Salt Water Boarding

Not sure if this is a dumb question or not, but I live somewhat "inner-coastal" so my experience is lacking. I'm heading to Bermuda on the weekend and I'm bringing my board with me. Just wondering if I should worry at all about the water damaging my gear. Also, never flown with my gear and I know that the baggage handling people aren't the most careful so would you guys recommend taking the brand new setup which i love more or the old setup.

PS. call me a wuss, but got a little fearful yesterday when thinking what if i fell when i was riding and landed in a sworm of jelly fish ;-) might not feel too nice...

Just make sure after you're done riding to wash all of your gear off very good with fresh water.

As far as taking it on the plane, pad the edges/board up as much as you can to protect it.

I found riding in the ocean is a little different, for some reason the face slaps don't sting as much.
To save money tell the airline you have golf clubs, they never seem to charge if they are. I have taken windsurfers, kiteboards all over the world and found there is no sustitution for proper packing, foam pads and lots of tape.

(Message edited by Bcanuck on June 20, 2006)

I have flown many times with my gear, and have never had a problem. I do know people who have had water ski's snap that were brand new. Just take your boot off your board, and put towels at the end of your board, and you will be fine. Just make sure you get the boad off quickly when you land, if it goes through the lugage belt long enough there could be a problem with bags falling on the board. I rode when I was visiting my family in Hawai'i, and found that salt water is very different from riding on fresh water.

What other kind of differences is there than the face plants ;-)

Any more pointers? Another friend told me to tell them it's a snowboard. Said they never charge for that. Last year i didn't take myboard because i had a connecting flight and was afraid of that, but i'm goiing direct now. so you don't recommend putting the bindings in the board bag too?

I ride 50% of the time on salt. Salt water is more buoyant, so boats sit higher inthe water = smaller wakes. Wakes also crumble a bit more than on fresh water. Water also feels much harder, so I respectfully disagree. I've had more concussions on salt (blew my knee out in fresh for what its worth).

Regarding your gear. Really wash and dry the board off (especially the metal parts). I have a salt water set up and fresh water set up for the reason that salt water has corroded the bindings & fins to the board. One ride and a good cleaning wont make much of a difference on your gear. I've only noticed this year (year 4 in the salt) that my salt water setup is starting to show real signs of being trashed - Bindings and fins.

I board in salt water 99% of the time and I've been doing it for years. When your're done wash everything
with fresh clean water, wipe everything with your free hand as you go, then dry everything with a clean towel.
Remove the bindings from the board before washing so you can rinse all surfaces really well; including hardware.
Let everything in pieces to dry and store everything in pieces until your next day on the water.
Salt can destroy neoprene pretty quickly, so if you have a neoprene vest rinse it good with clean water and
hang it up to drip dry. I've been riding in salty New Jersey coastal water for years and have had few salt
related problems (I think over the winter some trapped salt water may have corroded and siezed up the
boa system on a pair of Belmont bindings, but I have ace technical engineer and fellow salt water rider KG
looking into it)

So do all you salt water guys fill up your ballast tanks with salt water? If so, how do you go about cleaning those out? My boat goes in salt water once or twice a year and I have never filled the ballast while I was out in salt water.

I fill up the sacks with a garden hose . . . so fresh water.

I've not taken my board on a plane but I would suggest you use towels/foam under the ends of the board. That way if a heavy flat bag is placed on top the ends will be supported and the board won't be flattened out.

Tell them it's a waterski/snowboard/golf clubs. Anything but a surfboard - I hear they like to charge for surfboards.

we've filled our sacks up with both the salt water and/or the garden hose. We did however learn that one sack with salt and one with fresh was a bad idea as the weight was totally different. After riding in salt water day in and day out going to OWC falls don't even tickle they are so soft!