By Bec Pridham, ABC News
Albarito Bueno. Photo: Supplied
A surfboard lost off Tasmania's south coast more than a year ago has washed up thousands of kilometres away in New Zealand, and will soon be reunited with its owner.
The board blew overboard in May 2024, in its bag with the leg rope attached, and journeyed across the Tasman, notorious for its rambunctious waves and wild winds known as the Roaring Forties.
Kite surfing off Raglan on the west coast, Albarito Bueno spotted the well-travelled board, intact, but weighed down by barnacles.
"Seems like the board has been drifting quite a bit," he posted in a surfing enthusiasts group, hoping to find the owner.
"And it's not too damaged. Wondered if the board could have drifted from east Australia??"
Bueno posted images of the board, including one that showed the maker's mark.
Surfers from across the globe united in the mystery, poring over the design, speculating over origin and voyage - and of course, trying to figure out who the board belonged to.
Bueno later updated the community of surfers-turned-sleuths, informing them he'd cracked the case... yes, it had ventured across the ditch.
"I just had a call with the owner of the board, Liam, a charger from Tasmania, Australia," he wrote.
"The board was lost on a boat trip on the south coast of Tasmania on 10th of May 2024!!!!!!"
The board drifted for 17 months and "ended up in Raglan, where I found it", he said.
"Liam's family is coming over [to] Auckland, New Zealand for a wedding. We will get in contact for me to give the board back!"
Not the first time a board has gone on a trip
A physical oceanographer says while unlikely, it was possible the board could have done a full circuit around the globe before reaching its destination.
The University of Tasmania's Edward Doddridge said the discovery was both surprising and not surprising.
"We know that the ocean is connected, and we know that things that float and keep floating will eventually wash up somewhere," he said.
Doddridge said winds generally travelled west to east, and currents north to south down the eastern Australian coastline, bending around towards New Zealand.
"If you gave me 1000 surfboards and I threw them all in the ocean, the odds that any of them would end up in New Zealand would be pretty low," he said.
As for how far it travelled, he said that was anyone's guess.
"It could've gone all around the world, it almost certainly hasn't done that, and we can't know with certainty where it has gone," Doddridge said.
Albarito Bueno. Photo: Supplied
"But it probably hasn't visited many places apart from Tasmania and New Zealand, in large part because there's not a lot in between, apart from ocean.
"I would expect it to take much longer than a year-and-a-half or so to do a full lap around the ocean.
"That's almost certainly impossible, but the currents are really fast if it managed to absolutely fluke it… but it'd be a very lucky surfboard to have done that."
It's not the first board to leave Tasmanian shores, to wash up far away - four years ago, a Hobart surfer was delighted when his beloved board turned up in Queensland.
In an online post, the surfboard's shaper, Josh Fairleigh, expressed amazement at the board's journey and said he was pleased it would soon return to its owner.
He shared an image of the board in its bag on the boat, before it went overboard and sailed away on its adventure.
"This board may have accumulated more ocean time and wisdom than all of us," he wrote.
"Imagine the storms and sea life it's seen!"
- ABC News
