Surf rescue

Elia Powers

As project director of the Billabong Odyssey surf expedition, Newport

Beach resident Bill Sharp keeps an eye out for the world’s largest

waves.

This month, he is responding to one of the world’s deadliest

water-related disasters in history.

In the days following the Dec. 26 South Asia tsunami, Sharp said

he became unsettled watching relief efforts and news coverage from

afar.

The same islands that had provided surf magazines with centerfold

spreads now were appearing in newsweeklies in disaster photos.

“As people who choose to live our lives off the coast, seeing

damage there resonates with us,” said Sharp, a former editor of

Surfing and Surf News magazines.

Sharp said he wanted to provide help on behalf of the surfing

industry. So he rounded up friends Matt George, Dustin Humphrey,

Timmy Turner and David Sparkes for a Jan. 6 trip to Sumatra.

Sharp brought professional photography equipment, with the

intention of documenting the entire trip. But when he arrived, he

decided to take a more proactive role.

Along with the other travelers, Sharp offered his services to

major relief organizations.

The group prepared itself for any task -- clearing out warehouses,

loading trucks with supplies, delivering goods directly to those in

need.

But none of that happened, and Sharp and his friends quickly grew

impatient, he said.

With no assured financial backing, the travelers formed the

“Sumatra Surfzone Relief Operation” as a short-term alternative.

“People are making pledges, but unless you are walking through the

streets with sacks of money, it doesn’t mean anything,” said Sharp,

who serves as the operation’s acting director.

“I have a home-equity line,” he said. “What better way to use it

than on people who don’t have homes.”

Sharp said in the first 10 days of the mission, members spent

almost $50,000 of out-of-pocket money. One couple scraped together

$25,000 in savings and credit card advances to get relief supplies

and access to a cargo vessel. Sharp paid $12,000 for the short-term

rental of another yacht.

Basing themselves out of Padang, a coastal Sumatran town that

escaped the brunt of the disaster, operation members bought 37 tons

of food -- including mass amounts of fish and rice -- from local

merchants.

They worked directly with the Indonesian Development of Education

and Permaculture, evaluating what goods were most needed. Operation

members loaded an assortment of items onto the two vessels, including

500 disaster aid kids, 135,000 liters of water, 500 blankets and 150

shovels.

Sharp said a large portion of the goods went to Simeulue, an

island less than 15 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter that

received scant attention from relief organizations.

He said their two ships were the first to reach the island after

the tsunami.

With the rest of his friends continuing the ship deployments

overseas, Sharp returned to Southern California on Sunday. He spent

the past week coordinating the second part of the operation and

communicating with local surf industry leaders.

Sharp said he is confident the operation will receive major

donations from industry representatives by the time group members

return home. And he is prepared for a return to Sumatra on Monday.

He asks that donations to go toward SurfAid International, an

organization that, for years, has worked to immunize South Asia

citizens.

Sharp said phase two of the mission will include transporting

fishing apparatus such as canoes and nets from the southern region of

Sumatra to the offshore islands.

“Our goal is to provide [survivors] with the infrastructure they

need to be self-sufficient again,” he said.

Though operation members are spending the majority of their time

on the vessels, they continue to keep friends and family in the loop.

Sharp is sending out regular trip updates through e-mail.

Huntington Beach resident Timmy Turner is writing a blog that

appears on his sponsor Quiksilver’s website

“They’re doing a great job,” said Tim Turner, Timmy’s father.

“Some people might have tried to talk them out of going, but they

weren’t going to be stopped.”

* ELIA POWERS is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

He may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at

[email protected]