Accessorize yourself

The summer is over and while putting my surfing stuff into storage, peeling the wax of my board and going over all of it I thought it nice to share some practical tips on simple and cheap accessories that will make your life a lot easier and spare you frustrating repair runs. So here is a short little list of the stuff you should always have handy while surfing:

Boardbag – 60 EUR

The one you see here we bought for my brother in Ericeira. It´s a really nice DAKINE with a back entry and a lot of practical pockets on the side for your fins and some other stuff. It also has an outer pocket. The downside of this “slide in” system is that the sand that gets inside likes to stay inside. My own is a more classic one that opens to the side. Regardless if you transport your stuff around planes make sure to wrap them in towels or Bubbles. For that make sure to buy one or two sizes up form your board size to make sure it fits.

Bubbles – 7 EUR

Simple Bubblewrap that is used to package fragile stuff. This stuff is priceless because let´s face it, if it says fragile on the bag it doesn´t mean that the airport personal handles it that way.

The sock or as I like to call it, the surf condom – 15 EUR

When you have your “basecamp” set up and go to the sandy beach every day you will not necessarily want to drag your heavy boardbag with you. For this you can use this woven little sock. Very stylish and puts on like a condom for protection XD 

Poncho – 30 EUR

Surfmonks – It`s like a sect only cooler

You know this scenario. You are not in Indo or Australia, have to wear a wetsuite all day long and then in the afternoon it ain´t all to warm anymore. Also in a Christian country like Portugal nudity, even while changing is not very welcome so a Poncho is nice to keep you warm and make it easier to change while not offending the local wildlife XD. It´s also awsome for at home, if you wanna save some of that heating money, and your like me  running around in boardshorts all winter 😛

Wax Remover – 10 EUR

It does what it´s name implies. It´s a cleaning solution on a lemon/alcohol base that, in combination with a cleaning cloth and a credit card, is used to remove old wax from your board. Be sure not to use to much and use a good cleaning cloth. If your board is already a little uneven try not to use the credit card for peeling to excessively. It might damage the upper layer and that is annoying to fix. Also unless you wanna get high on fumes make sure to do this in a well ventilated room a.k.a. OUTSIDE 😛

ECOLAB Microfiber cloth – 3 EUR

I have been using this super-cloths from ECOLAB for all  kinds of purposes while filming. They are a good light rain coat for my camera, a nice additional protective bag and they soak up tons of fluid while the micro-structure wipes almost any kind of crap of your stuff in an instant. Coincidently they are also great for soaking in wax remover and then rubbing wax remains of your board. After that it´s gonna look super polished. Don´t know thou if this type is commercially available as it was originally made for hospitals and other specialized facilities.

Fin key – 1 EUR

Well once you leave for the plane and have to go home you have to unscrew the fins somehow.

The Zinc Stick – 15 EUR

Everybody want`s a nice tan, but no one wants to look like a lobster. Since the suns rays with all there reflecitons are even stronger on water a regular sunscreen won`t help. Thats where the Zinc sunstick comes in. It protects you thnx to quite a high Zinc intake. As we know Zinc is not the healthiest of all things so at least wash it off once your out of the water !

Ding Repair – 10 to 30 EUR

As it so happens, sometimes you will make a ding by being clumsy. Other times some idiot will crash into you. It is times like these that you will won`t to have one of these. Small practical and sometimes a pain in the ass to work with, it will help you cement the fresh new hole in your board.

Vehicle-grade Super glue – 9 EUR

On the third day of our trip when the waves were super small I somehow managed to tear of part of my boardpad. Fortunately it was still clinging to the side so I thought better repair it then spend another 40 bucks on a new one. At the local shop I got the info that industry style super glue could work as a temporal solution. So I want to the local BAUMAX and started looking. I found this glue that you can use for repairing broken plastic on cars. Since cars are exposed to all kinds of temperature variations and conditions I decided to try it and it worked great. Just one thing to make sure is not to get it on the board.. just glue the foam of the boardpad and you should be good 🙂

Duct tape – 2.50 EUR

You know what they say ! DUCT TAPE HOLDS THE WORLD TOGETHER.. and it´s also great for drawing even lines XD

POSCA Pens – 2,30 to 8,90 EUR (Depending on size)

You should already know these from the last post 😛

Well that is the stuff that I carry with me most of the time when I go surfing. It won´t blow your budget but it will make life a little easier. If you have any other stuff you take with you share it with us in the comments section 🙂 It will surely be appreciated.