The Close Call Lost Mat Swim Thing!!!

Yo

So I “Nearly “had a BIG swim  on Sunday. I was way out the back at Mowbray St and a set wave lip landed right on my hands and taw Matty out of my hands which went sailing towards shore…man overboard I yelled and started the long swim in, found I was in a channel and going nowhere. So I started to swim across to the sand bar …then Matty called out..Hey stupid where are you ?? Matty was now happily sitting in the channel and with the aid of the wind and rip was coming BACK out to me..So I yelled Matty stay right there I ama comin ..So swung around and swum back across the channel …Matty I yelled slow down mate …Matty yells back well hurry up stupid or its new Caledonia for me..luckily Matty stopped and with no wind or rip we reached for each other…Mates …a very touching moment as I held matty and said…don’t ever do that again…so I did the smart thing and grabbed the next wave in.

Da Bolt

Yo Dude

Ha exactly the same thing happened to me a few months ago and I was only just reacquainted with the mat before my air supply completely expired! A close run thing. It wasn't a particularly big and gnarly day and my own fault as I let the mat go to fix some other part of my gear up and off it went in the wind with me having to try to negotiate a rip to get it. 
So I have now purchased a 1.5 litre hydro-backpack which fits a rolled up MT5 or Blue Streak quite nicely. It is really quite small and unobtrusive and sits high enough on the back to reach up and behind, undo the zip and rip out the mat if required. I will be wearing it next time I go out in big gnarly conditions and it looks like there is a chance of losing the mat and that I might have some difficulty if it occurs. This has been the best solution to date I have been able to think of to address this issue.

Thanks for the great pics and keep 'em rolling in.

regards

R