Doug Falter, a big wave surfer, lost his board in a wipeout in Hawaii, his best hope was for a local fisherman to pick it up, but he had no idea that a man from the Philippines would be the one that would find the surfboard.
8,000 kilometers away from Hawaii, the surfboard was found by a Filipino surfer in the Southern Philippines.
Falter spent 2 years waiting for someone to find his pale blue custom-shaped board, however, he said that he had no idea that it would be found across the world.
The board was found on a remote island of Sarangani.
Falter lost it in a huge wave when he was surfing at the Waimea Bay.
He was alerted on social media about the board.
A local primary school teacher and an aspiring surfer Giovanne Branzuela was happy to announce that he had found the surfing board.
He was happy to give it back.
35-year-old Falter told AFP via Zoom that he was in shock when he saw the Filipino surfer standing with his board.
He added:
When I saw the picture of it, I couldn’t believe it, I thought it was a joke almost. I was certain that the board would never be found again.
Branzuela bought the badly weathered surfboard from his neighbor a couple of months ago for 2,000 ($40).
It is said that a fisherman had found the surfboard floating in the sea in August 2018, which is 6 months after Falter lost the surfboard in Hawaii.
Initially, they thought that the board may have fallen off a passing boat, so the fisherman brought it back and sold it to the Filipino surfer.
The name of the board’s shaper, Lyle Carlson, from Hawaii, was still visible on the yellowish board, which was once white.
The board spent months drifting across the Pacific Ocean.
Branzuela looked him up on Facebook and sent him a picture of the board.
Carlson shared the picture on Instagram and tagged Falter.
During an interview with Branzuela, he said:
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. For now I can use his surfboard. I told him I will take good care of it.
Such an amazing story to share with your family during this pandemic!