Posted on 12/31/2004 4:52:11 PM PST by Flavius
HIKKADUWA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - British surfer Martin Markwell had always dreamed of catching that perfect wave -- but when it finally came along, it was a nightmare.
Markwell was paddling on his surfboard Sunday off the popular Hikkaduwa beach resort on Sri Lanka's palm-fringed southern coast when he was swept up by a tsunami wave and sent crashing over a white sand beach and into a hotel restaurant.
"It was really terrible because I was surfing, I was really surfing on a wave I wasn't supposed to be on," he told Reuters.
"As an experienced surfer, when I saw the wave come I realized 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 horror from a hotel balcony as he crashed toward the shore. Miraculously, he stayed atop his board until he reached the hotel, jumped off and waded to safety as the ocean rolled back to feed a much larger tsunami wave on its way.
The family regrouped and ran inland into jungle to safety just minutes before a giant tsunami wave 30 feet high crashed into Sri Lanka's coast, killing more than 28,500 people.
Wow. It wasn't his day to die.
Smells.
Lucky to get on top of the wave.
I have a $20 bill in my pocket that says this guy's story will be debunked in very little time. It just doesn't pass the smell test.
"Miraculously, he stayed atop his board until he reached the hotel, jumped off and waded to safety as the ocean rolled back to feed a much larger tsunami wave on its way."
Miracle indeed....amazing how he was able to ride the wave to the hotel so cleanly and safely...something is rotten with this "fish" story..
MY thought EXACTLY!!!!
Yeah, and how did he jump off if the board was tied to his ankle?
Sounds like a fishing tale.
First duuuuuuuuuuude to ever surf a Tsunami! Radical!
Bingo!
Reuters, bound to smell.
Surfing the face of the tsunami would require moving nearly horizontally across the wave at a high subsonic speed. Something like 140 mph and you wouldn't be hanging ten. Maybe you could turn and go up on top.
Well, it's better to be on the wave than in it, don't ya think?
Martin Markwell, 38 from Porthcawl, South Wales, UK shows how high the water was when the tsunami hit in Hikkaduwa, south of Sri Lanka on December 31, 2004. Markwell was paddling on his surfboard on Sunday off the popular Hikkaduwa beach resort on Sri Lanka's palm-fringed southern coast when he was swept up by a tsunami wave and sent crashing over a white sand beach and into a hotel restaurant.
Martin Markwell, 38, his wife Vicki, 41 and her son Jai, 7 stand together while explaining how they survive when a tsunami flooded the beach in the city of Hikkaduwa, south of Sri Lanka, December 31, 2004.
Vicki Markwell, 41 from Porthcawl, South Wales, UK shows where she was standing with her son Jai, 7 while her husband Martin, 38 was surfing when a tsunami flooded the beach in the city of Hikkaduwa, south of Sri Lanka, December 31, 2004.
Martin Markwell, 38 from Porthcawl, South Wales, UK shows how high the water was when the tsunami brought him into a restaurant dining room while surfing in Hikkaduwa, south of Sri Lanka December 31, 2004. Martin, his wife Vicki, 41 and their boy Jai, 7 survived the disaster and have decided to stay in Sri Lanka to help local people and friends to clear wreckage from the destroyed buildings.
In the movie "Dark Star", the ship blows up and the hero catches a piece of debris and uses it as a surf board as he enters the atmosphere. He last words were "I think I'm going to make it" and then he disappears in a flash of light.
It is a hilarious dark comedy movie.
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