Saudi Navy rescued Polish Kite Surfer!
calendar_monthMarch 05, 2012
On his attempt to cross the 200km wide Red Sea from El Gouna, Egypt to Duba, Saudi-Arabia the Polish kite surfer Janek Lisewski had to learn that he cannot (as he put it) “take the crown of the seas” and beat the force of nature. After leaving El Gouna at 6.30am on the 2nd of March, the kite surfer safely checked in until reaching Ras Mohammed then, as far as we know, his signal was lost. At 6pm on the same day, almost 12 hours after he started, the first SOS call was received. Lisewski was in Saudi territorial waters, his conditions unknown. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, the Polish ambassador, the Egyptian and Polish coastguards and both Egypt’s and Saudi Arabia’s Navy were alerted immediately and a search and rescue unit, including boats and helicopter, was sent out by the Saudis as soon as the weather conditions allowed sailing. After one and a half day the kite surfer was finally found on Sunday afternoon, debilitated but alive. Neither the Egyptian nor the Saudi authorities were informed about Lisewski’s attempt in advance, an irresponsible act of stupidity. Not only because he was out at sea all by himself but also because he was planning on crossing borders and did not have the needed permissions to do so. Not only did he put himself in danger but also other people who came to rescue him, as the sea conditions have been quite rough the last days. We would like to commend the Saudi Navy and Coastguard for their dedicated rescue efforts, as well as the Egyptian Navy, Coastguard and Search and Rescue Unit in Cairo and everyone else who was involved in the recovery. We are relieved that all ended well and we hope that this case will teach some people that defying the sea –especially a treacherous one like the Red Sea- without taking the proper safety measures on top of that, it is not an heroic nor an extreme sport performance but nothing more than a foolish decision.
