THE former ladies? captain at Tavistock?s Hurdwick Golf Club had an almost unbelievably lucky escape from last week?s horrifying tsunami waves, while on holiday in Thailand. Sally Arscott, 58, was with a friend in Krabi Province during the Christmas period. On Boxing Day, when the great wave struck, she was on a four-island snorkelling trip. Sally said: ?We had been snorkelling for about half an hour, when we decided we?d sit on the beach for a bit and do some swimming. ?I was watching these guys trying to push a speedboat out into the water because it had suddenly become beached and I thought the tide had gone out a bit quick. ?Then I saw this wave arrive around the headland and I thought ?God, that?s big? and I suppose after a couple of seconds we realised everyone was going to have to get up the beach. ?I just grabbed my things and ran ? my friend was down in the water and I saw her bowled over, I just kept running but it just overtook me and I got swept up into the undergrowth and ended up in the bushes.? Sally said she escaped with cuts and grazes ? incredibly, her friend was unscathed. She said there was ?absolutely no warning? of what was to come and the whole episode took just seconds. It was not until later that they realised the enormity of the disaster. ?We couldn?t get back to our hotel because you can only reach the resort by boat, and they?d all been smashed up. ?While we were waiting to be rescued, word got round there had been an earthquake, we started watching the television and realised we were in the middle of something big.? The couple were eventually evacuated from their hotel and managed to find a room elsewhere, before flying out of Bangkok on Wednesday. Trying to reassure relatives at home had been very difficult, she said. ?You just couldn?t get a line out to tell anyone you were OK, although we did eventually,? said Sally, who still does not know if other people she knew in Thailand were safe. ?The thing is, people move from island to island. You meet people and they say ?I?m off to so-and so tomorrow?. ?It was actually the force behind the wave that was so big and the second wave was worse than the first. ?I think it was very much a matter of luck where you were at the time,? said Sally. ?We consider ourselves very lucky to be alive ? it?s something nobody will ever forget and it?s affected so many people.?
