Written By Elzette

It was a squeaky broken cupboard that lead the infamous GoPro to a kitchen in Randburg where Action Gear founder, Warrick Kernes, resides. The carpenter who was firmly at work fixing the cupboard in question, saw Warrick’s GoPro on the kitchen table and excitedly ripped the same gadget out of his toolbox. In his hand he had a GoPro Hero Original and to him – it was something from another world! Hopefully he has found someone who can finally tell him what the heck it is.

 Warrick energetically points out what the camera does after the carpenter tells him where he found it. A year ago, he picked it up on the beaches of St Francis when on holiday with his family and he never quite knew what to do with it. Warrick offered to pay him R300 as well as his devoted efforts to find the owner. There’s nothing he takes more in his stride than a challenge!

 Warrick and fellow Action Gear director, David Davies, plugs the camera in to find it filled with some impressive surf footage. They came to see a young teenager paddling out on his surfboard - they now have a shot of the owner’s face! David phoned local newspapers in the Cape Town area to place the photo they found on the camera. We personally know the feeling that goes with losing a camera, but nothing compares to losing the once in a lifetime footage taken on that day and that’s why we even offered to deliver the camera for free.

Only a few days later, the teenager's aunt saw the article in a local newspaper and phoned the mother – it belongs to surf pro Dale Staples. This all happened in 2011 and today Dale Staples is an insanely talented professional athlete sponsored by Billabong, GoPro and VonZipper (just to mention a few). We could’ve called the talent on this one by only looking at the footage on his camera!

Out surfing with your GoPro can be pretty daunting, you have a massive investment strapped to your surfboard and let’s face it – the ocean likes to swallow shiny things! Dale used a suction surf mount which can be a bit unreliable. We recommend the GoPro Surf Mounting Kit – definitely a floaty backdoor to keep the little guy a float and as always, to strap your GoPro for extra protection – twice is always nice!

Check out the Glove-style wrist strap hand mount for surfing as well as the GoPole Reach!