Dana Point Surfer Among 10 Rescued Off Sumatra

A small cruise ship adrift in the Indian Ocean since its engine failed nearly two weeks ago was found by search crews, and all 10 members of a surfing expedition--including two from Southern California men--were alive and well, Indonesian officials reported.

The Southland residents are Troy Alotis, 22, of Dana Point and Chad Beatty, 30, of Redondo Beach.

“They were spotted by our patrol boat just off the coast of Krui in southern Sumatra and we are bringing them back to Jakarta today,” Col. Manurung, spokesman for the Indonesian national search and rescue team, told United Press International.

Krui is 150 nautical miles from Penaitan Island, where the vessel, Tirta Kencana, was abandoned Aug. 13 by Danny Camplin, 30, of Redondo Beach, and Bruce Hansel of Hawaii, who paddled for help on their surfboards.

Left drifting aboard the 40-foot converted fishing vessel were three crew members, two Australians, an Indonesian and four Americans.

Camplin, Beatty and Alotis had come to Indonesia in early July on a surfing expedition and had chartered the boat with the group for trips to unspoiled surfing waters. Carrying food and water for a six-day expedition, the group set off Aug. 10 from Labuan on the island of Java, and experienced engine trouble on Aug. 13.

Beatty’s mother, Marge Wilkins, told United Press International from her home in Salt Lake City that she was informed late Tuesday by an embassy official in Jakarta that the group had been found and all were safe.

“They said the Indonesian coast guard is sending a boat to pick them up and they’ll be in Jakarta within 12 hours,” she said.

“(The official) was very sure it was them and that they are safe,” she said.

Hansel and Camplin left the boat shortly after the engine failure had left its passengers stranded in the Sunda Strait that separates the islands of Java and Sumatra.

“We were drifting away from shore so fast we decided to jump off and go for it,” said Camplin, a 30-year-old professional diver.

“We paddled our surfboards for three hours against strong currents before reaching Penaitan island,” he said.

After reaching shore, Camplin Hansel 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.

The Australian navy, a U.S. Navy jet and a plane owned by the American Embassy had joined the Indonesian military in the search, according to State Department spokeswoman Frances Jones. An Orion P3 long range maritime patrol plane flew in Tuesday from Diego Garcia naval base in the Indian Ocean to comb the waters around Penaitan Island, about 80 miles west of Jakarta.

Camplin and Beatty have visited Indonesia the past several summers on surfing trips, according to Chris Tronolone of Redondo Beach, who joined the pair 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.

Alotis is a veteran surfer who had been planning this Indonesian trip for the past year, according to Patty Short, a family friend.

Alotis grew up in the South Bay area and graduated from Torrance High School. In 1984, he and his mother, Barbara O’Hara, moved to Dana Point, where she had relocated her real estate business, Short said. Alotis initially began attending classes at Saddleback College and working. Two years ago, he moved to Hawaii to attend college but maintains his home in Dana Point, Short said.

Living on the island of Oahu, Alotis has worked full time as an electrician and continued going to school part time, Short said. A few weeks ago, he returned to Dana Point to see his mother. They and some friends went to a Mexican beach resort for a vacation before he journeyed to Indonesia for what was to be a six-week surfing trip.

“He was really excited about it,” Short said. “It was kind of a surfer’s dream.”

Alotis’ mother did not realize anything was amiss until the State Department contacted her Friday and informed her that her son was a member of the missing group. O’Hara has since flown to Jakarta to await news of the fate of her son. She is a divorcee with no other children.