Surfski Knowledge Base

Larry Bussinger <lbussing@…>
03/12/07 #2616

Carter Johnson just sent me a note about his Watertribe race in
Flordia and gave me permission to post it. I had given him a leash
in San Francisco last year telling him it just takes 5 seconds to put
it on, so why even think about not putting it on every time. “You
don't want the Coast Guard calling your girl friend saying they
couldn't find you.” I kind of made it my mission last year to get
everyone to wear one, now you know why.

“Larry – Just wanted to thank you for the Paddle leash you gave me
last year. It probably saved my life in the Watertribe. We had small
craft advisories for the last few days of the race. The winds would
have easily barrel rolled my Surfski even with its 65lb pack of
gear. On the last night around 1:30am, I found myself in a 35 mile
open water crossing of Florida Bay. The headwinds were 25knots
gusting to 40. I was not making smart decisions and got myself
hopelessly suck in some mud. I hopped off the boat and immediately
sunk up to my knees completely immobilized. Almost instantly, I felt
a furious tug on my waist as the coiled leash pulled taught in
seconds with my boat blowing out towards Mexico with conviction. Had
the leash not been on, I would have been stuck alone in the bay 15
miles from anybody in the pitch black of the night without my gear or
hypothermia kit. I was able to crawl on all fours for a half mile
towing the boat via the leash till I could take shelter up in some
mangrove roots till the sun came up. I did not wear a leash last
year and probably would not have this year had your words not
resonated with me. The final Florida Bay crossing that Sally and I
did last year in 5.5 hour took me not a minute shy of 16 hours.”