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Kiteboarder went missing in Red Sea

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Created by INTHELOOP > 9 months ago, 5 Mar 2012
INTHELOOP
QLD, 1855 posts
5 Mar 2012 12:12PM
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Here is interview after he got saved.


Interview by PAP:

You've left El Gouna on Friday morning with intention of covering a distance of 200 km and reaching Duba in Saudi Arabia. What had happened, that you send a SOS signal on 5 pm?

I've waited for a week in El Gouna near Hurghada for good conditions, for good wind. Such a forecast, for all day, was for 2nd of March. I started in wind of 4 in Bft scale, which has later reach 5 Bft. When there was around 60 km till destination, the wind has suddenly died, just like fire blown from a match. There was no wind, the kite collapsed. After 1,5 hours nothing indicated that the wind will come back. Waves have, however, started to build up. Sun was setting down, so I called SOS. After about 3 hours I called it again.

How did you spend the first night?
In comparison to the second night, this one was peaceful, even though I didn't think I would it in extreme conditions on the Red Sea. I've run out of beverage and I've had two liters of energy drink and water with glucose. I've earlier eaten two high caloric snack bars, so I had to keep a fast. I've drained a little air from tubes and made a raft with my board. During the night, the wind was back. I've drifted in the coast direction, but when the wind direction shifter, I was pushed back to the sea. It was like this all over again - one step forward, two steps back. In one moment I was about 30-40 km from shore. When I've seen fisherman's boats I've fired a rocket, but they must've not seen it, as they didn't react.

Then the second night...
At first I'll say that I owe surviving it to my brother Piotr, who forced me to take a knife. Maybe he had some kind of premonition. I was pushed by the wind to the worst place, a reef, where sharks have been preying. They were about 2,5 to 6 meters. They attacked me through my kite, which must've also attracted them because of its colour. I stabbed them in the eyes, nose and gills. The fight, which I've miraculously survived, took whole night. By the morning, they were gone. There were eleven of them. On Sunday another species have been looking for me. These sharks have circled near my already frayed raft, but they didn't attack.

Did you have any hope after the second night, that you'll be found before getting eaten by sharks?

Of course, because hope dies last. It built up in me on Saturday afternoon, when a helicopter flew above me. I was sure that the crew had seen me, because they were waving. I responded, but that was all of our contact. It was similar with a boat. I thought, that it would nearly ram me. Not even close though. Maybe when the sun was shining, in big waves, I couldn't be seen. In the end I've been collected by a military boat, with I think 6 people crew.

You are after tests in hospital in Duba. What are the results?

To doctors' surprise very good and there has been a lot of tests. My arrival has caused a lot of confusion, but personnel is great. I would like to thank our consul Igor Kaczmarczyk, who has organized everything here, from the morning when he had arrived, and all the people who have been involved in the rescue action. I've already drunk several liters of water and juice for their health.

Paul1
QLD, 1011 posts
5 Mar 2012 12:51PM
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The shark story is pretty funny, 6 metre reef sharks, and he counted exactly 11 of them in the dark!!! Yeah, right buddy.......

RPM
WA, 1549 posts
5 Mar 2012 10:55AM
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INTHELOOP said...


I was pushed by the wind to the worst place, a reef, where sharks have been preying. They were about 2,5 to 6 meters. They attacked me through my kite, which must've also attracted them because of its colour. I stabbed them in the eyes, nose and gills. The fight, which I've miraculously survived, took whole night. By the morning, they were gone. There were eleven of them.



In WA if a 6m sharks has a look... It's all over..

I call BS on most of this story.. It just sounds dubious.. Sure maybe he was stuck out there.. But seems like a fair bit of exaggeration also in the story.

Paul1
QLD, 1011 posts
5 Mar 2012 12:57PM
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Biggets sharks in Eqypt are generally oceanic white tips which are about 4 metres, if there was 11 of them attacking him, we wouldn't be reading his survival story....

Martyflyer
NSW, 131 posts
5 Mar 2012 2:50PM
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Two nights stuck floating around in the ocean.....think he deserves to tell a bit of bull****

Puetz
NT, 2177 posts
5 Mar 2012 1:25PM
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.. maybe he ment feet, not meters.

Which ever way, story or not, he still spent a couple of nights out at sea, I would have been sh!tting myself,,,,, and with sharks,, damn,,,, I don't like it when I'm in the water for a few minutes let alone that long!!!!

JayP
QLD, 249 posts
5 Mar 2012 2:43PM
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On kite forum this has stirred up a bit of debate on how prepared he was and the trouble caused by going "cheap" and not having a support boat.

I can understand the challenge/desire of doing this sort of thing unassisted. Wouldn't you at the very least have standby craft at either end just incase? instead of sending off your distress signal then waiting for the authorities to get their **** together.

KIT33R
NSW, 1714 posts
5 Mar 2012 4:14PM
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Sounds like a complete fabrication from start to finish.

kite killer
NSW, 114 posts
5 Mar 2012 5:57PM
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What a load of $hit. He's chasing a movie deal for sure.

lotofwind
NSW, 6451 posts
5 Mar 2012 6:01PM
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If only Moses was there.

terminal
1421 posts
5 Mar 2012 9:49PM
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lotofwind said...

If only Moses was there.


Or Jesus.




Zed
WA, 1243 posts
6 Mar 2012 9:29AM
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You could attach fresh, bleeding whale meat to your body and still not see a shark > 1.5m in the Red Sea

wishy
WA, 1501 posts
6 Mar 2012 2:59PM
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Absolute B.S. on the sharks part of the story.

Although he may not have made it up, after two days at sea he was most likely delusional and the difference between nightmares and consciousness completely blurred in his mind.

Juddy
WA, 1103 posts
7 Mar 2012 1:42PM
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If he wanted media exposure, he got it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/06/kite-surfer-shark-attacks-red-sea

A Polish kite surfer, Jan Lisewski, fought off shark attacks and overcame thirst and exhaustion in a two-day battle for survival on the Red Sea, Polish media have reported.


Lisewski, 42, had completed two-thirds of a 124-mile attempt to cross the Red Sea from the Egyptian town of El Gouna to Duba in Saudi Arabia when the wind died, deflating his kite.


The Polish kite surfing champion sent an SOS signal, but it took nearly 40-hours for the Saudi Arabian coastguard to find him.


Lisewski survived with the help of energy drinks, some water, two energy bars and a knife to fight off sharks.

"I was stabbing them in the eyes, the nose and gills," Lisewski told Polish state news agency PAP.

INTHELOOP
QLD, 1855 posts
7 Mar 2012 5:17PM
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where was his gopro???

flano
WA, 113 posts
7 Mar 2012 3:40PM
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HAHAHA

Dubai is in the UAE on the Arabian Gulf no where near El Gouna which is on the red sea there is no way any one would kite that far you first of all need a westerly wind till you reach Yemen the for the wind to swing Northerly so you can kite to Oman then finally for it to swing Easterly to kite to the UAE.

dachopper
WA, 1790 posts
7 Mar 2012 4:56PM
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flano said...

HAHAHA

Dubai is in the UAE on the Arabian Gulf no where near El Gouna which is on the red sea there is no way any one would kite that far you first of all need a westerly wind till you reach Yemen the for the wind to swing Northerly so you can kite to Oman then finally for it to swing Easterly to kite to the UAE.




No, he meant Duba!

www.google.com.au:443/maps?q=Duba,+Tabuk,+Arabia&hl=en&sll=27.362011,35.68634&sspn=2.239169,3.414001&oq=dubasaudi+arabia&gl=au&hnear=Duba,+Tabuk+Saudi+Arabia&t=h&z=13

DaGodfather
SA, 280 posts
8 Mar 2012 3:47PM
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Ok guys, I just came across this thread and I see a lot of misinformation being thrown around here and people bagging the guy who tried to accomplish something that nobody else has done before - cross the Red Sea single-handedly on a kite board. So let me explain a few things:

1) this guy is genuine and not some sort of noob trying to do things “on the cheap”.

If you type his name into Google you'll find he's done this sort of thing before – he is the guy who crossed the Baltic Sea in a similar manner ie. without a support boat. The reason for no support is not saving money (he got several offers of a free boat and crew) but rather he wanted to raise the challenge to the new level – just like the guy who climbed Everest with no oxygen. I guess this is what the media forgot to explain as they were pre-occupied with generating hype.

2) the interview above is a media-generated Chinese whisper.

It is a fact that he really tried to cross the Red Sea and got stuck 60 or so kays from the other side because the wind dropped and then he waited over 40 hours to get rescued.
But when it comes to sharks what he actually said on the Polish TV is that during that second night individual sharks came up 11 (separate!!) times to nibble on his kite (being used as a raft) as they were possibly curious about its colour and came to investigate. That's what the guy said. At the same time as he was saying that, the banner at the bottom of the screen read that he was “attacked by 11 sharks” and the reporter was asking him if these attacks were life threatning – so much for accurate reporting! Furthermore he clearly said that the sharks were mostly about 1m in length but some may have been bigger – up to 2.5m. It's beyond me how this got translated into 2.5-6 meters, as he was already talking meters not feet.

So, as you can see, it's the media that's feeding us bullsh!t and the guy deserves credit for having a go. Good on him for trying, I hope he is successful if he tries again.

DutchRooster
NSW, 325 posts
8 Mar 2012 11:07PM
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Respect for trying it unaided. Hope he notified / got permission to do it as the authorities of both countries can be difficult (to say the least).

I worked up and down the Red Sea as a DM for 3 years and can tell you: once you get properly away from the mainland and tourist resorts you'll find some pretty big sharks. Dodgy oceanic White tips, lots of silky, some big hammerheads, makos, bills sharks, etc. A couple of tourist got munched on last year. I would have been sh- tying myself...



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"Kiteboarder went missing in Red Sea" started by INTHELOOP