If you just got into windsurfing, you know exactly how expensive it can be. You have to buy a board, sail, haul rope, and tons of unique clothing items to do it right.
Naturally, you want to preserve all of that equipment to last as long as possible and make the most of your investment.
Today, we’ll walk you through the basic rules of maintaining your windsurfing equipment.
Keep Your Gear Dry
Obviously, you can’t keep your windsurfing equipment dry when you’re on the water. If you can go a whole day without getting wet once, you’re a savant of the sport. However, you don’t want to just let water sit on your gear all the time.
When you’re finished for the day, get ashore, wipe all your equipment down, let it dry in the sun for a short bit, and then bring it home.
When water is allowed to sit on your gear, it can cause problems. The screws in your sunglasses can rust out and break, your board can warp, and even your wetsuit and helmet can start to corrode with prolonged water exposure.
Store Properly
When you’re not going to be windsurfing for a while, you need to properly store your gear. The board is usually fine if it’s kept at normal room temperature and stored out of direct sunlight.
However, the rest of your equipment needs a little more care.
We recommend buying a tote to store your gear in. It should be large enough to hold everything in a tidy manner, made of a sturdy material such as thick plastic, and it should be perfectly sealed when you close the lid.
This is to prevent the gear from being damaged by prolonged direct sunlight, keep it dry, and of course, keep vermin from damaging it. If you just lay your wetsuit around, mice can chew holes in it. Your other gear can suffer the same fate. Also, prolonged direct sunlight can damage basically all of it.
Maintain Your Board and Sail
Your board is pretty tough. It will likely take quite a beating before it shows any meaningful signs of damage. However, you do need to work to maintain it if you want it to last a long time.
We talked about this in the section above, but a lot of this has to do with storing it properly. Make sure it’s dry before you store it, and then keep it out of direct sunlight. You don’t want to delaminate or warp your board.
Beyond that, you should always check your board before and after surfing to ensure there are no cracks or chips in it. Those issues can get much bigger in the water. If that happens, you can end up with no board paddling back to shore. When you’re in the middle of the waves, that can be a major threat.
Your board isn’t all you need to think about. With a windsurfing board, you also have a sail to worry about. Make sure it’s free of holes and in good shape before and after each venture into the water.
If you follow all of these tips, you’ll have your windsurfing board for years to come.
