By KP Chin

Dec 28, 2004
Just a note to let you all know that the Chalupa and I are safe in Phuket, Thailand. We were lucky to be able to avoid the full impact of the Tsunami waves that hit Phuket Island. The boat did not suffer any damage other than I had a sleepless night anticipating the after effects the night after the Tsunami.
I woke up to a sunny and beautiful day in paradise and decided to catch up on some minor boat projects. At the time it started to happen, my vessel Chalupa was anchored in about 10 meters of water at Kata Beach, which is a couple of bays south of Patong Beach. Patong seems to have gotten the worst of it. Both Kata and Patong face the Andaman Sea, which is open to the Indian Ocean.

I was lucky to be onboard working on the boat at the time. The first indication I felt was the boat starting to spin in circles, and I was being pushed towards the other boats closer than I felt comfortable. The motion was quite fast, as if I was motoring towards them. Confirming with the other sailors near me, I realized that we were being sucked out of the bay.

I went from 10 meters to 6 meters and back to 12 plus meters in depth as the water rushed back in. Everything happened quite rapidly. Being solo on the boat I had to move fast to avoid crashing onto the beach if my anchor dragged. Vaguely recalling what happened in Hawaii back in the 1980s with hurricane Iwa, I felt that something was not right. Lessons learned from my years of sailing in Hawaii (with frequent tsunami warnings) suggested that I get out to deeper water fast.

I got the anchor up ASAP and headed straight out to sea towards deeper waters to wait it out. I was very glad my extra heavy anchor and chain held in the maelstrom. Ten more minutes and I may have been too late to save the boat and myself. The back flow current was so strong that I doubt that anyone could swim against it. Not to mention the pounding one would get if caught in the wave when it hit the shore.

The scene ashore was chaotic. All the hundreds of beach umbrellas and chairs were gone. Everything on the beach was being sucked out to sea. Long tail boats, power boats, and jet skis were rushing everywhere to recover some of the stuff. There was debris floating everywhere. Looks like the restaurants ashore were also awash. Waves were leaping and crashing over the 2.5 meter sea walls into the Kata Beach Resort. I hung around for a couple of hours in deep waters and decided that the west side of Phuket was too exposed for my comfort, so I left to look for a more sheltered spot on the east side of the island in the afternoon. I spent a sleepless night on anchor watch expecting additional effects from the events.

Later, after listening to the many BBC radio broadcasts, I was quite shocked to hear of the vast devastations caused by this 8.9 RS earthquake and tsunami to the surrounding countries like India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka, and even Langkawi and Penang, Malaysia. I felt lucky to have escaped in time and be on my boat with food, water, and electricity. Many people in low-lying shore areas and in the outer islands were not so fortunate and lost everything. In the next few days, I’ll see what I can do to help out within the local community.