Surf Stories
Stories from people SURFING on The Bay of Bengal Dec 26th 2004
These stories are being collected to assist the international tsunami community in creating guidelines to help people on the sea, in future tsunamis.
If possible, please try to include information about the following:
1) Location of surf spot, type/size of surfboard, approximate water depth, how were the waves before the tsunami
2) How did you learn about the tsunami, what time was it
3) What did you do
4) What happened:
-appearance of wave or waves
-did you observe a drawdown of the water
-how many waves or water surges
-how long did the unusual wave or current activity last
5) How did you or your group fare? Deaths or injuries?
6) How did you and your board fare? Could you hold on?
7) Did you see any marine wildlife acting up before or during?
Any additional comments
Please post and find the Surf stories by using the "comments" button, here:
posted by birdieee at 5:55 PM
12 Comments:
Surfers save village of Lagundri Bay
Friday 7 January, 2005
Surfers riding the famous Lagundri Bay on Nias saved hundreds of lives in the village after evacuating residents and tourists when they noticed strange fluctuations in the water level on the reef.
Wavescape has been informed by surf charter personnel in Padang that a number of visiting surfers in the water experienced weird surges on the reef as water sucked in and out several times. Realising that a tsunami was imminent, they frantically paddled to shore and raced through the village, screaming at people to leave their houses and losmen and run.
Within a short time the village was evacuated and the destruction wrought by the tsunami was assuaged by a dramatic lack of casualties.
For information on assisting relief efforts to the Northern and Western side of Nias, where villagers were not so lucky (it is believed that 1,000 or more have perished, and widespread disease is threatening), please support relief efforts by surf charter boat staff and the surfer-run NGO SurfAid, who are currently running emergency relief operations.
Alternatively, contact SurfAid CEO Andrew Griffiths on andrew@surfaidinternational.org
SurfAid, Indonesia
3rd Floor Hotel Dipo
Jl. Diponegorro No.13
Padang 25117, West Sumatera, Indonesia
Phone: +62 751 27966
Phone/Fax: +62 751 26922
www.surfaidinternational.org
Surfers ride wave of support for forgotten islands
Friday 7 January, 2005
Surf charter boats, surfing websites and surfer-run NGO SurfAid International have launched mercy missions and donations drives to bring immediate relief to Nias and other north Sumatran islands ignored by external aid agencies.
Surf charter boats from the Mentawais, headed by Sumatran Surfaris skipper Chris Scurrah, are ferrying emergency Surf Aid teams and food supplies from Padang to the worst hit northern islands of Nias, Simeulue and Banyak, where official external aid is yet to arrive despite casualties believed to run into the thousands.
Direct donations to Surf Aid via an online account, which are immediate, are being used up by the hour to stock up on medical and other supplies in the port of Padang, where the tsunamis caused minimal damage. This is in contrast to the agonisingly slow rollout of relief through large aid funds.
Australian surfer Scurrah is using his boat, Asia, to assist Surf Aid, an NGO that runs medical facilities in the remote area. Now they're faced with their biggest emergency relief effort in history. Scurrah, who was crossing the Mentawai Strait from Padang on a short private surf charter when the earthquakes hit, immediately steamed to Nias and Simeulue, reporting back to Surf Aid in Padang on the extent of the damage. He counted more than 300 bodies in one village alone, and witnessed apocalyptic devastation along the Western and Northern coast of Nias, known for its perfect surf and stone-age tribesmen who practise the ritual of 'stone-jumping'.
Scurrah's efforts, according to his wife Christina who runs a hotel in Padang on the Sumatran mainland, is centred on ferrying critical supplies and emergency medical staff to Nias, where the unofficial death toll looks set to exceed 1,000 people.
Surfers and the staff of surfing charter boat in Padang have been in touch with Wavescape and Indies Explorer owners, who are teaming up with Surf Aid to launch a donation drive from South African surfers. Surf Aid officials say that these donations have an immediate impact on relief efforts because they bypass the laboured bureaucracy of the bigger funds that have seen not one bit of external aid reaching Nias, which is in critical need of relief.
Chantal Malherbe, one of the South African owners of the 110 foot 'Bugis Schooner', Indies Explorer, urged hundreds of former clients on surf trips to the area, as well as other South African surfers, to donate money to help pay for relief efforts running out of Padang. "We have done extensive research in rigorous consultation with colleagues in Padang and would urge all South African surfers to stamp their mark by donating urgently to Surf Aid International."
PLEASE CLICK HERE for donation options. Don't forget to use the reference 'Indies Explorer' or 'SA Surfers' or 'Wavescape' so that Surf Aid can keep track of who is sending money.
"While there's no shortage of money being raised from around the world, it will be weeks before this begins to filter down to these inaccessible places. Only boats and planes can reach them. By choosing this fund, you will make an immediate difference to villagers' lives right now. Surf Aid have a number of surf charter and cargo boats at their disposal, and their staff has grown to more than 30. They're frenetically busy with a number of mercy missions right now, but desperately need funds."
"I appeal to all South African surfers and their families who have surfed the Mentawais, particularly those hundreds of folks who have sailed with us on the Indies Explorer, to make their mark by donating now. This paradise has fulfilled many surfers' dreams, now it's our turn to reciprocate by ending the nightmare," Malherbe implored.
The Indies Explorer escaped damage despite serious surges in Sibolga, only 100 kms from the epicentre of the quake, where it was moored for its annual refit.
Steve Pike from Wavescape said that monetary aid through the online account set up by Surf Aid was the only way that donations could have a direct impact on relief teams stocking up on provisions in Padang for mercy missions in the area. "People in the area say that so far no external aid is reaching them, probably because of corrupt officials and the inaccessibility of many areas. But through the Surf Aid online donation, an hour after you have punched your donation through, a doctor could be buying a box of hypodermic syringes. That's how immediate it is."
PLEASE CLICK HERE for donation options. Don't forget to use the reference 'Indies Explorer' or 'SA Surfers' or 'Wavescape' so that Surf Aid can keep track of who is sending money.
Many know Nias and the islands as a pristine paradise with great surf and warm and generous hospitality. Now it is a region wrought with death, destruction and a severe need for food, water and medical attention. And yet, according to residents on the island, Nias has not received any aid at all, despite the billions of dollars being poured into relief efforts to the Indonesian mainland, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.
The northern and Western sides of Nias and islands such as Simuelue (desparately close to the epicentre of the quake) were severely hit by the tsunami. Initial reports were that 300 were dead in one town on Nias, let alone the island. Many people have fled inland, so it will be some time before the true stats emerge. Fresh water has been tainted by seawater, and thousands of acres of paddy fields destroyed. Surf Aid staff say that outbreaks of cholera, malaria and typhoid are threatening.
"SurfAid is focusing efforts on their core competencies and therefore targeting the outbreak of malaria, typhoid and cholera. Additionally, we will be providing water purification supplies and education," said SurfAid International CEO Andrew Griffiths. SurfAid’s team of doctors will be stationed in Nias to provide medical service and preventative treatment, while community facilitators will provide supplies and education on water purification. SurfAid’s local Padang office will support logistics, administration and cross functional communication efforts.
Because the region is only accessible by boat, the luxury surfing charter boat, Indies Trader II, will serve as the medical relief team’s mobile headquarters in the area. The tsunami relief effort was kickstarted by initial funding by the Quiksilver Foundation, Indies Trader Company and Billabong.
The Surf Aid relief team, which includes surfers and surf charter staff based in Padang, is growing, with more than 30 people dedicated exclusively to mercy missions to the islands. The team includes a technical medical team with Indonesian speaking doctors, a disaster relief support team in Padang, disaster relief consultants, and trained local community facilitators.
Information about Nias is scarce because of limited transportation access and communications. What is known is that there are several regions of the island that were badly impacted but there has been little or no medical aid in the area. The worst hit areas appear to be the Sirombu and Mandrehe sub-districts, where unverified data suggests that many communal pillars such as schools, churches, mosques, hospitals and community health clinics and homes have been damaged or destroyed. There are also reports of hundreds of severe injuries and deaths around the island.
SurfAid is in the process of sending a medical assessment team to confirm these reports and the areas in greatest need of medical attention. Medical supplies such as immunizations, general medicines, surgical equipment, mosquito nets, and water purification mechanisms have already been secured to begin treating this community, but more will be needed.
SurfAid will be providing ongoing updates on the SurfAid international website as we continue to receive information on the situation in Nias and the needs of the disaster relief team.
Surf Aid Response Plan
1. Provide disease prevention specifically targeting:
a.. Malaria
b.. Typhoid
c.. Cholera
2. Water purification
3. Injury and illness treatment
Technical medical team of 11:
a.. 3 Expatriate doctors (with Indonesian language skills and 2-3 yrs experience working in the Mentawai Islands)
b.. Orthopaedic surgeon
c.. 2 Expatriate nurses with language skills and experience in the area
d.. Indonesian malaria project manager, a trained nurse with 25 years experience in the health sector
e.. Microscopist for malaria diagnostics
f.. 2 Senior community facilitators
g.. 3 Experienced local facilitation staff Medical relief support team of 10:
a.. Disaster relief consultant with local area and language expertise
b.. Communications director based in Jakarta with local area and language expertise
c.. 8 disaster relief staff members to handle logistics, supplies and communication
Medical resources
a.. Up to 5,000 mosquito nets
b.. Water purification supplies
c.. Diagnostic equipment
d.. Immunizations
e.. Needles
f.. General Medicines
g.. Malaria Medicines
h.. Surgical equipment
A 70-foot boat complete with:
a.. Satellite communications
b.. Accommodations for the team
c.. Water Makers
SurfAid International is a health focused NGO which has been operating in the Mentawai Islands, off West Sumatra, for the past four years. The organisation has focussed principally on communicable disease prevention including malaria control and immunization through a direct implementation approach. SurfAid has established strong working relationships with local
communities, local NGOs, regional, provincial and central Health Departments and the World Health Organisation (WHO). The organisation has strong links with local surfing communities, many of whom are well established in Nias Island, West Sumatra Province. For more information contact SurfAid CEO Andrew Griffiths on andrew@surfaidinternational.org
760.672.7316
or SurfAid, Indonesia
3rd Floor Hotel Dipo
Jl. Diponegorro No.13
Padang 25117, West Sumatera, Indonesia
Phone: +62 751 27966
Phone/Fax: +62 751 26922
www.surfaidinternational.org
2:15 PM
Top graphic account of surfing Sri Lanka as Tsunami hit
Indian Ocean Tsunami:
Surfing in Sri Lanka as Tsunami hit
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 27 January 2005: - - Adam Smith and Elizabeth Auffenberg travelled to Sri Lanka to surf the waves at Hikkaduwa; they were caught in the Boxing Day Tsunami. The couple arrived in late December and before they were enjoying the waves of Sri Lanka.
Come Boxing Day the couple had become quite familiar with the local breaks and Adam, being a seasoned surfer, decided that he would paddle out to one of the reefs off Hikkaduwa beach to sample the waves there. Liz decided, on account of her inexperience, to surf the shore break.
Adam was surfing about six or seven hundred metres off-shore, when the first Tsunami rolled in, but he didn't really notice it, the only indication that anything was wrong was the fact that the wave had 'closed-out' on what would otherwise have been a 'clean-break.' Adam duck-dived the wave and waited for the next set, but the surf had all but disappeared.
The water had became so deep over the reef that the waves were no longer breaking, instead the water started to surge and pummel the coast line, destroying all structures that had previously stood there. Adam witnessed this swell hitting the beach and his first thoughts turned to Liz, who had been surfing on the shore break.
He began to paddle back to shore, but the landscape had changed dramatically since he had paddled out and the only landmarks he could immediately recognise were the tops of palm trees, and indication that there was still land below. By the time Adam had paddled about halfway back to shore the water had already started to recede, a reef, which he had been surfing on earlier was now dry and he began to scurry across it back to shore.
Adam ran back to the steps where he had entered the beach tried to make his way back to the apartment where the couple had been staying. By this stage another water surge had hit the coast and the water had again risen above head height. There was no sign of Liz. Adam feared the worse and upon reviewing the situation believed that Liz might have perished on account of the force of the tsunami and the devastation that surrounded him.
Unbeknownst to Adam, Liz had been found, clinging to a palm tree, by a group of Sri Lankan men, who helped an injured Liz to the second floor of a near by apartment. By this stage Adam was frantically trying to find out what had happened to his partner, had anyone seen her?
Adam fought the surging waters and made his way back to the apartment where they had been staying. Noticing some people they had met earlier taking refuge on the second floor of a building, Adam called out to see if they had seen Liz anywhere, luckily, an injured Liz was in the same building.
The couple were reunited and the decision was promptly made by all to evacuate to higher ground. To hear the rest of Adam and Liz's story, click on the audio links below:
Adam and Liz's Story Part One Requires RealPlayer
Adam and Liz's Story Part Two Requires RealPlayer
http://www.abc.net.au/sunshine/stories/s1287832.htm
Regional news
I 'surfed' killer wave to safety
Jan 7 2005
By Marc Baker, Chester Chronicle
ACADEMIC Simon Dowell miraculously escaped the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami by 'surfing' a wave which killed 600 islanders in Thailand.
Dr Dowell was waiting for a boat on a floating jetty on Thailand's Phi Phi island at 10.30am on Boxing Day when a wave struck - forcing him and his partner out to sea.
Amazingly, Dr Dowell managed to cling on to the jetty as the wave lifted it from its base throwing him up into the air.
He says the jetty was transformed into a giant surfboard as it was struck by the force of the wave which pushed his partner underwater.
Although the wave killed more than 600 on the island - where the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach was filmed - the pair survived and were this week back in Britain.
The pair simply cannot believe they are alive as the tsunami almost wiped out Phi Phi island.
Dr Dowell, 39, of Warren Hall Court, Broughton, Chester, flew home on Saturday after recovering from his injuries at a private hospital in Bangkok.
Dr Dowell, director of the School of Biology and Earth Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University, sustained a broken ankle and was this week at home counting his blessings.
'My partner and I were waiting for a boat on a floating jetty on Phi Phi island when the tsunami hit us,' said Dr Dowell.
'We were both standing on the jetty and wondered why the sea level was so low ahead of us - a wave then came and lifted the jetty from its connection to the shore.
'I managed to grab hold and stay on the jetty as it was lifted into the air while my partner was forced underwater. The wave lifted the jetty up into the air like a surfboard.'
A nearby boat then came to the pair's aid.
'The wave swept us into the sea but we managed to clamber aboard a nearby boat and survived. The boat was sinking but rode the second wave and we were able to jump to a more sturdy boat,' said Dr Dowell.
'Eventually, a passing speed boat picked us up (together with a couple from Argentina who had also climbed aboard) and we then spent about five hours on the sea riding the waves until it could get close enough in to shore for us to swim to safety.
'We spent the night in the open on a high point on the island being looked after by tourists and locals alike.'
Dr Dowell said: 'The next day, because I was injured, we were carried by helicopter to Phuket, got treatment in the hospital there and then were driven by ambulance straight on to the tarmac of Phuket airport and into a plane for Bangkok.
'The generosity and kindness of the Thai people has been over-whelming. We have had free flights, first-class and efficient treatment in hospitals.
'Their organisation was fantastic. Back in Bangkok friends and strangers alike have been wonderful.
'The Thais really are very special people and their organisation and efficiency in dealing with this disaster must be given the highest praise by the international community.
'My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones and who are injured, we share in their grief.'
Dr Dowell added: 'My partner and I are truly lucky to be alive. The wave killed 600 people on Phi Phi island, several boatmen and about 30 people working on a new hotel.
'We can't believe we are here to tell the tale.'
Survivor tells harrowing tale
01/04/2005
By Delian Gaskell
It is and has been quite traumatic and chaotic here right now. We are now in the centre of the island in Kandy--away from the ocean.
When the tidal wave hit, we were having our last surf lesson and so were in the water when everything first happened.
Basically we rode out the first huge wave on our boards and stayed above the water while everyone else was being swept away and everything was being destroyed. Then the water pulled back out of the bay we were in and we barely managed to avoid being swept out to sea with the current. We landed on the beach after the first surge, but couldn't go ashore because another wave was coming. Our surf instructor told us that it was a matter of life and death that we stay away from the shore. We really didn't know what to do.
We had to cross some flood waters as they ran back from the inland to the sea--it was filled with mud, sand and debris. We were still attached to our surfboards and I was swept under the mud by my board in the middle of the river. Luckily, because I was still attached to my board, even though it had sucked me under in the first place, I was eventually pulled up to the surface with it before I blacked out. I managed to pull my board to me and flopped on top of it until I could breathe again, then started trying to look for [my husband], Ran. I couldn't find him. The second big wave came in and I was pushed onto the shore because I was too exhausted to fight the surge. I was able to catch some branches before hitting very much, then got off of my board and starting screaming for help.
A Sinhalese man ran up to me and led me to a three-storey building where there were about 20 people on the roof. The waves came in and out for almost two hours and every time there were people being caught in it--I can't really describe the sounds and what it was like. I couldn't find Ran--though I thought I saw him about a kilometre out in the bay being swept by the current out to sea.
No one could really help me--the other people I was with were gone and all the boats had either been smashed on the shore or pulled out to sea.
After some time the surf instructor Yannick came up the road during one of the times the water surged out of the bay and he was thrilled to see that I was alive. Yannick went out on his surfboard to look for Ran three times. I spent at least two hours pacing the shore with the water coming in and out, destroying things every time, looking for Ran or his surfboard--but I knew if I just saw his surfboard that would mean that he wasn't attached to it so he would be dead. I have never been so afraid or for so long in my life.
Finally Yannick and another woman we were surfing with pulled me away from the spot I'd last seen Ran and tried to get me up the road toward higher ground--and after about five minutes we spotted Ran walking down the road toward us. I have never been so happy to see anyone before--I really did think he had died.
Ran had been swept away from his surfboard after he jumped in the flood waters when I was sucked under--he had taken off his surf leash so initially he was also in danger of drowning, but as luck would have it, he spotted his board and managed to cling to it long enough to re-strap the leash to his wrist. He couldn't get out of the current pulling out of the bay, so was sucked at least two kilometres offshore--he managed to angle his board toward one of the fishing boats that had been swept away and pulled himself onboard. No one was on the boat, so he broke a couple of doors and managed to drop the anchor, but it didn't really catch the ground. He stayed on the boat trying to figure out how to start the engine or make the rudder work--neither of which worked. After some time he said he was being pushed by the waves toward an island and was afraid the boat would crash on the rocks around it, but he couldn't do anything to stop this from happening. He was frantically waving at other people also stuck on other boats, but no one could really control their boats. Finally, miraculously, the surge stabilized before his boat hit the rocks and a rescue boat was able to reach him. He was picked up and taken a couple of kilometres along the shore from where I was, and we just happened to be walking toward each other.
The entire coast was hit, the south and east coasts the worst. All of the hotels and guesthouses in the area were right on the beach, so many foreigners either were swept into the surge during the first wave or lost everything when their hotels collapsed. There is no electricity or phone--there are no poles or lines left. Most of the roads are either completely or partially wiped out and huge portions of the train tracks are destroyed. There was no drinking water and nothing to eat except Coke and biscuits. We eventually walked the five kilometres down the "road" through the devastation to where our hotel was, in Welligama. It was two storeys tall, and luckily we had a room on the second floor--everything on the first floor was gone. The motorcycle we rode down from Kandy was found up a tree, destroyed, but our money and passports were in a safe untouched. We were able to run upstairs briefly--not for long because the building was unstable--to get these things and as many clothes as we could grab in a minute, then we just had to leave.
We didn't know what to do and every five minutes people would say another tidal wave was coming, but the only way to get around is a path right by the ocean. We very nervously ran back down the road with the sea threatening to surge again to where our surf instructor Yannick lives. He found us a family with a house about two kilometres in the jungle, away from the ocean, and we all huddled there for the night. I was covered with mud still and couldn't rinse any of it off because there wasn't any water to waste for washing.
The radio started reporting what happened, how many people had died, that there was a likelihood of another tidal wave if an aftershock hit hard enough. When morning finally came we went back to the road by the shore--another Sinhalese family tried to help us find a way to get inland but the petrol was running out quickly. We finally decided to walk to the nearest town with a small road leading inland, then once we got there we started asking around there for someone to let us get in their car as everyone continued to try to get as far from the water as possible. It was very harrowing because the police kept broadcasting that another tidal wave could be coming and we couldn't seem to get very far from the water. Finally some people in a Tata truck felt sorry enough for us that they let us sit in the back of their truck as they drove inland. This couple was extremely nice to us--they drove us first to their mother's house inland and fed us--we'd been living on Coke and crackers for about a day and a half--then drove us inland further to where we could find a hotel for the night.
All of the tourists and locals who can are now desperately going inland so it's difficult to find anywhere to stay. We had to look around for a few hours yesterday when we arrived in Kandy before we found a place.
I am having a hard time with the fact that I am okay and Ran is okay and how it happened. I keep replaying when I got sucked under the water and want to find a way to make it through that without me almost drowning. I also am having a difficult time with the fact that so many people are dead and I saw so much of it. I saw babies and women and men, house after house completely demolished, tiny kittens and puppies are wandering around.
I know that the only reason we are both still alive is due to luck--but I also know I more lucky because I can afford to leave the coast before all the diseases hit and can fly back to my comfortable life. This morning was the first time I was able to see the news and they showed video after video of the first wave surging in with people dying and things being destroyed--I was not able to watch more than a few minutes before running back to my hotel room crying. I think this is not something I'll get over quickly.
Delian Gaskell lived in Powell River from 1975 until 1987 and is the daughter of Powell River resident Owen Gaskell. This viewpoint is excerpted from an email she sent to her father about her experiences. Delian now lives in Hong Kong with her husband Ran and teaches at a university. The couple were vacationing in a small coastal town in southern Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit on December 26. She returned home on January 3.
10 Tourists Found on Wei Island
January 1, 2005 03:09 PM,
Laksamana.Net - Ten foreign tourists on a surfing holiday were trapped in Sabang, Wei island, just north of Aceh’s capital Banda Aceh, when massive tsunami ravaged the region last Sunday.
The Kompas website reported that the tourists were German, Swiss, Japanese, Dutch, English and Canadian nationals and had arrived on the idyllic if underdeveloped island on 21 December.
“We came to Sabang for a holiday,” a Canadian member of the group identified only as Debby said on Friday (01/01/05).
The article did not mention if any foreigners were among the dead swept out to sea or drowned by the tsunami that followed an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale that hit on Boxing Day.
The Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs estimated on Thursday that at least 12,000 people in Sabang and the small islands located in the bay north of the provincial capital had perished in the tragedy. The death toll across Aceh may reach 100,000 and the regional death toll from the tsunami disaster currently stands at 150,000.
Debby told the online version of Indonesia’s top selling newspaper that she was breakfasting with other tourists on Sunday morning, while a friend named Hal was already out on his surfboard.
“Suddenly we saw a huge wave of around 10 meters coming towards the beach. We just ran in all directions trying to save ourselves,” she said.
Hal was safe enough in the distance as the wave passed and most of Debby’s breakfast companions made it to higher ground in time to escape the impact of the tidal wave.
Hal returned to shore after the sea had settled and worked with locals and the handful of tourists on the island to distribute food and attempt to tend to the injured.
“Then after we felt safer we reported to the disaster relief post at the Sabang Mayor’s office and asked that we be taken to Medan,” she added referring to the capital of neighboring North Sumatra province where the relief effort is concentrated.
Acting commander of the air force in Sabang, Let.Col. Hari Widodo, said they were preparing to remove the tourists to Medan on an unspecified Hercules flight.
Foreign access to Aceh has been severely limited since the central government instated a ‘military emergency’ in an all-out attempt to crush the province’s long-standing separatist movement in May 2003. An estimated 3,000 guerrillas and civilians have died in the conflict since.
THE TSUNAMI DISASTER: SURFERS ESCAPE
TWO British tourists claim they escaped death by surfing on the tsunami.
Surfer Joe Pritchard, 17, from Dorset and Gary Wells, 21, from Devon were at the Sri Lankan resort of Midigama when the tsunami starting to surge in.
Joe said: 'I thought 'What's going on,' and jumped in the water.'
Joe and Gary were carried out by the receding tide half a mile across sand and coral to safety.
Surfer rides tsunami into hotel restaurant & then escapes
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British surfer rides tsunami into a hotel restaurant and then escapes.
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 31 December 2004: - - A Briton surfed to safety when he was caught by the tsunami as he waited for a perfect wave off Sri Lanka’s southern coast. Martin Markwell had the ride of his life as he surfed over what was moments earlier the beach in Hikkaduwa and ended up in a hotel restaurant.
“It was really terrible because I was surfing on a wave I wasn’t supposed to be on,” he said. “As an experienced surfer, when I saw the wave come I realised something was wrong, but I couldn’t escape because my surfboard was tied to my ankle.”
His wife Vicki and son Jake looked on in fear from a hotel balcony as he careered toward the shore. Amazingly, he stayed on his board until he reached the hotel, leaped off as the ocean rolled back to feed a much larger, 30 ft high wave on its way.
The family regrouped and ran inland into jungle to higher ground and safety just minutes before a giant tsunami wave 30 feet high crashed into Sri Lanka's coast, killing more than 28,500 people.
Reuters News
Lucky escape for Australians working in the Maldives
AM - Friday, 31 December , 2004 08:15:04
Reporter: John Stokes
PETER CAVE: Even at the best of times the sandy atolls which make up the Maldives are barely above the waters of the Indian Ocean. The islands were thrashed by the tsunami.
The death toll there is 75 dead and 42 missing, and with 70 per cent of the Maldives economy based on travel and tourism, the Tsunami will be a financial disaster of unprecedented scale.
Steve Lanfranco and his mate Gabe McGee were working as surfing instructors in the Maldives when the tsunami struck. Both are from the Sunshine Coast. They spoke to the ABC's John Stokes.
STEVE LANFRANCO: We were both in the water. I had a seven-year-old kid, his name was Theo. We were having a lesson and Gabe was in the water as well, videoing and photographing the lesson. And all of a sudden the sea started boiling and the islands from which we were surfing out the front of, just started going underwater.
And the waves stopped breaking off the edge of the reef where we usually surf and started breaking in between the coconut trees on the island and five or 10 minutes later after the sea started boiling, this huge current that has never happened before sort of started to push us into the channel.
We had our little boat there and we just got on the boat in time. The sea turned into rapids.
We had out two assistants with us who were both out in the water as well, so we all fortunately safely got back on to the donny (phonetic) or the boat and that was the first part. But then getting back was a little bit of a mission too, because our donny was (phonetic), it was sort of helpless for a little while, and we almost got dry reefed a few times, and we got sucked out to sea another time, and there were waves that nearly capsized the boat.
JOHN STOKES: As the water surged in Steve, did the island completely disappear from where you were, looking back to where the island should be, was it completely underwater?
STEVE LANFRANCO: The island of Tumbaradoo (phonetic) which is just out the front of the surf break, where we were surfing, that went underwater. The first thing we saw was just all the bats and birds just rise up into the sky. And the surge lasted for no longer than 10 minutes, and then as quickly as it came in, it sucked back out.
So it went from the highest tide that I've ever seen, to the lowest tide that I've ever seen.
And on that suck back out, which is probably was worse I suppose what damage it did, because it sucked everything off the islands, and when we were getting back on out donny (phonetic), we were seeing all sorts of stuff floating in the water – big shipping crates, upturned boats and all sorts of debris floating in the water, jetties from islands and all sorts of stuff.
It was pretty full-on when we were getting back. We didn't really realise the extent of the damage until we got back closer to the resort, and we saw all this stuff floating in the water and everyone in havoc on the island.
JOHN STOKES: I guess this won't stop you going back to the Maldives in the future to continue working?
STEVE LANFRANCO: No way. It's one of those things that happens in a blue moon, hopefully. It's not anything to do with terrorism or anything like that. It's just a one off thing – an earthquake. You know, it could have happened anywhere and anytime and I guess you could say, we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But like I said earlier, we were really lucky and it could have been a lot worse.
PETER CAVE: Steve Lanfranco speaking there to John Stokes.
Briton in Sri Lanka: I surfed the tsunami; - A British tourist in Sri Lanka claims that he actually surfed the weekend's tsunami. Gary Wolf visiting Sri lanka said "Suddenly I saw that the rocks near the shore had simply disappeared," he recounted. "At first, I didn't understand what was happening and I concentrated on surfing. When I finished surfing, I discovered that I was on the highway, about half a mile from the beach where my room was. Fortunately, the waves pulled me and my surfboard into shore instead of out into the ocean."
Surfer survives the surge at Lohifushi when tsunami hit
SE Asia Quake/Tsunami - Maldives
UK surfer survived 6 foot surge at Lohifushi when the tsunami hit
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 28 December 2004: - - Mike Rigg, 33, a construction worker from the Wirral near Liverpool, UK, was surfing at the resort of Lohifushi when the tsunami hit. He said there was a six-feet-high surge in the waves and he was dragged along the edge of a powerful current, though he managed to stay out of the worst of it.
Finally he reached an area where he could stand and fought his way to shore. He watched two scuba divers being rescued by a boat after being dragged by a current, and saw another motorboat unable at full power to make any headway against a violent surge of water rushing past the island.
Nicola Whiteford, 35, a structural engineer from London, said guests at Lohifushi huddled around the bar area, which was the only major part of the island that stayed consistently above water. “The frightening thing was that before each wave, the lagoon emptied itself out and you could see the coral. So we knew another one was coming,” she said.
Ms Whiteford said that for hours after the disaster, survivors didn’t know what had caused the tsunami or what to expect, because radio communications were patchy and power cuts meant television wasn’t working.
I was paddling off Nias on my paddling board
try to get in shape during the off-season,
when I notice bigger and bigger waves coming in.
I starts paddling for the horizon, and I see a
monster wave walling up about another 1/4 mile
offshore, so I turned around and caught this
20 ft walled monster and rode it into shore.
Of course I was just belly boarding it
and between the shore abutments I did some
rolling quite a bit but never lost grip.
The local chief Tomaite' can verify my veracity.
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