I've only ever lost one TT and a bar and lines.
Got the bar and lines back nearly 12 months to the day.
Carbon Airwave TT went missing off Kangaroo Island S.A. mate bowered it, never to be seen again. Don't want it back but would love to know if it every come ashore.
What's the longest period of time before you got your bit of gear back. and how far did it travel?
... I lost a board one off shore gusty day, only took my eye off it for a second after getting hit with a big gust and yanked off, tried to body drag back but never found it. Grabbed another board and mowed the lawn looking for it, nothing!!
Then one random day months later we had heaps of rain and some flooding, were some local thrill seekers decided to get a tow behind a car, wake boarding behind a car on a busy main road!! Next day these guys were on the front page, and bugger me the board looked just like my old Naish Thorn 129cm. I tried to get in contact with the NT News to see if I could find the guys but alas nudda.
That was 5 or 6 years ago! Don't really know if it was really my board but damn it looked like it!
Oh well!
cheers,
Robbie 
One of my boards bounced out the back of my 4WD on stockton beach a few years back. 4 months later I got a phone call from a local who'd had it in their garage for the entire 4 months and only just noticed the phone number on it.
Similarly, my old boss found out that I kitesurfed and brought in a board he'd found whilst fishing some years before. I took it from him and found a mate's phone number on the board that he'd never bothered to phone.
In both cases I had a mixture of happiness that the board was found along with annoyance that the person had never bothered to ring the number on the board.
Not my story, but a mate was doing some surf ski paddle training in Busselton, WA. Heavy offshore winds and current. He fell off and his ski just rolled away from him straight out to sea. These skis are so light they jsut roll on the surface of the water. He was about 1km offhsore and ended up being rescued by another paddler (after abandoning his paddle to try to swim in).
Two weeks later he got a call from the Navy telling him to come collect his ski. They had picked it up while doing training out the back of rottnest.
For those not from WA. Rottnest is a holiday island 20km offshore from Perth. Busselton is about 230km south of Perth.
Being a good country boy I lost it relatively late in life and have been looking for it ever since but can't find it
Out fishing for dhufish in 50m of water at our favourite spot. Snagged the rig on the bottom and snapped it off. A month later drifting past the GPS point at 2 knots my brother-in-law hooks my rig hook on hook and brings it back to the boat. Now I wish I had as much luck recovering my board.
Know of one ex kiter who lost his board at Torquay.
couple of years or so later he gets a call from Invaloch Police saying they have his board.
I dumped a kite @ Lennox in a Northerly/senior citizens moment ..... 3 or 4 days later it was found 100 nautical miles offa Byron. I reckon she floated at least 500km.
