Just repeating this here, as in the the lost and found it will stay relatively sticky but I suspect its not the most visited forum on seabreeze.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Lost-Found/Full-rig-board-lost-at-gnaraloo/
Obviously, pretty big loss and is going to impact on my ability to get out amongst it this season. So if anyone hears of it being found it would be greatly appreciated if they'd PM me.
Thanks
Bernie
That sucks, just curious what's the long story? If you got smashed didn't the waves wash if in?
Select to expand quoteR1DER said..
That sucks, just curious what's the long story? If you got smashed didn't the waves wash if in?
R1der I'm assuming you are no stranger to the break at Gnaraloo. Got wiped out by the first big wave in a big set and lost my rig, the following set waves pushed it well out of reach and into the whitewater channel in front of the reef. Apparently, whilst i was doing the long swim the big set was followed very quickly by a smaller set which pushed the rig further along the channel in the whitewater zone. I lost sight of it whilst swimming, by the time I made it to the reef and where I thought the rig was approximately located. It had been sucked back out to the top of the bombie. Expected behaviour was for it to then go over the bombie to be delivered in front of the kiter beach.
But instead, after travelling most of the bombie it got ejected out the side into a bit of a rip which dragged back out behind the reef and breaking waves where it started travelling north. It was rapidly heading towards sunset by this time and the wind had suddenly dropped. I tried to convince the only kiter on kiter beach to try dragging me out to it but he wasn't convinced he'd make it back in. I tracked it down past 3 mile camp before the lights went fully out.
We sent drones up first thing the next morning and scoured the coast up to the furthest point of Gnaraloo bay to try and find it, but to no avail!
I'm sure I could have swum faster and harder or in a different direction or both. Failing that asking around earlier for someone with a boat or similar would have been a good idea. But hindsight is a marvellous thing and to be fair I was pretty done in when I finally surfaced after being smashed by the first wave.
The kiter was very smart not to offer assistance he never would have made it back in as wind went offshore everyone swam in.Sorry for your loss but things go bad very quickly up there,you're lucky you weren't swimming at the bommie with it.
Rig will be destroyed by now but could of been worse given the conditions.
Select to expand quoteFoghorn said..
The kiter was very smart not to offer assistance he never would have made it back in as wind went offshore everyone swam in.Sorry for your loss but things go bad very quickly up there,you're lucky you weren't swimming at the bommie with it.
Rig will be destroyed by now but could of been worse given the conditions.
Absolutely, by no means am I suggesting the kiter should have taken me out - it was his call to make and it appears he made a very smart call. I am pretty confident he'd have helped me out if the conditions had been favourable.
As you say it could have been a lot worse!
My brother in law Andy from Atomic Sky also told me about your misfortune and the sharks the drone saw!
Against all odds my kit has been found! And by all accounts apart from a hole in the sail everything else is in pretty good shape!
My only problem, now being, is that its with the Police in Darwin!!! I just need to work out how to collect it and get it back to Perth. Anyone know any Northern Territory windsurfers who might be able to help out?
