New Zealand paddler who miraculously survived after being run over by boat says he ‘couldn’t be any luckier’
- Tim Grammer ended up in hospital with broken ribs and a collapsed lung after he was run over by a boat while going for a paddle in Christchurch’s Lyttelton Harbour
- ‘It was just sheer terror building up in my mind the horrific thought of the bow of the boat coming over the top of me at full speed,’ he recalled
Lying in his hospital bed with broken ribs, cracked vertebrae, and a collapsed lung after being run over by a boat while going for a paddle, New Zealander Tim Grammer says he “couldn’t be any luckier”.
The former international multisport athlete was out with some friends on their ocean racing skis in Christchurch’s Lyttelton Harbour on Saturday afternoon.
Grammer, 55, told the Herald the group had paddled into the wind before turning around and heading towards their next marker when he heard a boat coming from behind.
“I looked around and thought ‘oh he’s heading straight at me’, so I tried to turn left to get out of the way and I realised I’m not fast enough to get out of the way,” he recalled on Monday.
“It was just sheer terror building up in my mind the horrific thought of the bow of the boat coming over the top of me at full speed.”
The bow hit his back, pushing him under the water as it went over him. When he resurfaced, he saw his fibreglass ski split in two.
