Thoughts of daughter aid to surfer’s survival
Surfer Shon Turfrey, who was rescued after staying afloat out at sea for more than six hours, says his daughter gave him the strength to pull through.
Turfrey, 34, a builder in Napier, went surfing off the coast of Haumoana on Sunday when the ocean sucked him out about 10.5 kilometres.
Speaking about his struggle for survival, Turfrey credited his 5-year-old daughter, Ava, with giving him the mental fortitude to keep paddling.
‘‘I knew pretty early on it was going to be a long haul; I sort of knew what was going down and the rest became a bit more of a survival test,’’ he told Stuff.
His first thought was the realisation that he wasn’t heading closer towards the shore by paddling. However, he couldn’t stop, as whenever he did, the wind chill would ‘‘blast over the top’’ of him.
After a while, the sun became his only gauge of time, he said.
Turfrey, a regular surfer, was no stranger to that particular spot, and there were others in the area on Sunday, he said.
Some moments, all Turfrey could do was lay low so the wind wouldn’t blow him out further.
‘‘I couldn’t really rest, I couldn’t sit on the board; at some points I felt like I just wanted to sleep or put my head down to try and recoup, but because the sea was choppy ... it was just constantly at you.’’
He admitted he ‘‘lost the plot a couple of times’’ but said Ava, who started school last week, kept him going.
‘‘I hadn’t actually had a chance to take her properly to school.
‘‘We went up the mountain a couple of weeks ago with my little girl and my partner [Sarah], and the snow fields were closed on Whakapapa side and my little girl Ava said: Well, we don’t give up aye, dad.
‘‘That stayed in my mind.’’ Yesterday, he was able to accompany Ava to school for the first time.