SUP Blows away from paddler - with child on board!

Don't let this happen to you! Always. Always! Wear a leash when paddling your SUP.
You hear stories about SUPs blowing away faster than you can swim, and many think 'oh yeah, that won't happen to me!!!' Well guess what, it happened to this guy in the USA, when his child was on board!!!

"During our vacation to the Yosemite National Park area. We drove into the park and decided take our SUP Board out onto Tenya Lake. I took my young son, who was 6 years old, out with me. He was wearing a child's life-vest. I only strapped my life-vest to the board.

The Tenya Lake beach area was pretty crowded with people that day. As my son and I paddled out onto the lake, the afternoon winds started to pick up and the chop on the water increased. I decided to turn around and started to bring the SUP back to the beach area from where we started - as we made the turn, with the wind now at my back, I lost my footing and fell off the back of the board into the water...

The wind very quickly blew my SUP 15 to 20 feet away from me with my son still sitting on it. I immediately tried to start swimming back to the board, but with wind blowing at least 10 mph, it quickly blew the board away from me quicker then I could swim. And with the cool water temperature and the high altitude of over 8,000 feet, I quickly became very tired. I quickly realized I was not going to get back to the board and started to struggle to just tread water. I soon became very exhausted - I was doing all I could do just to keep my head above the water."

Luckily for this guy, some nearby help arrived and the day was saved in the nick of time. He learned a lesson, and promptly purchased a leash for his SUP.

Now, still think it won't happen to you? One of our very own paddlers here on Seabreeze; competent to say the least, and who's name you'll know if you ever venture into the forums - has a video to prove it does happen.

Watch as he falls of his SUP, can't keep up with it and gets a fellow paddler to grab it. Only problem is, she ties her leash to the run-away board instead of herself - and falls off too!!! Believe it or not, BOTH boards blow away, so now there's two in the water with no boards!

Watch the video below, and follow along with the conversation about leash safety in the Seabreeze.com.au Stand Up Paddling forums