Only the brave or the foolhardy could have ignored the dire warnings to keep away from the coast yesterday.
And there were plenty of them.
Winds gusting to 85mph? Let's go surfing. Towering waves crashing on to the beach? We'll just take baby down to the shore for a quick look.
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Swamped: As a mighty wave breaks over their child's pushchair, this couple will probably not be expecting to win any responsible parenting awards this year
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Or maybe play chicken with the surging sea as it sends water spraying 30ft up into the air before sucking everything back in the undertow.
This was how hundreds spent much of yesterday in defiance of official warnings to stay at home.
Wet-suited figures on surfboards and body-boards could be seen at various points along the coastline from Cornwall to Sussex.
Clifftops and promenades were dotted with figures leaning at bizarre angles into the howling wind.
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The walker was blown off his feet as he took an ill-advised stroll on Bournemouth beach...
And of course, TV news just wouldn't be TV news if it didn't have the wettest, most windswept reporter fronting the most precarious backdrop of the day.
Yet there was something undeniably compelling about being out and about yesterday amid the threat of floods and storm chaos.
Perhaps it was because those putting out the warnings have so often overstated the likely effects of severe weather recently that you might have felt a bit mollycoddled if you didn't go out for a peek.
Ever since TV forecaster Michael Fish told us not to worry about a hurricane in 1987 (shortly before the worst storm in two centuries) the authorities seem to have taken their "safe not sorry" policy to extremes.
Thus, only model citizens took heed of the "stay away" commands - leaving more rebellious souls to make the most of the bad weather, albeit irresponsibly in some cases.
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... and clearly gets the wind knocked out of him
At Plymouth, for example, there's a wall on the Hoe with a bright yellow sign that forbids "diving or tombstoning" into the sea and warns of "danger of death".
So no prizes for guessing which spot two 14-year-olds chose from which to risk their lives yesterday.
Ryan and Nathan, who should have been at school, took the morning off to take up the challenge of plunging into an outgoing tide that was white with swirling surf - and only yards from jagged rocks.
Nearby, youngsters were criticised for "playing chicken with the sea", as coastguards put it, waiting until the last second to run back from the incoming waves.
Bear in mind that in the spring tide yesterday, some of those waves were three times as tall as the young lads on the shoreline and many times more powerful.
Heights of up to 43ft were recorded out to sea at the Seven Stones lightship, and at Plymouth Breakwater, clearly visible from the Hoe, the water was continually swamping defences.
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... before dropping back down to earth with a bump
Round the coast in Cornwall, however, the ocean held no fear for surfers. Nor did what some locals dismissed as little more than a storm in a teacup.
Lewis Quain and Louis Thomas headed out from Looe just before lunchtime with wetsuits and surfboards.
This was Louis's first time surfing, and you couldn't help thinking he might have picked the wrong day.
Lewis, 17, might have missed the irony of leading his friend on to the sand just below the RNLI lifeboat rescue station.
Didn't he hear the warnings about keeping away? "No," he said. Did he care? "Not really," he added, and headed for the water.
Blown away: walker bowled over by strong winds during ill-advised stroll along the beach | the Daily Mail
People told to stay inside as 'exceptional' storm hits the UK tonight
'Exceptional': Forecasters are predicting a storm of the sort only experienced once every seven years. 
Winds of up to 80mph are predicted to bring down trees and power lines and disrupt transport, prompting comparisons of the Great Storm of 1987
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