Be on troop ship during a howling gale and tell me if you like rolling waves.

I respect them. I don't want to be near them.

Seeing the long breakers come in on Vancouver Island`s Long Beach, or at the Oregon Dunes, or the long breaking rollers come in on the north coast of the Big Island is to feel the elemental power of the planet.

On the other hand, being on a sealer of the north coast of Newfoundland during what the natives are pleased to call `a wee blow` is to scare the pluperfect beejeezus out of you. (I was aboard as a journalist covering what was then the last legal seal hunt in Canada. It has since been reinstated.)

On the other side of the equation, sitting on a beach in Vallarta and seeing nubile young wenches have their bikinis torn off by the waves is a definate plus.

A person has to be careful of those rolling waves. I had an experience that I won't soon forget. I almost got swept out to sea by a rolling wave!