Ian was courageous enough to share this story of a recent outing in Lancelin, WA.

    "Monday 9 Jul @ Lancelin took some family friends kite flying on back beach - SSE side-shore 13-16 knots fairly steady after lunch for more than an hour.
Jealously watched some jetskis towing into seductive 3m waves and decided to go for a spin thinking that if the wind dropped or swung help wouldn't be far away with the jetskis and the family friends on the beach.

Hauled ass upwind and caught some beautiful waves about 350m out and 500m South of Eddie Island then somebody turned the switch - wind dropped and swung! I managed to keep the kite flying and started body dragging back towards the beach - I wasn't going to make it - heading straight for Eddie through a few nasty breaks. I called out and signalled to the jetskis and the beach - even after my kite fell out of the sky but relaunched it 5 or 6 times over the next 30mins there was no help inbound.
Most of the reef North of Eddies is pretty nasty until "Hole in the Wall", especially with a 3m swell running - so that's where I figured the best place to try and get in through the outer reef.

45 mins later I couldn't even keep the kite flying and no help in sight. I wound my lines up but decided to keep my kite inflated to make it easier for people to see me. I started to swim my gear in through "Hole in the Wall". I dragged my gear for about 30 mins and wasn't getting anywhere - the current running out from the gap in the reef and 5 knot offshore wind were taking me out to sea. I was about to pack my kite up to minimize wind resistance when a big set lifted me up and the apparent wind ripped the kite from my grip - I decided I would lose too much ground chasing the kite as the sun was now getting lower and still no sign of help.
I still had my board so I started swimming across the current trying to find a place where the current wasn't pushing me out to sea and the 3m waves weren't going to dump me on shallow reef. At this point I still felt I just wasn't making any ground, I was getting tired and mentally I was preparing myself for a night of drifting clinging to my board.
I didn't want to give up yet, so I battled the current for another 45 min or so until I finally caught a big breaking wave, held my breath and held onto my board as hard as I could ... at last I was through the outer reef ... and still in one piece!

I started to get leg cramps, the sun was getting lower quickly now, even inside the reef there were currents I was now having troubles swimming against - I could see the jetskis being pulled up onto their trailers on the beach 300m away - the sun was very low directly behind me, they couldn't see me ... I was stuffed. Another 45 mins or so I dragged myself up the beach near the jetty just before the sun set! The friends had eventually called my wife to ask "how long does Ian usually go out for?" The police arrived as I got back to my car - no search had yet been started.

I am one lucky boy - I post this for other's to learn from my stupidity - no matter how good it looks don't go out in an offshore wind unless you have your own safety craft right there with you."

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