A surfer who was rescued after spending more than 30 hours clinging to his board at sea is back riding the waves just months after swearing he'd never surf again.
Moment Airdrie surfer Matthew Bryce is rescued after a day and a half at sea
Matthew Bryce, 24, was winched to safety by a helicopter in May this year following an exhaustive search by the police and coastguard.
The incident led Mr Bryce, from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, to vow to steer clear of the sport entirely after he suffered from hypothermia and dehydration.
He had been pulled off course by stronger than expected winds and the tide which pulled him 16 miles away from his start point at Westport beach in Kintyre.
Moment Airdrie surfer Matthew Bryce is rescued after a day and a half at sea
However, now he is regaining his confidence for the sport he loves with the assistance of those at Surf Snowdonia, North Wales, a facility which makes man-made waves.
Mr Bryce insists that he was serious that he wanted to quit surfing for good following his 32 hours at sea but is now getting back on his board.
He said: "When I was saying at the time that I wasn't going to be surfing again it was true. I believed it. I enjoy it too much to stop. I can't just stop.
On Sunday April 30, Mr Bryce was reported missing by his family when he failed to return from a surfing trip off the west coast of Scotland.
Police launched an investigation into the disappearance in addition to a large-scale search, with rescue teams from Campbeltown, Southend, Gigha, Tarbert and Port Ellen all involved.
Moment Airdrie surfer Matthew Bryce is rescued after a day and a half at sea
He was eventually found by a search and rescue helicopter 13 miles off the coast of Northern Ireland at around 7.30pm on May 1.
In just over a week, he made a full recovery at Ulster Hospital in Belfast.
Months later, however, Mr Bryce is back on his surfboard and training at Surf Snowdonia after they contacted him with an offer of a trial.
He said: "It was nice. It's very different than the sea. You do need to turn and stay within the section that keeps the power.
"You can't just go where you want. You need to stay where you are. But it was nice to do the little turns and kicks and stuff."
Staff at Snowdonia sent Matthew an open invitation to see if he could be tempted back into the water.
He added: "I've never felt levels of cold like that. It's bone grinding. It became bone grinding.
Moment Airdrie surfer Matthew Bryce is rescued after a day and a half at sea
"So they [Snowdonia] then thought, you know, 'come down here, we can get you back in the water, it's somewhere safe, it's not in the sea. Come and surf here and we'll get you back to it.' So it was a really nice gesture.
"The first wave that I actually caught was nice. I enjoy it too much. I just can't stop. So this was a good stepping stone to actually going back to the sea.
"I think I'll be going back to the sea soon."
On Facebook, Snowdonia wrote: "Matthew initially said his experience had been too traumatic to contemplate surfing again. And that was totally understandable.
"But we couldn't help wondering if our inland waves could help Matthew get back to the sport he loved, and we got in touch with an open invitation to come visit if, and when, he ever felt up to it.
Moment Airdrie surfer Matthew Bryce is rescued after a day and a half at sea
"We are delighted to say that just six months after his Irish Sea rescue, Matthew was up for it.
"He came down to stay at Surf Snowdonia with a group of his closest surfer friends who cheered him back onto the waves."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here