Surfing Waves

I have been washing off my board after every session with fresh water. Is this necessary? Also, I have a new board and have frustratingly put some dings in it. I try super hard not to, but it just seems to happen. Anyway, will getting one of those cover bags help out a lot? Thanks

Hi socalventura, welcome to Surfing Waves.

I never bother washing down my board unless it is coming inside and not in the shed. I personally do not think it is necessary.
Everyone will ding their board at some point, the question is are you dinging it out of the water as well as in. If the answer is yes then get yourself a surfboard bag.

The board I use most often (every day & sometimes twice a day) I clean off & re-wax it about every three-four weeks. At this time I give it a good wash with fresh water and clean the leg-rope ankle strap & railsaver in a bucket of fresh water. I vaseline the legrope swivel at this time too.
This does me fine and is a good chance to check properly for minor dings on the board & fin cuts in the leggie too.
I hose out my board bag at the same time. They get full of crap & sand too - saves it getting in my car.

I tend just to wipe it down with an old towel aftyer every session.

Its the suit you defoo need to wash out to prolong its life.

Brent and Papa are right again!

Wetsuits - always leave to soak in a bath if you can for atleast an hour, cold or warm water, does'nt matter, your doing it to wash out the salt.

Boards - as Brent said, when you get home give it a once over (visualy) to check for dings etc (especialy if you had a bump or heavy wipeout in shallow water), check the leash before and after going in the water. As you don't want this becoming damaged and your board leash snapping and it hitting some surfer coming out behind you.

So you don't really need to wash your board off, i normaly just wash the sand off mine before i put it in my boardbag.

Bit of additional info about soaking your suit.. its always good to leave it in cool water overnight or for 24hours say every 2-3months esp if your not washing it out propperly.

This helps kep the neoprean moist and supple and will avoide shrinkage which tends to pull the glued parts of the suit away from eachother.

socalventura wrote:I have been washing off my board after every session with fresh water. Is this necessary?

Not necessary but a good idea IMO. Salt water leaves small salt deposits that attract dirt and body oils. Can make old wax a bit slippery the next time. Plus if you have a deck/tailpad, materials may last longer if rinsed. Also, leash parts like nylon straps/neoprene pads, metal swivels .... and metal tabs/screws in certain removable fin systems like Red-X, etc.

Thanks

hey i think that washing ur board down with fresh water everytime is necessary coz one time i didn't wash my board down and the sand got stuck on the wax so when i tried to wash it off after that it didn't come off as easy. i dunno tho it might be different for different material boards.