The owner of a GoPro, found on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast after a year of being lost in the sea, never expected his long-forgotten camera to be found.

With its pictures and video revealing the last moments of revelry before it was lost to the waves, Bazely’s Curtis Rudling embarked on a quest to reunite the camera with its owner.

“I know what it’s like to lose a GoPro and it’s horrible. It is not so much losing the camera but it’s the footage that you want back so desperately, that is why I am trying to find out who this one belongs to,” he said.

Rudling, on a gap year in the coastal hamlet, said he found the GoPro while on the beach.

“I saw it and picked it up. You can see from what it looks like that it had been in the sea for a long time,” he said.

Rudling said that he was able to extract the rugged camera from its case and view the footage.

“When I looked at the videos I saw the last clip it had taken before it got lost. It shows a bunch of guys with beers at a caravan park walking down to the beach and then getting into the water. The guy holding the camera got hit by a wave and lost his grip. Then the camera just rolled around underwater for another half an hour,” he said.

“I recognised the place where they were and went to the caravan park. The owner seemed to remember the guys but said they were here over a year ago. There was a number on the camera but it was an old one. I spoke to the guy and he had already sold the camera on and it had changed hands a couple of times,” he said.

Wes Lewis saw reports on the lost footage & new immediately it was his. He who spoke to News sites from Australia & said that camera had been lost in the surf at Bazley Beach during the revelry of his 21st birthday.

“We were playing around in the shore when my friend Jason hit the camera by mistake while skimming which ended up knocking it off the stick,” he said.

He said that he and his friends had tried to find the missing camera, but had quickly given up.

“The shorey was messy and it was a really old GoPro so we gave up quickly. I thought it was a gonner for sure,” he said.

In a message to Rudling, who found the camera, he said he could keep it.

“Thanks for bringing back some good memories which we thought we lost.”

About the Author

Brent Lindeque is the founder and editor in charge at Good Things Guy.

Recognised as one of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South African’s as well as a Primedia LeadSA Hero, Brent is a change maker, thought leader, radio host, foodie, vlogger, writer and all round good guy.

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