Surfing Waves

so i'm doing a 2 wk trip to nicaragua and costa rica and was planning on bringing my longboard (9' 4"), but am not looking forward to lugging it around.

few questions:
- is it worth spending a fortune on a wheely bag?
- is it possible to travel by bus or cab or should i just bite the bullet and rent a car?
- should i just rent a board instead?
- what's the best packaging anti-ding technique?

any advice or interesting stories would be great.

thanks!

tkane,

Well, I get to put as much baggage as I like in the jet, anywhere I want. I do fly the Honolulu trip every few weeks and even I don't carry a board.

Save yourself a ton of hassle and just rent something when you get there.

If there's surf and tourists, there will be a surf shack or beach tent to rent to you.

It's $20 an hour at Waikiki for what it's worth.

AD

yeah, i've been leaning in that direction recently. I mean, if i can avoid renting a car, paying for shipping and buying a new board bag I could save a lot. although...renting isn't exactly free either, so if i could bring a board and avoid renting a car it might work out money-wise, if not hassel-wise.

we might get a double board bag, that way we'll only get charged for one board on the way over. of course, the bag is $150...

btw, i called Delta, 100 bucks each way...what a rip off.

Just an update from rainy and windy Honolulu.

Board rentals are $10 for an hour and a half on Waikiki if you're a "return" renter! (That would be me)

AD

What part of Costa Rica are you going to? I was just there a couple of weeks ago, if you are in the same area as I was then I can tell you a bunch of great surf spots.

Renting is definitly the best thing to do! do your research first though. I found that alot of shops rent out realy crapy boards that that built in the 80s and the wax looks like sticky mud. The last time I went to cali I found a shop 100 yards from where I was surfing and I researved a board before I got there! it only cost me 15 dollars a day! So get on the internet, Be crafty with it and do your research. Nothing sucks worse than traveling 2000 miles just to find out they have no boards left!

Also if you are flying, you may want to check your airlines baggage restrictions. I was checking one airline the other day, and oversize baggage (inc. surfboards) have to be less than 115 linear inches (length + width + height/thickness) so a 9'4" board would be out of the question on that airline. You'd have to have it shipped.