Posted on 01/02/2005 5:55:35 PM PST by Dr. Marten
Briton Surfs Tsunami, Survives 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.
Dec 31, 10:41 AM (ET)
I bet that must have looked strange.
Ok Martin Markwell. An angel was obviously on your shoulder!
Now, if you were such an experienced surfer....(and thank goodness you were able to ride to safety)...WHAT were you doing in the ocean when the tide went OUT like it did!!!!!
A British surfer? Dude, mate, those Southhampton waves kick arse!
Credit where it's due -- unlike a lot of folks, after the first one he realized that *another* one was on the way, and got himself and his family the heck out of there immediately.
Too many other people went *towards* the beach to look at the strange events after the first wave came in, then got caught by "The Big One".
This happened years ago on Gilligan's Island.
You are right. I didn't process that. I skim read and assumed he was ON the Big One.
My mistake.
Credit is CORRECT.
Just wondering since the last time this article was posted, were there any righteous surfing waves that day?
Whoa...the Big Kahuna hits and this guy steps off his board at the hotel? There isn't a bucket in the world big enough to hold that kind of luck. Cowabunga, dude...
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