Lost Surfers Reach Sumatra Shore

A surfing excursion boat that had been lost at sea near Indonesia for 10 days washed ashore Tuesday at a remote fishing village on the island of Sumatra with the 10 men aboard, including two Southern Californians, reported in good condition.

Indonesian authorities and a spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia said the 40-foot Tirta Kencana drifted about 200 miles from its intended destination on the west end of the island of Java before landing at the village of Krui.

Among those rescued were Chad Beatty, 30, of Redondo Beach, Troy Alotis, 22, of Dana Point and two Hawaii residents, Kenneth Benter and Bob McGinness, embassy spokesperson Lynn Cassel said.

Looking for Waves

Further details were not available, because the men had not yet reached Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, Cassel said.

The boat, carrying six Americans, two Australians and four Indonesian crewmen, set off Aug. 10 from Labuan on the island of Java in search of unspoiled surfing spots. But it experienced engine failure Aug. 13 near the Sunda Strait, the narrow waterway that separates the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, Cassel said.

The boat carried only enough food and water for six days.

Two of the Americans, Danny Camplin of Redondo Beach and Bruce Hansel of Hawaii, left the boat on surfboards in search of help the day the engine failed. They paddled for six hours to reach the shore of a small island and then hiked for a day and a half before finding a ranger station, according to friends in Redondo Beach who have spoken to Camplin.

Camplin and Hansel alerted Indonesian authorities, who dispatched air and sea search crews Aug. 16, Cassell said. Australian and American search crews had recently joined in the search.

An Annual Adventure

Camplin and Beatty have visited Indonesia the past several summers on surfing trips, said Chris Tronolone of Redondo Beach, who had joined them in previous years and for several weeks this summer.

The trip to the west end of Java was to be the final excursion of the surfing vacation, said Tronolone, who flew home to Redondo Beach before the boat trip.

Three years ago, two other Southern Californians and two Indonesian crewmen were lost at sea under almost identical circumstances. Judy Schwartz and Rickey Berkowitz of Rancho Palos Verdes adrift for 21 days before they washed ashore near a Sumatran fishing village.