British surfer Martin Markwell had always dreamed of catching that perfect wave - but when it finally came along, it was a nightmare.
Markwell was paddling on his surfboard on Sunday off the popular Hikkaduwa beach resort on Sri Lanka's palm-fringed southern coast when he was swept up by a tsunami wave and sent crashing over a beach and into a hotel restaurant.
"It was really terrible because I was really surfing on a wave I wasn't supposed to be on," he said. "As an experienced surfer, when I saw the wave come I realised something was wrong, but I couldn't escape because my surfboard was tied to my ankle."
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His wife Vicki and son Jake looked on in horror from a hotel balcony as he crashed towards the shore. Miraculously, he stayed on his board until he reached the hotel and waded to safety.
The family ran inland minutes before a 10-metre wave crashed into Sri Lanka's coast.
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This article was originally published on page 1 of Saturday Argus on January 01, 2005
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