Surf watchers give couple hope

Website founder Ben Bennink holds a piece of smashed window from his van after $7000 worth of camera equipment was stolen from it at Byron Bay.

POPULAR Byron Bay surfing website, inbyrontoday.com, faces ruin after $7000 worth of vital camera equipment was stolen from its van parked at Wategos beach on Wednesday.

The site, which is still finding its feet despite attracting one million hits last month, has become famous around the world for its daily photographic chronicle and commentary of the Bay.

With no means to replace the equipment to keep the site going, website founder Ben Bennink made a heartfelt apology to visitors yesterday and has since been overwhelmed by responses from as far afield as Libya, UK, Germany, and the USA.

“We’ve been gifted $500 from a surfer who works on a Libyan oil rig in the desert and says our site keeps him sane,” Mr Bennink said.

“The owner of Lighthouse Ethical Investments has donated $500 and another chap in Newcastle even offered to walk the 64km length of Stockton beach in soft sand to raise money.

“My wife Yoko and I keep bursting into tears with gratitude. We’ve struggled for so long to keep our heads above water, then just when we thought we’d had the final blow, our readers rise up and help us keep going.

“We still have a long way to cover the gear, but we are utterly humbled by the generosity of the people who visit our site each day for a little dose of Byron Bay.”