Almost died yesterday, came very very close...

[lapince]

Originally Posted by de66

Two things:

1) you will have to change the engraving on the voutilainen to something with a more aquatic theme.

2) next time leave your watches with me BEFORE you go and do anyhting stupid like getting pneumonia.... or going on vacation

usually my vacations end well, with minor bruises but nothing like yesterday, first time for everything I guess.
Well I could ask him to try to add Poseidon in some way, not sure how as the engraving is filled with nymphs, and sure I'll try to do that, but since I live in Ukraine and drive a motor bike, I should leave you my watches all the time, joking about odessa, very safe city, only one attack in more than 10 years there, notice that 15 days ago, had I been killed in Paris in some way, you would now be the proud owner of a 5711 and a Daytona C, ok you would have had to pay VAT, which was the reason I brought them back, but it would have been a small price to pay for them

[de66]

Originally Posted by lapince

usually my vacations end well, with minor bruises but nothing like yesterday, first time for everything I guess.
Well I could ask him to try to add Poseidon in some way, not sure how as the engraving is filled with nymphs, and sure I'll try to do that, but since I live in Ukraine and drive a motor bike, I should leave you my watches all the time, joking about odessa, very safe city, only one attack in more than 10 years there, notice that 15 days ago, had I been killed in Paris in some way, you would now be the proud owner of a 5711 and a Daytona C, ok you would have had to pay VAT, which was the reason I brought them back, but it would have been a small price to pay for them

now you got it!
Leaving me your watches all the time is the best idea you have had so far, the rest is white noise

[lapince]

Originally Posted by de66

now you got it!
Leaving me your watches all the time is the best idea you have had so far, the rest is white noise

but since you are a pilot, that also could be dangerous, we need to study which lifestyle is the most hazardous and give the other one's watches, just to make sure nothing happens to them

[lapince]

Originally Posted by zama

Being an Aussie surf is our thing 20 years back went out when the beach was closed at my local in Queenscliff for big swell as you do, could not get my wetsuit done up thought nothing of it and got stuck in a set of 10 x 2m+ waves......wetsuit acted like a shovel pushing me to the bottom, I managed to get enough respite between a set (with no breath left) to catch (body roll more the case) in on a set lay on the beach like a whale for 20 minutes trying to breath and then went home. Surf can be scary...... as for other near death my regular West coast east coast about 3-4 time s a year in late 90's early 00's was flight 11 as they say the rest is history.

2 bullets you have dodged this year, but if you are a survivor of boxing day in 04 in much of south east asia even better still, that is a winner on this post.

Sorry don't know why I missed oyur post in the replies, and it is a quite interesting one. Incan imagine how younlied on the beach after that ordeal, I lied for'at least 5 minutes, one lifeguard took'my legs and put them in the air me
lying on my back trying to catch my breath, maybe I would have lied down longer without that.
And yeah you are right, a survivor or 2004 Tsunami is'the clear winner of the thread, so Karls my friend you are the winner, he told me the story in an email,just now, when he first wrote 2004 I didn't make the connection, now I get it, personal death risk like mine or yours is tough, but when you see a total disaster it'must really be another level, especially when you know that more than 100k people,died that day, according to specialists the next big tsunami should be in 50-60'years, so not'too worried about that, when we were in Rawai we were at sea level, here in Patong we are in the hills, no risk if there is a tsunami...

[encarter13]

Very glad you made it. I have had similar experience and I know exactly what you mean about people panicking. I was with a girlfriend in Mexico and we were swimming out to a sandbar and she panicked. Nearly killed us both.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by encarter13

Very glad you made it. I have had similar experience and I know exactly what you mean about people panicking. I was with a girlfriend in Mexico and we were swimming out to a sandbar and she panicked. Nearly killed us both.

Thanks, yes the situation is horrible, the person panicks, holds on to you, keeps you under water, just horrible, and me it was my son, had it been an adult I can imagine, know just how you must have felt, you are lucky to be alive with an adult person panicking, I thought I was done for after 5-7 minutes between the waves and my son who must weigh 55-60 pounds, can't imagine had he been 120 or so, I would probably have been forced to punch him to make him let go, and hope for the lifeguards to come soon. Boy was I relieved to see one arrive and throw his buoy at us, but he didn't bring me back, there was a grown chinese man who seemed to be in trouble, he brought both back, I swam half way, but was releived when another lifeguard standing in the sea gave me his hand, would have made it back without help, but was still very happy, the whole beach had gathered to see what was happening, the chief lifeguard who had binoculars came to see me when I was lying on the sand, and did to me and said "you very good, boy dangerous for you", I guess he followed from the beach and saw my boy was basically drowning me. Had I been alone nothing dangerous would have happened, but with someone panicking it's so much more dangerous, can't even compare, won't soon be trying to save someone from drowning, pretty sure it would end with the death of us both

[Starwalker]

Thank god your family and you are okay!

[lapince]

Originally Posted by Starwalker

Thank god your family and you are okay!

Thanks

[Vishy26]

Glad you made along with your son

[LarryLasVegas]

Glad to hear that you and your son are ok. That is definitely a scary situation!


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[Tony@KopiGau]

Totally understand what you mean when you said even a kid could put you helpless in the water. So glad to have you back Arnaud, now pls go get both of you and your son a nice warm drink and a nice watch.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by Vishy26

Glad you made along with your son

Thanks

Originally Posted by LarryLasVegas

Glad to hear that you and your son are ok. That is definitely a scary situation!

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Thanks, and yes scariest in 46 years by far...

Originally Posted by Tony@KopiGau

Totally understand what you mean when you said even a kid could put you helpless in the water. So glad to have you back Arnaud, now pls go get both of you and your son a nice warm drink and a nice watch.

Lol thanks Tony, my watch funds are a little dry, but we are in Thailand so he'll probably get some cool kid watch if we find one

[Starwalker]

What beach in Phuket was this? I'm heading there on Friday...and will definitely be a bit cautious getting into the water.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by Starwalker

What beach in Phuket was this? I'm heading there on Friday...and will definitely be a bit cautious getting into the water.

Nai Harn, be also careful at Kata Karon, swam at both, Kata Karon is supposed to be tricky and it is, but Nai Harn IMO was much worse, maybe it was the weather that day not sure.
In Nai Harn the lifeguards change the places you can swim every 30-40 minutes, and there must be 10-15 of them, if you are a good swimmer and know what to do you should be ok, not panick, don't swim against the current, swim parallel to shore, go under water before each wave hits to not be in the washing mashine, and once you are in calm water lie on your back to catch your breath and slowly start heading back, but if you have a kid or someone else panicking like I had, good luck man, like others have said here, a panicking person in the water can kill you very easily.
If you are in Patong next week or before the 1st of August maybe we can meet for a beer and talk watches, sending you a MP with my thai number

[faldoc]

Welcome back.


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[lapince]

Originally Posted by faldoc

Welcome back.


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Thanks

[bayerische]

Which beach was this? Most beaches in Phuket has very calm tides/currents.

Glad you all are ok!

[Trouble15]

Wow, I'm glad to hear you guys are ok.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by bayerische

Which beach was this? Most beaches in Phuket has very calm tides/currents.

Glad you all are ok!

Thanks man. Nai Harn, waves maybe 1 meters high, sometimes 1,5m, every 7-8 seconds, huge current, you have about 15 lifeguards in that beach. I went also to Kata Karon, waves and current but not so tricky. And it's third year in a row we come, at Patong Beach in 2 years never saw a single wave, as calm as a lake, this year there are waves every day, but compared to where we almost died it's small ones and almost no rip tide...

Originally Posted by Trouble15

Wow, I'm glad to hear you guys are ok.

Thanks

[Runnin' Rebel]

I can't imagine this. You dug deep with your strength to save the child. Good that you guys are ok. Hope the little one learned a lesson, I know you did

[lapince]

Originally Posted by Runnin' Rebel

I can't imagine this. You dug deep with your strength to save the child. Good that you guys are ok. Hope the little one learned a lesson, I know you did

Exactly that, I never let his arm go, after each wave while being under water I was pushing him out of the water, everytime he grabbed my neck before I had a chance to get my head out, had to take off his arms with both hands, and a pamicked 8 year old is stronger than you think, get up for air, barely had time for a breath before the next wave hit, and this continued for 5-7 minutes, we basically got pulled by the current 150 meters from the starting point, maybe 200 but sure 150. When the life guard got him I was exhausted and almost suffocating due to lack of oxygen, near the end I thought he is gonna kill us both, but couldn't imagine sacrificing my son to survive, it's either both of you make it or none. Luckily this beach had around 15 lifeguards that day, had there been none

Yeah we both learned a valuable lesson that day, when he will swim better I will teach him how to get out of these situations, dive under each incoming wave to avoid the washing machine effect, stay calm, swim parallel to the shore, even if you end up very far from the shore the important thing is to get out of the rip tide, relax on your back to recuperate, and start swimming calmly to shore. i was very frightened but didn't panick as I know that's how people drown, the worse part was him grabbing on to my neck after each wave thus keeping me under water. Our gardien angel/s did a good job that day, lifeguards too...

[keschete]

Glad you are okay!!!

[lapince]

Originally Posted by keschete

Glad you are okay!!!

Thanks

[sjg22]

As someone that's been a bit of a risk-taker in the ocean, this is definitely a heads-up. Thanks for the story - amazing how powerful the sea can be.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by sjg22

As someone that's been a bit of a risk-taker in the ocean, this is definitely a heads-up. Thanks for the story - amazing how powerful the sea can be.

Of course, but alone I most certainly would have had no problem, I know how to handle these thpes ofnsituations, amazing how someone panicking can almost be the end of you, makes you think that if you need to save someone, you either need to knock them out, wait for them to be too exhausted or have some kind of floating device which is not too close to you. My son is only 8 but I can imagine very well an adult panicking the same way, one member almost died because of his girlfriend in Mexico.