What is the biggest disaster or close call you had with a camera and gear?

Gah, nightmares revisited...1980's, my AE-1, flash, lenses...a canoe. We flipped it, all my gear went to the bottom. Yes...I was young and stupid.

Logicus wrote in post #16479469
Had just taken shots at Broke Leg Falls near Red River Gorge in KY. Camera and tripod, while sitting on a level concrete surface 10-12 feet away from a friend and me, leaped, yes, leaped to it's demise on the boulders below. The 40d's body was compromised and the lens came off the camera, while the lens' mount remained on the camera. Luckily, I'd left the 5dII in the car!

IMAGE LINK: http://s138.photobucke​t.com …000/media/Eulog​y.jpg.html

yes, that looks "compromised"

Back in the mid-late '90s, a nice comet was in view. It was mid-winter, February, as I recall, when I drove out to the country to get some dark skies. I set my 35mm Minolta camera with a 300mm prime on a tripod and pointed it to the horizon as the sun was setting. In the twilight I was able to get a few shots, but the skies weren't dark enough yet. It was very cold and windy, so I took refuge inside my car and waited for true dark. About 10 minutes later, I could feel the car shake as a terrific gust of wind blew up. To my horror, the tripod and camera flew away, across the road. I found them in a ditch, and all that remained usable was the tripod. The camera had impacted on the lens and both were destroyed. The whole camera frame was bent, and the end of the lens had broken the mirror. The front element was shattered. I said for years that the comet had broken my camera.

Getting caught between a mad beer slinging girl and her boyfriend at a Jake Owen concert with my 7D/70-200 2.8, or nearly being run over on the sideliens at a high school football game. The beer totally covered my rig, drenching it front to back! All is well however!

There have been a few issues over my last 10 years as a wedding photographer. The one that stands out, however, is when I dropped my 70-200 onto a marble floor during a wedding. The bride saw (and heard) it happen and asked if everything was okay. Looking at the lens, and the broken glass inside it, I told her everything was great... never upset a bride on her wedding day! There was a pro photo store on the way to the reception so I stopped in and was very lucky to find a used 70-200 V2 stabilized lens for $1300. It was in perfect condition and I use it to this day.
My 24-105 crapped out on me two weeks ago while I was in Patagonia. I'd only brought that one lens with me on the trip, not wanting to schlepp any extraneous gear around the mountains. One day it just stopped working; it would only shoot wide open. Now I'm back in the States and the lens is being repaired.