Hi All,
I had a slight malfunction of Port beach 24/10/15 and lost my RRD 105 slalom board and 38 vector fin.
Last seen at 1630 about 1.2 NM of Leighton beach heading south!!!!
Thankfully John Naughton gave me a tow in with my rig.
If you find it I would be greatfull if you gave me a call
Craig Mann
0427266265

Think it was more likely heading North, so hopefully it will wash up at one of the local surf clubs and be returned to you intact.

Great work Norts on the tow in!

powersloshin said..
I don't know the facts, but the first safety rule is to stay with the board, not the rig ? ....hope they can find it.

I agree with Craigmann's tactics. It's never happened to me, but I've seen (and rescued) half a dozen board/rig separations. The gear heads downwind with the wind/swell and the board will land first (~500m-1km) and the rig will go much further down wind before landing (3-5km). By swimming in with the rig, you can land it much closer, and even before the board location. This is probably dependent on location of course and I'm not sure how Craigmann's location works. If you're fairly close to shore (400-500m), the conditions are easy (ie: the swell/wind blows you to the shore) and strong swimmer or like me have a bouyancy vest, I don't see a problem with it. All comes down to personal preference/ability. At my local it takes minutes for the hoarders to react to an opportunity and you'll never see it again.

It was more that I had the rig in hand and the board was 50 meters down wind.
I figured better to stay with what I had than try and swim for the board.

powersloshin said..
I don't know the facts, but the first safety rule is to stay with the board, not the rig ? ....hope they can find it.

Easier said than done. As soon as the board is separated from the rig, you are lucky to have 2-3 seconds to catch the board, especially in a windy day. With wave rolling and pushing it along, you will never be able to catch a board ! I know because it happened to me. Luckily a lady kite boarder from a foreign land caught my board and landed it on the beach.

"Stick with the bit that floats" - if that fails (too far to swim etc.) - stick with the rig as it will give a bigger area to see from the air.