I should clarify a few points. First, I wasn't there. I was at work while my wife and kids were out at the lake with friends. They had it attached to a boogie board. The attachment stayed on the boogie board, but the camera unsnapped from the mount.
I wasn't one of the new Hero 2's. It was the prior generation. We bought a pair of them. I considered adding a Hero 2, but had decided it wasn't worth it to me. After this incident, I went ahead and ordered a Hero 2. We have found having the pair of them to be very useful in the past. We're going on a trip soon and wanted to make sure that we had two for the trip. The kids want to go paragliding and I'd hate for only one of them to video his flight.
I didn't say anything foul when I got the text from my wife. My response was "Stuff happens. I'll order a replacement." Several years ago, I clipped the right side mirror of my car while backing out of the garage. It was not a cheap repair. I was quite bummed about the expense. It inspired me to start an "oops" fund. We set aside money with every paycheck to a special fund to cover these sorts of accidents. It's like self insuring. The cost of the new GoPro will come out of that fund, so it won't "feel" like I'm losing that money.