC Sea Grant, P. O. 

 Box 5001, Raleigh, N.C. 27650-5001. 



The Office of Sea Grant in 

 Washington, D.C. has decided to no 

 longer conduct site visits at the 16 Sea 

 Grant College Programs. In the past, 

 teams of experts have visited each Sea 

 Grant program yearly or biennially, 

 whether the program had been 

 designated a college or not, to review 

 proposals for funding. Now, Sea Grant 

 Colleges will be undergoing a program 

 review once every three to five years, 

 and proposals will be reviewed in 

 Washington. UNC Sea Grant is a 

 college program and the site visit 

 scheduled for October has been 

 canceled. 



After several rigorous reviews the 44 

 proposals received in May were 

 narrowed to 20 proposals. With some 

 revision, these proposals will be in- 

 cluded in UNC Sea Grant's 1983-84 

 proposal for fundihg to the Office of 

 Sea Grant later this year. 



Coastwatch is published monthly 

 except July and December by the Uni- 

 versity of North Carolina Sea Grant 

 College Program, 105 1911 Building, 

 North Carolina State University, 

 Raleigh, NC 27650-5001. Vol. 9, No. 7, 

 August, 1982. Dr. B.J. Copeland, 

 director. Neil Caudle, editor. Kathy 

 Hart and Cassie Griffin, staff writers. 

 Second-class postage paid at Raleigh, 

 NC 27611. 



COASTWATCH 



105 1911 Building 



North Carolina State University 



Raleigh, NC 27650 



Second-class postage paid 

 at Raleigh, NC 27611 

 (ISSN 0161-8369) 



5 



12357 



STATE OF N C LIBRARY 

 109 F, JONES ST 

 RALEIGH NC 27601 



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