Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2005 12:33:45 -0600
From: "J. Stormer AE4MZ"

The material below came through our marine
surveyors e-mail forum (list server).  It is
another perspective on the Tsunami.  The second
part of it may be more interesting than the first
because it is an account by a person who was
actually on board a boat at anchor.

73 Jay AE4MZ



>
>From: "James Beck"
>
>Dear Gary and Rob, and all Boatpokers,
>
>Thank you for your kind donation and thoughts to
>the peoples of the Indian Ocean. It is a tradegy
>of unbelievable size.
>
>As many of you know I am your AMS in Thailand
>and have my business here during the Colorado
>winters (dry season here). On the morning of
>Dec. 26th Cheryl and I were in our apartment at
>8 am when we felt a small earthquake rock our
>building. We are located in a very protected
>marina up a title stream. At approximately 11 am
>all of a sudden the water level rose about 3 or
>4 feet above the highest tides and flooded the
>hardstand about 2 feet. It was only a few inches
>less than the tops of the dock piles.
>Consequently it was kind of a non-event for us
>and there were no problems at our location.  On
>the other side of Phuket it is a different story
>and that is where the news stories that you see
>on TV are from. I have written my account of my
>observations that assumes that you have seen the
>CNN reports. The pictures that you have seen are
>accurate. My report is below and also I am
>including a letter from friends that were in
>Langkawi, Malaysia. This is a description of
>what happens to a marina when a Tsunami makes a
>direct hit into a marina. Langkawi is about 100
>nm south of Phuket. The damage there was more to
>the marine industry and few deaths. In Phuket
>there was almost no damage to yachts but a real
>tragedy on shore.
>
>Phuket Tsunami,
>
>As you are reading this report and any that you
>have seen on TV please remember that all the
>damages are to the west coast of Thailand on the
>Indian Ocean and the press reported pictures are
>from tourist beaches with large multi-star
>hotels and only a few hundred yards from the
>ocean. There is no damage to the infrastructure
>inland or on the east coast of Phuket. Our water
>supplies have not been damaged and all services
>are operational and there is no danger to our
>health. There are at least seven (7) hospitals,
>3 private and 4 government, well staffed and all
>the latest equipment.
>
>Yesterday, December 31st, was the first time
>since the tsunami hit on the day after Christmas
>that we had a chance to witness the destruction
>on the west coast of Phuket. We started the day
>off by attending the funeral of our friend Leone
>Cousons at Wat Rawi (the Buddest temple in
>Rawi). She had died as she went to investigate
>the water on the floor in their rental house on
>the Little Nai Harn Beach. The tenants had
>called and said that a wave had come into the
>house. She arrived just as the 3rd and largest
>wave hit the house taking it down and caring her
>up the valley behind the house. Her
>father-in-law found her many hours later. After
>the services, both Buddest and Christian, and
>cremation, we decided to drive along the coast
>to see first hand the damages. First to see the
>damages to Leone’s house and all that was
>standing were two concrete walls. The other
>building that had been in the area, two bungalow
>hotels, a restaurant, and a house were
>completely missing. However there was as large
>number of people and heavy equipment cleaning up
>the debris and the power company was putting
>back the power lines. It looked as though they
>would be starting to rebuild their businesses in
>a few days.
>
>Next we decided to go to see the place that is
>sort of our headquarters when we are in Phuket
>and not in the marina, Ao Sane. We had stayed
>here for 10 days just two weeks earlier during
>the Kings Cup Regatta. It had been reported
>earlier that most of the complex had been
>flattened so were expecting the worst. Instead
>as we got near saw between 50 and a 60 people
>carrying new concrete blocks, mixing mortar,
>putting up walls, digging foundations, putting
>up a sea wall, and basically building a new
>restaurant.  All the trash from the old building
>had been moved, the roof was completed and there
>were a group cooking food for all the laborers.
>Most of the workers were volunteers comprised of
>the guests of Ao Sane and yachties off boats
>anchored in the bay. Very few of the people had
>I ever seen before and were from all
>nationalities. We could not stay then but will
>be going to help in the next couple of days,
>maybe to help rebuild some of the bungalows.
>
>The next beach area north is Kata where there
>was damage to the hotel & gallery that Cheryl
>has given a number of shows at. There appeared
>to be no structural damage to the building but
>the wave came through their lobby and restaurant
>breaking up everything as it went, they were
>very busy cleaning up the mess and said that
>they would be open for business in a week. The
>Club Med that is on this same beach had some
>damage to some of their lower floor rooms, but
>the grounds were mostly already cleaned up and
>their guests were out enjoying the beach. North
>of Kata is Karon that had a little damage to a
>few of the shops closest to the ocean, but
>mostly back in business.
>
>The biggest town on the west coast of Phuket is
>the resort city of Patong. It is inside a large
>bay with a gentle sloping beach. This is where
>most of the pictures that I have seen on CNN
>were taken and the destruction is absolutely
>unbelievable to the buildings and businesses
>closest of the sea. We went by a department
>store that a friend of ours was washed into. He
>had been walking down the beach on a beautiful
>Sunday morning when he was swept off his feet
>and deposited in the basement supermarket where
>he was trapped with a broken arm and water up to
>his neck for 5 hours. He was taken out with a
>cherry-picker crane. Everywhere we looked there
>was heavy equipment, dump trucks, and 100s of
>people working cleaning up the mess and
>salvaging what they could. We had with us in the
>car a couple that had visited 3 days earlier
>said that it was amazing how much had already
>been done. Almost all the damage in Patong is
>within the a few 100 yards of the beach, the
>rest of the city is intact.
>
>On north is the small the town of Kamala where a
>few of our friends live. First we went to see if
>we could find Susan & Harry. They were living in
>a house right next to the beach with their boat
>anchored out in front. The only thing we could
>find was the concrete slab floor. Nobody was
>around. Their boat was anchored about a mile
>away. We have heard that they are alive but
>their phones are not working and could not find
>them. From there we tried to get into the
>village and could not. The roads were all
>blocked and every building was damaged. One of
>our friends there has lost his hotel,
>restaurant, damage to two houses, and reportedly
>4 or 5 members of his wife’s family died.
>Another friend has a car rental business there
>and his building was almost intact but none of
>his cars could be seen. We did see one in Nai
>Harn Bay that had been totaled. Here as in all
>other locations there was heavy equipment and
>100’s of people working to clean up.
>
>The physical damage to these resort towns is
>unbelievable, but the real tragedy is the great
>loss of life, the buildings can be rebuilt. The
>organization and extent of the relief operation
>has been fantastic with help being available to
>all that were affected by this tragedy.  Phuket
>is a very major destination tourist center with
>an international airport with many direct
>flights from Europe, Japan, and other Asian
>countries. Also hourly 747 landings from
>Bangkok. The economy is dependent on the tourist
>trade and all the tourists have disappeared at
>the start of the high season. 10’s of thousands
>are going to be out of work and many businesses
>go under.
>
>Jim Beck, AMS
>Phuket, Thailand
>Breckenridge, Colorado
>
>
>Letter from my friends in Langkawi, Malaysia:
>
>Thanks so much for your two great reports. Here's ours.
>Thanks so much for asking how we are. By now you must have received our
>short note saying we are fine and will come back to you as soon as things
>have calmed down. Well, everything is getting back to normal in a somewhat
>altered world swept away by powerful water. Awesome and scary the power of
>the elements, whether it is air, fire or water.
>Fortunately for us we were sitting at anchor in a sheltered bay outside of
>Telaga Harbour Marina, protected by two small man-made islands. We had
>chosen this spot to spend Christmas and New Year as it is peaceful and
>beautiful, protected from the North-east trade winds, with stunning views of
>the Matchincang range of mountains, forest and beach. The two little
>islands behind us are ideal for Tara to run free on without hassle from
>anyone. So there we were on Boxing Day and Robert had decided to look up
>the tide tables for the area to correct the tide clock. Robert told me it
>was high tide. I looked towards the shore and rather scathingly told him
>that it certainly was not, the water was right out and the fishing boats
>were high and dry on the sand. Being nearly full moon this was totally
>possible and so we exchanged some rather acrimonious comments, such as - do
>you think I am stupid and can't read the tables - well my eyes aren't
>deceiving me and the water is right out - these tables are quite correct -
>maybe you are in the wrong hemisphere - look I'm not the village idiot you
>know.
>At that moment a call on channel 69 of the VHF alerted us that there were
>strange waves breaking outside. Looking up I saw a great wave curling and
>breaking before the entrance gap of the islands, the sunlight shining
>through the green water like a surfer's dream come true. Only it shouldn't
>have been there and when Nature plays a trick like that the mind won't
>register the change and says - oh no, that's not possible. I shouted for
>Robert to come and look and he leapt up from the computer, took one glance
>and said - start the motor. We were stern to the flooding water pouring
>through the entrance and he had the presence of mind to reverse into it,
>stretching out our anchor chain away from the beach and even though it
>walloped into us and shoved us forward it did not pull out the anchor due to
>the full force of our powerful motor. It swept under us and roared up the
>beach only to return in full force once again from the other direction. By
>this time we were turned sideways on with our beam to the tossing waves
>which chucked us around like a matchstick. But Deusa is a very strong
>matchstick and although all our belongings down below were thrown to the
>floor, she and ourselves suffered no damage at all - what a miracle. The
>lagoon became a swirling bathtub with the sea rushing in and out almost like
>it was breathing. Every few minutes the surge would change direction after
>the initial three waves that came pounding in.
>The marina basin lies inside a protected channel, is newly built and quite
>solid. It was full of yachts, not one empty berth. We watched in horror as
>the yachts tied up in there started throwing backwards and forwards clashing
>masts and then the strangest thing happened; they all started moving in a
>macabre carnival carousel, whirling in great circles around the marina in
>the swirl of rushing water, the pontoons wrenched from their pilings. As
>the water started to recede they poured out through the channel, spat into
>the lagoon where we were anchored. The first boat out we recognised -
>Kihoe - belonging to a friend of ours who is now land-based. Deusa by now
>was stabilised and holding on her anchor so we leapt into the dinghy and
>headed for Kihoe, climbing on board to drop the anchor. However our
>scrabbling fingers were unaccustomed to the different anchoring set up and
>we were being swept towards the beach and rocks. So we then found some
>lines and made one fast to a cleat and tried to tow her to a nearby mooring
>but to no avail. Therefore the only solution was to guide her out through
>the gap between the two small islands and in the comparative calm of the
>open ocean try and get an anchor out. With both of us in the dinghy and
>using the 25hp motor to push the stern and then the bow we managed to steer
>her clear of deadly hazards as the sea swept her out. The trouble was that
>the sea was still moving in and out in a weird tidal flow and we only had a
>few moments to release the anchor before she would be swept back in again.
>The story ends well - we got the anchor down and she was safe.
>We then went on to do this with five or six other boats as they drifted free
>of the tangled mess coming from the marina. Some still had pontoons tied to
>them which we had to cut free. Most boats were locked and put away for the
>Christmas holidays while owners travelled to visit family and friends. It
>was an interesting challenge to try and free anchor chains from the
>windlasses, drag the chain out of the locker across the deck and then not
>get our feet caught in it as we dropped the anchor. One doesn't think of
>the danger at the time and only afterwards, on reflection does one shudder
>to play the -what if- game. A catamaran that we rescued was totally
>surrounded by pontoons that were a big drag in the current. We got them cut
>away and then a floating fisherman's hut with rusty old tin roofing came and
>lay right across the anchor rope (it had some chain but mostly rope)with the
>roof resting precariously near the rope. Robert was in the dinghy but the
>current was so swift he could not push the hut away without getting swept
>under the catamaran so we just had to hope it wouldn't chafe. And it
>didn't, as it finally drifted loose and went off to sea where the fisherfolk
>rescued it.
>One poor boat we were unable to help as it had no anchor on board and was
>locked. Sadly we saw her drift away as we went after others with visible
>anchors. But she has a charmed life because she drifted into the rocks
>where she settled for the night and we watched her by the light of the full
>moon as she gently lay over to rest at low tide. Next morning she was gone
>- out to sea we presumed. But no, the fishermen had found her and towed her
>back to safety in the harbour, some-one had loaned an anchor and she was
>rescued with only a few scratches.
>Dazed and battered people were saving their boats all around us, motoring
>out to deep water away from the shore, dropping their anchors and inspecting
>their injuries. One French aluminium boat was punctured on both sides above
>the waterline and had stuffed mattresses and pillows into the gaping wounds.
>Right now there are three boats on the beach behind us on the island. A
>concrete boat that is resting on rocks and sand with a hole in her hull.
>Her owner will arrive tomorrow and will have to mix some cement before
>moving her. A French fibreglass boat lies near her with her keel firmly
>wedged in the sand. Yesterday there was a big digging session and then we
>were all on the beach until 2am trying to shift her with a tug boat and a
>power boat. Moved her about three metres so will try again today. There is
>also a very surprised trimaran who had pottered over to the beach at high
>tide to do some minor repairs and before he knew what was happening the
>water went all out and then all in and he was swept up to the tree line, far
>higher than he ever anticipated!! Now he says he will settle down for a
>long stay and do major repairs! A friend of ours has lost her boat, holed
>and sunk in Telaga, her house swept away from the beach, her car and
>computer gone. As a yacht broker all her work is on the computer - she is
>wiped out.
>Rebak Marina some two nautical miles from Telaga Harbour had a similar
>experience with all boats and pontoons swept out to sea. These two marinas
>that were considered so safe are on the west coast of Langkawi where the
>major surge of water happened. Who, in their wildest dreams, thinks of
>Tsunamis when storing their boat or thinking of a safe haven. Many people
>use their boats as retirement homes and have settled comfortably into marina
>life with light, water, air-con and companionship. This is now all torn
>apart in a few short hours and they are all anchored out, bewildered and
>forlorn. The local staff of these two marinas were totally shell-shocked and
>unable to do much at all. The Navy Police came around in their big blue
>power boats but when asked to help anchor boats, were unable to do so.
>However, they did go around to everyone who was on board, enquiring if they
>were OK. Basically the yachting community all helped each other as they
>always do and there are lots of unsung heroes out there doing good things.
>Now there is only the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club that has marina facilities
>in Langkawi and it is full to bursting. Amazingly it suffered very little
>damage as the tsunami had to turn a corner and run up the channel and so it
>took the sting out of the waves.
>One boat from Rebak was sunk, a Warren Catamaran called Bambola. We took
>Deusa down to Rebak to talk to people there and on our way sailing back we
>saw something strange in the water about a mile away. Getting closer we saw
>the upturned red hull of a boat, with a dinghy attached and thought with
>horror of people adrift, no radio, no water. No such thing - as we got
>closer they waved us away shouting that there were trailing lines and would
>get caught in our prop. They were a salvage operation, diving on the hull,
>pulling out of it what they could. When we asked the name of the boat they
>said they didn't know and acted most suspiciously, saying they were working
>for Rebak Marina. Later we phoned Rebak to give the GPS position of the
>wreck and they said they knew nothing of people doing salvage for them.
>They were welcome to what they could get, the boat was well out to sea - but
>their manner was most suspect - we wonder who they were? By the way the
>floating hazard was Bambola.
>
>Of course in disasters like this there are lots of rumours flying around and
>one that kept on threatening us was that there were aftershocks in Sumatra
>and that we should expect another wave. We all upped anchor and moved
>further offshore where we spent an anxious Boxing Day night watching the
>flotsam and jetsam drift past, some quite large and dangerous pieces of
>pontoon, logs and unidentified objects. The weird thing was that the
>currents were not running normally with an incoming tide running north and
>out moving south. It was switching every ten minutes or so and just when
>something particularly nasty had drifted past and seemed out of harms way,
>oh no! here it comes back again. The strange movement of the sea, the awful
>power of the water, the unexpectedness of it all, left everyone exhausted
>and nervous, almost like Nature had played a foul trick and the subconscious
>was picking up on something that the conscious was not really registering.
>What happened to all of us in Langkawi was nothing in comparison to the
>devastation everywhere else and as the death toll rises we count ourselves
>so lucky we are all here and unhurt.
>Thank you again for getting in touch with us.
>Much love Robert and Rosemary
>