Former pro surfer Matthew Cassidy who almost died on Byron Bay beach slams no leg rope surfing fad
Why this shocking photo of a surfer injured so badly he nearly bled to death in Byron Bay has sparked calls for a crackdown on a hipster trend
- Former pro surfer nearly chopped off an arm
- Matthew Cassidy cut through unbound board
- He calls for people to stop surfing without leg ropes
A former pro surfer has called for an end to the ‘hipster’ trend of leg-rope surfing after a rogue board slashed his arm and nearly killed him.
Matthew Cassidy, 49, nearly bled to death after the incident at Byron Bay’s Wategos Beach, on the north coast of NSW, in February.
A piece of his arm was taken out by the fin of a longboard that had come loose after another female surfer fell off and fell into the water.
The plank severed arteries in Mr. Cassidy’s arm and sliced his biceps in half, nearly causing him to bleed to death on the beach.
Matthew Cassidy, 49, feared he would ‘bleed’ after being cut by the fin of a rogue surfboard on Wategos beach, Byron Bay, in February
The female surfer said she was wearing a leg rope when it broke, but Mr Cassidy said it illustrated what could go wrong if someone refused to wear it.
“Most guys who don’t wear leg ropes are posers,” he told the The Sydney Morning Herald.
‘But there isn’t a surfer I know who can make a whole surf without losing his board. It’s just a selfish act [to not wear a leg rope] in a place where it is so busy.
“I wouldn’t want to be the guy who sadly decides not to wear a leg rope and hurts a child. There are many people who think that violence is the solution.’
Byron Bay Council is considering making not wearing a leg strap illegal.
Alderman Cate Coorey is preparing new ordinances for the council to approve on Thursday.
Surfers must wear a leg rope or face a $1,100 fine under the new regulations.
Ms. Coorey said she could easily count the number of times she had to dive for her young sons to protect them from out-of-control boards.
She said fining surfers who didn’t carry a rope would “make them think twice.”
Some council officials have hit back, arguing it would be difficult to prove a surfer wasn’t wearing his leg rope.
They claimed it would also cost $20,800 in taxpayers’ money to put up new signs warning surfers about the new rule.
An additional $2,080 will be required each year to maintain the signs that would be erected at each of the county’s more than 26 beach access points.
Mr Cassidy said the loose surfboard had been torn ‘through all the veins and arteries’ of his arm (Mr Cassidy being tended to by emergency services pictured)
Mr. Cassidy (surfing pictured) wants leg ropes to be mandatory for surfers
After his encounter with the loose plank, Mr. Cassidy said he saw a “big chunk of flesh flying through the air, followed by a lot of blood.”
He pulled his wetsuit over the wound and managed to surf back to shore.
Mr. Cassidy told a bystander to use a leg rope as a tourniquet to stem the bleeding, which he says saved his life.
He spent an hour on the beach “held together by some absolutely legendary people.”
He was then rushed by ambulance and then by helicopter to a Gold Coast hospital.
While he accepted that the leg rope broke in this particular incident, he said it was an important lesson about responsible surfing.
“Let’s all get in and out of the surf safely, we all like the same sport, let’s act as a community and not individuals,” he said.
“Bleeding out on a beach trying to catch a last glimpse of your wife’s face is not something I wish on anyone.”