I always get an ominous feeling when a board washes ashore and no surfer in sight. The incident prompted a Search and Rescue effort. Production shapers usually write serial numbers on the boards; so I’m thinking it could be used to contact the owner in this case. Thinking it might be good to add “emergency contact” info on the boards and/or order records.
Hoping all is good,
T
Where was it lost and/or found? Does not bode well, imo.
Doesn’t look like the board has been floating around in the open ocean for too long and no leash probably means a decent surfer. Maybe strong off-shore winds took the board? What were the conditions like at this beach yesterday, APR 22?
Wind or tides is my guess.
We’ve been experience 30+ knot winds and resulting surf and marine advisories for affected shorelines. The area is known to be frequented by schools of sharks. But is a state/county/DoD mantained shoreline with lifeguard stands and nearby Coast Guard station. I’m hoping no leash means the board was blown into the water without the owner knowing. Thus having means to contact the owner would be good. But not having a leash could turn into a long swim in sharky waters during advisory conditions.
Hoping for the best.
T
was at the ranch, enjoying a fun session at Goverments with a buddy, our other friend was in the boat sleeping.
We paddled back to the boat “Dude, where’s your board?”
“Dont F with me, what did you guys do with it?”
The moron had tied his leash around the VHF antenna that had been stored flat until needed, which unfortunately for him had the end pointed downwind - so the board just tugged the leash along the antenna until it dropped off the end, then headed south on the nw winds that were blowing out past the point that day.
Looked for an hour, motoring in and out, back and forth, never saw it again. Kicker on this? Brand new board he had borrowed from a buddy for the trip…ouch
Was looking at the picture, and it almost looks like the leash loop is still in the leash plug. Maybe the loop broke? Hopefully they swam in.
Been out in town Monday, Tuesday, and Today. Today was definitely an improvement.
Some nice ones to be had.
I was night surfing at HB pier in the late 60’s. Ate it on a set wave and lost my board. Swam for it, but it was a tide where the outside waves weren’t connecting with the inside and there was a dead spot between. Board got caught in the drift, and never saw it again.
I lost my board on a very large day at Tennis Courts. One of those days when the sets close out from Big Lefts across to Courts. The big waves created a heavy rip that day pushing back out and I swam for about 40 minutes. I figured the current would push the board towards the west, but I coudn’t find it in the shallows. I ended up swimming almost all the way to shore before an off duty lifeguard paddled back it to me. It went east instead of west. The extra large waves created a different current and pushed the board into the shallow water near Magic Island. I thought I was gling home minus my board which would have been bad because it was my brother’s board.
this was at Swabbie land according to our friend Joe G
if you know anythng about Swabbie Land you know what that lone board means
its the sunset beach of the Ewa plains with lots of tigers between you and the break almost 1/4 mile out like sunset
spooky deep blue cold water paddle
the currents and the waves were bad this week even Joe complained about it surfing white plains outer reefs
I had my spookiest experience at Swabbie Land, surfing alone, in 1967. When you feel the water swirl around your feet, and there are no boils or approaching waves, you know you may on the way to a bad experience. That paddle in, over the slack water on the inside, was the most stressful experience of my surfing life.
Bumping this up, in the hope there is more information, about the incident. Update anyone?
Bill,
http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2496574/
Search and rescue ended at sunset. I called the Honolulu Coast Guard station this morning and spoke to a Petty Officer and he confirmed there were no active searches in this regards. Also emailed the address in the link and suggested calling Town and County to match up the serial number on the board to the possible owner.
T
Tunabowl,
Thank you.
In the days before leashes it was a common occurence to lose boards out to sea, when surfing outer reefs. Ventura Overhead claimed a few. Take a wipeout, come up, swim in, and no sign of your board. The rip channels would carry them out to sea, probably wash up somewhere, some day.
When surfing good sized Hookipa way back in the day, before the kitesurfers took it over, I lost my board and had to swim in. The rip channel there (at that time) was right in line with the tiny little stretch of sand, the rest of the beach was jagged lava rocks. The temptation was to try to swim in where the sand was, which I did. But the rip would carry me out again and again, I could never get near.
Some people on shore saw my plight, and pushed my board out to me by putting it in the rip. Only I didn’t know. I could see a crowd on the cliff shouting at me and saying something, but with the roar of the surf I couldn’t hear a thing. Eventually I just swam up to the rocks, waited for the last wave of a set to blast against the rocks, then scrambled like heck to get up and out of the impact zone before another blast. Made it, only to find my board was drifting out to sea, past the breakers.
I was wore out and didn’t feel up to swimming back out at that point to get it, and it was drifting into unfamiliar territory quickly. So I got in my rental car, and started driving down the coast, following the bobbing yellow spot just beyond the breakers. I would pull over, watch it drift, then drive a little more, and do the same, figuring it might wash in.
Eventually, a local with a lot of aloha and a big opu and some swim fins saw my plight, and looked out at the board, “hey Brah, that your board? I go gettum for you!” Swam out past some good sized breakers like it was nothing, nabbed my board, paddled it in and handed it to me with a big grin on his face. I couldn’t have been more thankful, but IIRC a twenty was the best I could come up with, told him mahalo go buy yourself a six-pack brah.
When I was a kid I used to fly model airplanes, the kind you turn loose and let 'em go. Sometimes they would ride a thermal, and disappear into the sky. We would rig a timer, usually a rubber band with a small piece of burning rope in it, so that the rope would eventually burn through the rubber band, and the stabilizer wing would pop up, causing the plane to spin down gently.
But that didn’t always work, so we would generally put our name and phone number on the plane, in case anyone found it they could contact us. I got a phone call on one months afterwards, from a farmer who found it while harvesting his corn. The plane was wasted, but the little engine was still good! I guess if you’re gonna go leashless in bigger waves or outer reefs, might not be a bad idea, ha!