It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
-Sir Winston Churchill-
I like staying up late. Sometimes I sit behind my lap top all night, until dawn, sipping wine, writing, working with my photos, web files, watching a DVD, playing with things...
Surely this is an offer you can not turn down.
It has been one of those nights and even though it is after 11am, I am still in bed. Paula is watching a DVD on the lap top, headphones on. Suddenly I wake up with Paula screaming my name: "Lauri! Lauri! Lauri!!" I lift my head off the pillow - still half asleep - and notice a loud noise, like a jet plane flying right above the boat. It is a roar. "What the hell...?"
Paula has heard the same roar through the headphones and gone to the cockpit to see what it is. What she can see, causes her to scream. We are anchored up in 2,5 meters of water, very close to the sandy beach of Pantai Tengah, in the south-west corner of Langkawi. The water is no more than 4 meters deep for another 1/2 mile towards the sea. What Paula is looking at, is a 3-4 meter surf arriving from the sea. It is travelling at high speed but more than the wave itself - a month later - we still remember the roaring, ear-piercing sound of it.
I climb out of the bed and come out through the back hatch, into the cockpit, not knowing what Paula has just seen. I have no chance to see it either. As I enter the cockpit, Aliisa suddenly turns on her side. The breaking crest of the wave sweeps under the hull and Aliisa broaches. The beach - already close before the wave - appears to be just under the boat, too close for comfort. As the wave passes, Aliisa is pulled back by the anchor chain. She falls down and I am sure we're going to land on the bottom.
Telaga Park Marina was completely destroyed. Not by the wave, but by the massive surge caused by it. All marina pontoons were ripped off and a number of yachts were lost. No one was injured.
Instead of waiting for the thump, I rush down the companionway and turn the ignition key, which is inside. I jump back into the cockpit and behind the wheel. Aliisa is again facing towards the beach and more waves are approaching from behind. I put the engine on reverse and push the throttle. As the second and third wave roll underneath us, the yacht turns sideways to the seas again. I put the gear forward and make a quick u-turn, full speed away from the beach, disregarding the anchor which is still holding us.
The waves are gone. Maybe one minute has passed. The water is calm again. I'm slowly waking up and the thought of a tidal wave starts to enter my mind. There is more action on the beach now, water still surging in and out, causing water levels on the beach to rise and recede several meters within minutes. "Lets move out" I say to Paula and she goes to the foredeck to pull the anchor. It takes me some minutes to realise the flow of water that we are now in. Paula keeps asking me to go forward, "faster, faster, more revs" -she yells from the bow. I have trouble getting the boat going because I'm driving into a 6kn current caused by the surging water.
Eventually Paula gets the slack of the chain up and I go and help her getting the anchor off the mud. We re-anchor a few hundred meters further from the beach. I crack a can of beer, sit down and try to understand what just happened. "Where's Charlie?" Asks Paula. "I don't know. Where did you last see her?" I reply, still concerned about the safety of the yacht more than anything else. Charlie had run out to the cockpit, following Paula, just as the first and biggest wave hit. She must have fallen over the side, after all, the yacht turned almost to its side very quickly and violently.
A fishing boat up the beach after the tsunami. The place was handy for a paint job on the hull, but to bring the ocean back underneath the vessel required some heavy equipment.
Paula pleads me to go and look for her. I refuse. The water is still surging, causing strong currents that change direction every two minutes. The beach is flooded, a local fishing boat is thrown on the beach and my main concern is to stay on board and ensure the safety of ourselves and the yacht. We look for Charlie in the boat, we go through every possible place on board where she could fit. The cat is gone. Maybe she made it to the beach? Maybe we can find her there tomorrow?
Behind us, around the island of Rebak, yachts start to appear. Suddenly a dozen or more yachts are anchoring outside the island. Where are they coming from? Within the next few hours - listening to the VHF - we learn that both Telaga Harbour Marina and Rebak Marina (behind us) have been totally destroyed. Some of the yachts appearing were being flushed out by surging water, still attached to their marina berths which were all ripped out the pilons. Several yachts sunk that day. Many cruising dreams were shattered. No yacht crew got injured seriously and only two deaths were recorded in Langkawi, in a fishing village.
The rest is history. You all know about it. Sumatra, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, Phuket and Thailand, Penang and so on. For a while the mood is sombre, as we tune into BBC world news on our little world receiver. VHF radio is full of rumours of more waves and we follow the flock of shaken yachties to anchor even further out the next night. There are marina berths floating about, heading out to sea.
Isn't she cute? My first cat. Love at first sight.
An hour later Paula and I are sitting in the cockpit, still recovering from the sudden and short-lived drama. Suddenly I notice something down below, on the cockpit table. Charlie is lying on the table, looking at us and lets out a soft miau. Where was she hiding? We'll never know, but she is alive and well, still on board.
Langkawi goes back to normal the same day, many people still unaware of the wave the following day. Very little damage was done to the beach front. Two weeks later, despite a number of phone calls and enquiries, we can not find anywhere in Langkawi where we could take a sail bag full of our old clothes and other items that we would like to donate.
Our plans come down to a review. Sri Lanka doesn't look like a good option anymore. India doesn't appeal without the stop in Sri Lanka first. Maldives is a question mark. What to do? Well, Paula and I have always liked the remote places in our cruise. We've always enjoyed the "Away from everything" anchorages, running around naked, swimming, reading, writing and so on. Chagos seems to fit the bill, so we decide to sail straight to there and hang around for a bit. Say, until July.
Paula and Lauri G. Langkawi, Cactus Restaurant, New Year's Eve 2004/05
