Thanks for sharing. We kited the same downwinder a little earlier and hope all is ok.

Anyone got an update? If hes not sitting on a beach somewhere its quite a worry. It was a very heavy day with a big swell, low tide, and sttong and gusty s/se wind.

Matt 48 yrs doing downwinder from to coro last seen drummonds about 1400 hrs . theres a notice on gero sea search and rescue the jet is still up there looking
he Looks Local

Have checked Horrocks and Bowes, not sure if he would have drifted this far yet, but no sign of him.

Search has re commenced 0500hrs, air and boat assests deployed.

Kitesurfer - Matthew WING, 6ft3, 120kg.

Matthew commenced a downwinder from Drummonds to Coronation's yesterday with an ETA of 1600hrs.

Matthew wasn't a local but is an experienced Kiter.

131 444 for any information useful to the search.

000 if you find Matthew

Yes Matt is from Perth, very experienced kiter and been kiting 12-15 yrs I'd say! Hope all turns out well buddy and he is found safe!

The CL60 SAR aircraft is headed back up to the area.

Apparently Matt has been found and is ok. Made it back to sure last night from reports! Great news!!!!!!!

Ryland said..
Apparently Matt has been found and is ok. Made it back to sure last night from reports! Great news!!!!!!!

Great relief if this news is true. Any news on what happened to him?

www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-05/missing-kite-surfer-matthew-wing-found-alive-off-geraldton/10686952

Missing kite surfer Matthew Wing found alive on Geraldton beach
By Jacob Kagi

Updated 23 minutes ago

PHOTO: Matthew Wing, 48, had been kite surfing at Drummond Cove in Geraldton. (Supplied: WA Police)

A kite surfer missing off Western Australia's Mid West coast since yesterday has been found alive, rescuers say.

Spitfire said..

Ryland said..
Apparently Matt has been found and is ok. Made it back to sure last night from reports! Great news!!!!!!!

Great relief if this news is true. Any news on what happened to him?

Fake news?

I was down the mouth of the Bowes with binoculars and 4wd at 0600 this morning looking for him. Bit disappointing I didn't get to pick Matt up, but am super happy someone else did!! I really was not expecting such a good outcome. Pretty amazing to see the amount of resources put into the search effort. Makes you proud.

Probably didn't want to pull into corros with a pink kite

theDoctor said..

Probably didn't want to pull into corros with a pink kite

Was gonna give him shidt about owning a pink kite
6ft 3 and 120 kg, might be a handful

Kite2Surf said..
Kite was more purple than pink!

A few details

He likely "missed" coro on the downwinder.

Dropped the kite in the surf and blew out a panel. Made it to shore okay ( lots of reef north of coro).

Walked north along beach for about 4km, but was already past coro so almost made Bowes / Horrocks.

Went inland to try to find a road.....

Hunkered down for the night in his kite. Must have been to far inland for the plane that was using IR to search.

Walked back to beach this morning and got a jetski ride to the vmr boat for a run back to Gero. Happy Days.

Saw the Geraldton Volunteer Marine Rescue team who picked him up this morning and this version of the story above is pretty close to what they told me. Apparently, he had a portable EPIRB device that he'd been carrying with him but lost it in the surf on Thursday. He was picked up approximately 10 NM north or Corros, just south of Bowes River. It's a pretty desolate, uninhabited area, and the closest road is about 14km from the beach. The rescue plane was doing some serious searching up until well after midnight. I was unaware of the situation last night but heard a jet flying at low altitude just before 1am and had a look a FlightRadar to see what what going on. Here're the tracks they'd been flying up til about midnight and a screen grab of this morning's flights as well just before they flew back to Perth.

The new Bombardier Challenger 604 rescue plane that flew up from Perth for the search apparently is amazing.
https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/chester/releases/2017/february/dc039_2017.aspx

Kudos to all the rescue personnel who gave their time, many of whom stayed up the entire night working on the search and were still on duty at 2pm this afternoon. WA Police kindly brought in sandwiches and coffee and family of Geraldton Volunteer Marine Rescue staff delivered cake and coffee.

Awesome community we have here in this part of the world, along with the superb support and world-class tech from our friends in Perth.