MANILA: A big wave surfer Doug Falter lost his board in a wipeout in Hawaii. He never thought it would be found more than 8,000 kilometres away in the southern Philippines.
More than two years later, Falter was alerted via social media that his surfboard has been found near the remote island of Sarangani. The new owner, a local primary school teacher and aspiring surfer Giovanne Branzuela, was happy to give it back to him. “When I saw the picture of it, I couldn’t believe it, I thought it was a joke almost,” Falter told.
Branzuela, who bought the badly weathered surfboard from his neighbour a couple of months ago for $40, said fishermen had found it floating in the sea in August 2018, six months after Falter lost sight of it.
They thought it may have fallen off a passing yacht and sold it to Branzuela’s neighbour for a few dollars.” It turned out it’s a surfboard from Hawaii. I couldn’t believe it myself”, “It’s been my dream to learn to surf and ride the big waves here,” Branzuela told. The pair have been chatting on Facebook and Falter plans to visit the small island to retrieve his board after coronavirus travel restrictions are removed.
Falter said he wants to give Branzuela a beginners surfboard in exchange for his and show him how to catch waves around Sarangani and neighbouring Balut island.
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