On behalf of my son Nathan Bowness and our family I would like to thank fellow windsurfers who stopped to offer assistance in the middle of the lake ,Craig Ferris who raised the alarm ,Chris from foster who brought my car around to 5 mile boat ramp, a big thank you to Daffy for calling the ambulance and giving them directions to where we we're (Who later said they would not have found us if not for the good directions. )
Another big thank you to the paramedics who stabilized Nathan and took him to Mr Gamber Hospital ,the doctors who realized the seriousness of his condition and Medi Vact him to royal Adelaide hospital spinal unit were he is undergoing surgery at the moment to fuse 2 vertebrae and a disc together.
Thanks to all the fellow windsurfers who sent there best wishes to Nathan and thanks to Tim Sellers who organized for me somewhere to stay and leave my trailer.
THANK YOU.
Stay safe out there .
Terrible sad news , hoping all will turn out OK at the end. Thinking of you, stay strong
Terribly distressing to hear of your accident Nathan. Get well and back on the water soon.
Crap that sounds terrible, glad the tribe pulled together to get him help. Fingers crossed for you Nathan.
Is it rude to ask what happened?
Hope all is ok and you recover fast and come back stronger.
Select to expand quoteNotWal said..
What happened?Select to expand quoteDar said..
Is it rude to ask what happened?
Hope all is ok and you recover fast and come back stronger.
According to Nathan he over balanced his front foot came out of the strap as a big gust hit him catapulting head first into the mast & sail, had the sail not been new he would have gone through it .
Just be careful.
Best sport in the world.
His surgery was a success now on the mend.
Thanks for all the well wishes.
Wayne .
That sounds terrible. Well done to all involved in the rescue. I hope for a speedy recovery for Nathan.
great team work
and another lesson to all
especially me
to NOT sail alone
wishing all well !!
speedy recovery
Dreadful to hear of this, I for one tend to be pretty cavalier about my own abilities and safety, makes me think I should be more careful. Took a massive wipe out a few weeks back (on a far too big board for the conditions as it was all I had with me) sailing off woody head in Northern NSW with no one around, at dusk, cross off shore, thankfully only clicked my neck but with hindsight ..... speedy recovery and respect to all of the on hand quick thinkers who got you to safety. 
All the best Nathan, and great to see everyone helping with a positive outcome.
Cheers Bob
Thats not good . quick recovery . And well done everyone who got him out . Not a good feeling being stranded with a major injury .
Sorry to hear guys! Great news to hear surgery went well. Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery!
Get well soon and all the best from the Port Macquarie crew , bloody good effort by all involved never want this sort of thing to happen.
Nathan, you're supposed to leave the death defying crashes to us professionals, get well soon mate.
Great work on the coordinated rescue.
Best wishes for a great recovery.
I know the accident is in the back if my mind as I sail. Blowing a gale atm but I don't really feel enthused to sail it.
Sad to hear about this. Hope he will get well soon. May I ask if he used a helmet while this happened? I use a helmet and impact vest every time, but anyways, I succeeded to break my left side rib 2 weeks ago when losing the control of my board in a gust. I will get a better impact vest for sure... Helmets are good as you can attach action cams onto them and they may protect your head as well.
All the best Nathan. Hope you have a speedy recovery and are back on the water soon...
