Kite boarder survives 7-hour ordeal off Nantucket

From: Kirk Lindstrom (KirkLindstrom@ix.netcom.com-DeleteThis.com)
Date: Sat Nov 09 2002 - 15:06:05 PST

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Message-ID: <3DCD94DD.1040804@ix.netcom.com-DeleteThis.com>
Date: Sat, 09 Nov 2002 15:06:05 -0800
From: Kirk Lindstrom <KirkLindstrom@ix.netcom.com-DeleteThis.com>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0
To: windtalk <wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com>
Subject: Kite boarder survives 7-hour ordeal off Nantucket

Just think if he had a strobe in a little safety bag they would have
found this guy.
Kirk

======================================================
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/nant11082002.htm

Kite boarder survives 7-hour ordeal off Nantucket

by Jessica Heslam
Friday, November 8, 2002

An innocent afternoon of kite boarding turned into a harrowing test of
survival for a Nantucket man who was swept out to sea when his equipment
failed, the shaken surfer said yesterday.

``I kept watching Nantucket get further and further away from me. I
didn't think I'd ever end up back there,'' Michael Alpert said of his
nearly seven-hour ordeal in the perilous swells off the island.

The 37-year-old business owner and his pals were heading back to Jetties
Beach about 4 p.m. Wednesday when Alpert's line snapped as he was
helping a buddy retrieve his lost board.

As his friends tried to ``body drag'' him the couple hundred yards back
to shore, the current riding against them got stronger and faster.

When the sun began to set, Alpert told his friends to surf to shore and
call the Coast Guard.

Wearing only a black wet suit and hood with no life jacket, Alpert cut
his kite loose. He tried to swim to shore while clutching his small wake
board.

As ferocious winds blew at 45 mph and 12-foot waves broke over him,
Alpert helplessly watched rescue workers unsuccessfully search for him.

Alpert held up his board and used the back of his watch as a reflector
but no one saw him.

``It was very frustrating. I could see everybody, all the boats, the
helicopter. I could see all my friends that had lined up their trucks
with the lights on, but nobody could see me. I was invisible,'' Alpert said.

After attempting to swim to a buoy, Alpert decided he had to conserve
energy to survive. He let the tide take him and periodically curled up
into the fetal position for warmth in the 45-degree waters.

At one point, a Coast Guard chopper flew over Alpert without spotting
the stranded surfer.

``I said `They're not going to find me.' I had to do the best I could to
survive this,'' he said. ``I thought I wasn't going to make it, that was
the hardest part.''

Then, the tide began to turn. As he let the waves push him, Alpert
spotted Coatue beach, which he reached about 10:30 p.m.

Alpert walked 5 1/2 hours toward civilization over rough terrain, which
included two more swims. He impaled his bare foot on a metal fence on
the 12-mile trek.

About 2:30 a.m., Alpert reached a hotel that had been closed for the
season. He crawled through an unlocked window and called the Coast Guard.

``They had stopped the search and written me off. They found my board on
the beach without me,'' Alpert said.

RE:
I finally found a site that has a decent selection of windsurfing posters.

Effort-Sailboard Motivation Poster
http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?aid=283677&item=308398

Windsurfing Calander
http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?aid=283677&item=338496

-- 
best regards
Kirk Lindstrom

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