This page has been designated for all reports and resources pertaining to the Tsunami tradegy December 26 in S.E. Asia. For all other threads of Boat Watch categories, please use the Back Button to return to home page and select the appropriate link.

First, let me share the following Internet Links which convey a wealth of information, as follows: http://www.langkawitsunami.net, http://www.cruiser.co.za, http://www.bur.st/~philsuth/tsunami_status.html, www.winlink.org.

Here begins our extensive coverage of mariner-related information from the Tsunami incident:

01/07/2005 In this fortunate lull of incoming search requests, I felt it appropriate to share a couple of recently received accounts from mariners in the affected area of the Tsunami, as follows:

These reports were sent to me by John - GW0OJI on Barnacle C in Kilifi, Kenya.
88 - Trudi - 8P6QM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) From June and Garland aboard SWIFT in Telaga marina, Langkawi Malaysia;

The tsunami hit the day after Christmas which was also Garland's birthday. We were down below, Garland was reading & June was baking an apple birthday pie. About 1:30 pm SWIFT began to jerk on her dock lines in an alarming way. We looked out & the water was churning with small waves. Our first thought was that one of the large motor yachts had left the harbor too fast. There are several here up to 150 feet long. The surface of the water became more violent, a dock line broke on an unattended yacht near us. Garland started to get off the boat to replace the broken line when the docks really started to toss around. The docks are floating pontoons held in place by steel pilings driven into the bottom. June yelled not to get off the boat.

Next to us at the end of the pier was a large 50 ft ketch; onboard were a couple & their two grown children & spouses. They had just bought the boat& their knowledge was limited. The three men jumped on the dock to put the fenders back in place. The dock took another violent lurch & threw all three into the water. The water at this point was dark gray from the mud brought up from the bottom with all kinds of debris in it already. The women onboard were screaming with concern for their men. The mother was yelling to save her husband; she just kept repeating this over & over. We eventually were able to toss a lifebuoy to the father, we never saw the two sons once they fell off the dock.

Just after this, the boat across & directly in front of us completely flipped over. This trimaran named TriOdyssey was owned by Jerry & Ruth Allen. We have known them for four years. They are fun & generous people. When their boat flipped we had not seen them on deck & at this point no one would have failed to look outside. This scared us because we didn't know whether or not they were aboard. While all of this was going on the entire marina was breaking apart. The pontoons are about 50 feet long & are hinged together by aluminum plates. When these joints broke they were just jagged aluminum battering rams.

Just after TriOdyssey flipped over, SWIFT keeled over sharply to starboard. We were literally standing on the side of the cockpit with muddy water pouring over the cockpit coamings. We have never been anywhere near this angle of heel on the ocean. This would have required about a 75-80 degree angle. Up until then we thought we would survive this, but then we told each other that we would probably loose SWIFT. Bear in mind that every minute there was more damage going on around us & the level of the forces kept elevating. The boats closest to us were still tied to the pontoon in some fashion. At one point the waters in the harbor began to circulate counterclockwise & boats were facing every direction & crashing into each other. If you can imagine a car crash that keeps going & going, that's what it was like. This rotation of the water began to surge towards the seawall & take us with it. This wall forms the western side of the harbor & is like a peninsula 300-400 yards wide with the ocean on the other side. Our first thought was that this land was moving towards us as in an earthquake. We
didn't realize that we were moving towards it. Then we began reversing direction. This surging repeated itself several times. This water surge movement was about 10 knots & the eddies created were in many different directions causing all the boats to crash into each other from different directions & speeds. It was chaos. Finally, we began to be pushed out & down the channel with the pontoon still tied to our starboard side with the ketch outboard of that & with two other boats our size. Although we were moving rapidly the water was calming & we could see that we were going to survive. One boat wanted to start his engine & put it in gear but we convinced him not to do that because of the debris in the water & the forces of the current would just damage their propeller. The women on the ketch had no idea what to do with their boat & still didn't know where their men were. We all did our best not to panic. We all were going to make it.

Once out of the harbor & inside the barrier islands it was calmer. We broke up the raft by slicing off the dock lines. Three of us dropped anchors afraid we were drifting up on to the island & of course they tangled in the current. We believe that this is where we damaged & lost our keel fairing. The women on the ketch were coming to grips with their situation & taking charge of it, when a dinghy sped towards us with her husband safely onboard but definitely battered & bruised from being in the water. We all motored away towards the beach to drop anchors again. Several unattended boats had started drifting up on the beach of the barrier islands, some are still there. Boats were still rapidly coming out of the harbor with the current, eventually emptying the harbor of boats & pontoons. So while things had settled down for us, the drama was still going on for others. No sooner had we dropped the anchor, we noticed that the water level began to rapidly drop again leaving the boats on the beach high, dry, & stranded. We called into the marina office because we wanted someone to check on Ruth &
Jerry & were told immediately that they were safe on land. At this point knowing that the worst had been averted for them, we released a flood of tears.

Many of the boats in the marina were unoccupied while owners were traveling for the Christmas holidays. Shortly after we dropped the anchor we pulled it back up again to go out further in deeper waters since we were fearful of another wave. We spent the night with many others drifting around cleaning up all the debris inside of SWIFT. Our minds & bodies insisted on action because of all the adrenalin. Just the task of cleanup helped us through the night. The apple pie became an apple crumble when we finally found it under the stove upside down. It wasn't until 11 hours later when we turned on our satellite radio that we finally heard the news of the devastation around the entire Indian Ocean. At that time the death toll was an overwhelming 4000. We began to comprehend just how fortunate we were to have been spared our lives & with our floating home. The following dawn we moved closer to shore but stayed in deep water outside the barrier islands
as many warnings continued. Our first priority after hearing of the disaster was to get news home that we were safe.

We are now back inside the harbor tied to the one small remaining piece of the marina with three other boats, being one of the smallest boats sometimes has its own reward. Most boats are being hauled out or moving over to Royal Langkawi Yacht Club on the other side of the island. We are trying to organize repairs & trying to get this behind us. We will have to haul SWIFT to repair the keel damage but we will wait with many others as facilities are so limited.

A small fishing village, just around a narrow point of land from us is right on the water. These are very modest homes close together & everything there was virtually flattened with at least one lost of life. Everything in their homes is piled up in their yards covered with mud & waiting to be hauled away as trash. There are few services available for them, i.e. a fire department to assist in clean up. Anything that any of you can do to help any of these people in any of the affected countries will help them. We know from personal experience that your genuine offers to help are a great emotional boost.

The yachting community has pulled together, many were out immediately anchoring the drifting unattended boats to avoid further damage. Many others have assisted in the manual labor of pulling boats off the rocks, beaches, & diving on the sunken boats to try to retrieve any personal things lost. Some have offered their homes to those left with absolutely nothing. The support has been overwhelming. The emotional levels have soared & dropped many times, occasionally tempers flair but these are releases of trauma & loss. It will take some time to settle down again for all.

Seven boats were sunk in our harbor not counting the many local fishing boats. Two more sailboat are still on the rocks inside the harbor.
Fortunately for Jerry & Ruth on TriOdyssey they had just left for a walk together so they experienced the lost of their boat & personal tragedy on shore. We said goodbye to them yesterday when they left for their return back to California to restart their lives. All three men from the ketch survived. There was a large red navigation buoy just outside the harbor entrance. The tsunami brought it into the very center of the harbor during the chaos. It's red beacon light continues to flash tonight.

Just putting this on paper has been therapeutic for us. And we thank you all again for your prayers & concern.
Garland & June

2) From Terry & Janine aboard CRISTATA in Nai Harn, Phuket:

Well this certainly was an exciting Boxing Day, just to fill you in on what happened after we talked to you the first time. We were getting ready to go ashore and ride the motorcycle up to visit friends at the north end of the island when we had a call from another boat to chat about computer problems. What a lucky call because it delayed us just enough that while we were going to shore in the dinghy we noticed all the yachts were turning out to sea. We called a couple of yachts on the phone and told them to stick their heads up because it looked like a strange current was sweeping into the bay. At the same time we noticed we were now caught in a strong rip near the beach and turned back out to sea. The boats all turned back to their normal direction and a strong current was now sweeping us offshore. We managed to
get in the lee of a friends boat and we chatted briefly with them and decided a tidal wave had just hit the bay. Not knowing any better we thought this would be the only one and headed back into the beach.

We landed the dinghy and dragged it up the beach as far as we could and tied it to a tree. Terry then went over to our motorcycle which had been submerged and knocked over in the first wave. The first wave hadn't done too much damage to the resort, at this bay, as the wave hadn't destroyed any buildings but garbage was strewn everywhere on the beach and the parking lot was in dripping disarray. Terry pushed
our motorcycle up the hill while I stood by and watched a second wave sweep in. It quickly reached our dinghy which began to float and was pushed into the tree, as the water got higher the dinghy got trapped under the branches and looked like it would be submerged but a car floated by and bumped into the dinghy and pushed it out, that was so surreal. I didn't pay any attention to damage or people, I was yelling at Terry to forget about trying to start the bike and get back to the boat. He came back as the water was receding to normal and couldn't understand why I was so excited. Everything still seemed pretty normal, nautically, as we got into the dinghy and headed out but we could see in the distance a wall of water on the horizon. We made a mad dash for Cristata and started hauling up the anchor as soon as we were
on deck. People were screaming on shore but we were far enough out that none of the waves broke under us. Most of the other boats were madly dashing out to sea as well. The bay we were in is deep and we probably could have stayed anchored and been ok, as many boats
did, but we felt better with lots of room around us.

We watched with binoculars as the next series of tidal surges swept into the bay. It was the next series of waves that did the most damage but we were safely in deep water and didn't even notice it. Even now, 10 hours later, there are still small surges coming under us. At present we are anchored and Terry is out in the dinghy gathering up interesting debris like wind surfing boards and refrigerators. We had an entire
wall and roof from a building get caught in our anchor chain. Our rails are covered with foam sunbathing mats and the foredeck is covered in plastic deck chairs we collected as we drifted around waiting out the surges.

The wind has gone really calm and a full moon rose up right behind all the destruction casting a weak glow on the devastation ashore. The air smells really strange too. Most, not all, yachts managed to get away unscathed in Phuket but there were lots of near misses. We heard the damage done in Langkawi wiped out 2 marinas, and we have yet to hear from friends there. I imagine you've seen the wreckage on TV and
we feel a bit nervous but are lucky to be safe. The one thing we lost was my shoe, as I saw the wave starting to come in I ran over to the rock where we put our helmets, shoes, and garbage. I grabbed everything, including the garbage, but when we got back to the boat one shoe was missing... We'll sort out the motorcycle in the morning and then help clean up the resort where yachties hang out. Most of their
little beach bungalows suffered various levels of destruction and their restaurant was obliterated.

from Terry and Janine

01/04/2005: One set of worried parents asked our assistance to learn the well-being of their daughter who was on a scuba diving trip on a charter dive boat named Ocean Rover, based in Phuket. No word on the status of the vessel, their daughter, nor the other passengers and crew had been reported since the Tsunami.

We are pleased to report that the vessel and all people aboard are safe. See http://www.fantasea-divers.com/latest-news/tsunamiupdates.htm for full details.

12/28/2004 S/V Distant Drummer believed in harms way of the Tsunami. Reported all okay, 12/29/04

For those who want to know how serious was the concern for Distant Drummer, let me share with you their latest correspondence via Sailmail on the day before the Tsunami, 12/25/04:

Tom is a German citizen and Tammy is American
They maintain a website seasickandbroke.com photos of both of them may be found on the website.
Received: 12/25/2004 1:51:00 AM

Merry Christmas and Ho Ho Ho ! And what a ho ho ho it is. Arriving in
Ao Chalong in Phuket island was not what I ;expected. I guess I believed
the beautiful pictures in our sailing guide, blue/green waters in sandy
bays, completing ignoring the fact that Phuket gets visited by 5 million
people per year.

After checking in we realized that our anchorage isa not the most popular
place for cruisers but all the water activities for tourists, i.e. more
than a hundred speed boats, passing by close our boat to get a peek on
people living on a sail boat. Whicj makes the anchorage as calm as the
Atlantic Ocean during a winter storm.

Checking in a country is like traveling by train, you see the worst backyards
of a town when approaching a station. Phuket is no disappointment here,
once you look behind the fassade, it is stunning. Raw sewage canals, extremely
dirty beaches, run down bars and restaurants and the usual chaotic traffic
(I'm not complaining about that one).

Tourism seems to spin out of control here, construction everywhere, bulldozer
leveling houses to be replaced by strip malls. Stunning, and again, I shouldn't
have been surprised.

Yesterday, on Christmas eve we spent half ;a day to check a marina (and
scored a spot) and met some German sailors. In the evening we had a Gala
Christmas Dinner at one of the best restaurants in Phuket, thanks to my
mother. No doubt, here are nice spots and I can see the beauty of the island
but it is closely covered by resorts and hotels along the shoreline.

Since our outboard engine was acting up, I brought to a service station
and the guy promised to finish the job by 5:00p. Which was necessary since
we were anchored three quarters of a mile from shore. I think you can see
it coming, of course it was not ready, meaning I had to use the oars to
get back to the boat. The night before the water was calm, no big deal.
Well ... not last night ... 15-18kts of wind and a good swell. Too much
for three people in the dinghy. So after two hours of rowing twice between
the jetty and the boat we fell asleep at 1:30a.

Unfortunately we had to get up at 5:00a in order to catch the hight tide
in the marina, 15NM North. To add insult to the injury, the wind remained
at 15kts and now here on the open water, we are heading right into the
wind in a four foot swell. (I filmed the 'drama', so I'lll send you a little
mpeg).

In the end, it all will not matter. In a few hours we will be in the marina,
and tonight ...

Bing Crosby : I'll be dreaming of a white christmas !!!

Full blast, we have power on the dock and can run our computer and speakers
:-) !

Seems like the marina has also free internet, so we send a few photos
later on.

Ho Ho Ho,

Tom

The girls are dozing ... but ho ho ho too !

And the story has a happy ending with the following correspondence received late this afternoon, 12/29/04:

"I can confirm that the boat was in the Boat Lagoon marina on the east side of Phuket and they are fine, unaffected by the disaster on the west side of Phuket. You can write them direct at WDB2379@sailmai.com"

12/28/2004 S/V "Fidelio of London" believed to be in affected area of the Tsunami, has not been heard from. Recieved word 12/29 that all is well.

12/28/2004 It was reported earlier today that S/V Infidien with 3 POB were believed to be in harms way in the area stricken by the Tsunami over Christmas day. We are extremely pleased to report the crew and boat have survived. Here is the content of the message received via Winlink this evening: From: KC0LGO
To: KG6PPE
Sent: 12/28/2004 6:22:12 AM
Subject: we're ok

We're ok but 6 people died in Nai Harn Beach where we were. 2 locals died
in the beach restaurant we frequent and had dinner on xmas eve. All the
small restaurants gone.

Was scary. Rick was off the boat to do errands in town when it hit. I had
almost gone for a swim 5 minutes before it hit. I would have been a goner
and Jessie would have been alone. We were only 100 yards from a rock wall
and anchored near many other boats. Was mostly concerned we would drag
anchor and hit the wall where the waves were crashing in 25-30 ft. high.
Even though we had lots of friends here it was every man for himself. We
are still tracking down all our yachtie friends. We know some suffered
boat damage but don't think any of our yacht friends died. We have been
in some of the worst hit places in the last 10 days. Scary to think where
we might have been. Will write more later.

Patti, Rick and Jessie "

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