Surfing Waves

My newbie pal and i are learning to surf at the mo and we feel nearly ready to get our first boards (cant wait).

Thing is, transportation of said board. We are travelling from Bristol - Putts and im investigating methods of travelling a board. Roof racks for my car are about £100 (i thought that was pricey looked halfords/thule/peugeot).

Ive been to local surf shops and the guys there try and sell us these strap things that you thread through your door/window and attach boards that way with a padded middle bit. We go to Putts a fair amount and i never see anyone else with them.

Then last week we were driving back from Putts and the guys in front just had like a camping mat on the roof with three boards on top tied with dodgy rope. Dont fancy the M5 with that.

Obviously dont wont to be damaging the board or other users of the M5 (no girl driving jokes please). Help....

the soft racks the bloke in the surf shop tryed too sell u work just fine

Soft racks (the things the guys at the surf shop tried to sell you) are absoloutley fine, done plenty of trips with them, both up and down the length of UK (Northumberland to Norwich, Norwich to Wales, Wales to Northumberland etc etc) and even using them with 3 boards strapped to the top of a soft top all around the north island of New Zealand and they worked a treat. If your going to be travelling alot then hard racks are probs worth the investement but until then the soft racks are fine...

Softracks WORK but are fekin noisy. local/holiday use only IMO.

If your going to put boards on your roof often then get a roof rack. Try find a used on on ebay or a 3rd party knockoff if you cant afford thule etc.

I've got soft racks, the beach isn't that far away so don't really need a full roof rack yet (will probably get one for going off island though). They work fine, aren't too noisy over here (but then again the beach is 10 minutes away and we have got a speed limit of 40 island wide) and are simple to fit/remove.

Bit of a bugger getting the back strap through the back windows though as my car is only a 2 door, but it does the job.

And just to helpfully add.......

Soft racks are fine and I use them all the time for long and short journeys.

if your soft racks are making noise twist the ropes around.

Soft racks are OK, but the ones that go through the doors make your seats wet if it rains.

IMO, if you can afford it, get some decent thule racks. They are just less hassle at the end of the day. 3 longboards on soft racks has often dented the roof of my car, and if you're driving off road, they are a pain, they bounce around and the buckles stuff the paint.

But, if it's all you can afford, they will do the job.

Thanks for all helpful comments and advice. Keep you posted!

yea, i only use softracks since i only drive about 15 minutes max, 1 minute going 65mph in freeway, most are city/trail driving going about 30mph.