My boards missing!!!!!!!

General Discussion
1

Near Monterey this morning my wife was driving our van.  Two boards on top.  She hears a thumping and stops, gets out of the car and notices one of the boards is missing.   Looks down the highway, it’s straight for 1/4 mile, nothing.  Not sure wether it’s stolen or flew off a ways back, she heard the loose straps and someone picked it up.

If notified local Monterey shops to keep their eyes open for it but was hoping that the Santa Cruz Swayers could help get the word out up there.  Info…

9’2"x23"x3 1/2"  Balsa composite, Cherrywood/Pawlonia rails.  Set up with quad fins front are carbonfiber/balsa cutaway curved fins the rear are standard shape but walnut.  Decal on board is ‘Doc Waddel - Balsa Composites’  It has concave deck with nose and tail stepped.

Any info or help in getting this info out to shops will be greatly appreciated.  To contact me:

Les Waddel - 800-871-7970

Thanks!

 

2

bummer!

got any pics?

3

NO pics but here is a look-alike… with these fins on it.

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4

It’s found!!!

A CalTrans guy called this evening said he found it alongside the road.  He must have been just behind my wife!  I drove all up and down the road abut 15 min. after.

Thanks for your concern.

Les

5

niiice Les! that was fast!

6

Ya, I guess one of the straps broke (CHECK YOUR RACK STRAPS!) and it flew off.

It has two small dings and a few scratches.  Lets all say “Yea!” for the strength of Composite construction!

Les

7

Yay - crack a tinnie, mate!

8

[quote="$1"]

Ya, I guess one of the straps broke (CHECK YOUR RACK STRAPS!) and it flew off.

Les

[/quote]

A happy ending! Good!

Now, look, folks, most commercial rack straps are utter cheap cr@p. Real garbage that will die all too quick. Because Amalgamated Surf Accessories Corp. will do anything to save pennies, cheezing out on stamped tin hardware and on the strap material itself - some of it is almost as thin as gift-wrap ribbon.  

You have a board or boards that cost several hundred dollars a pop on top of a car which is travelling at high speed surrounded by hard objects it can hit or be hit by. Or run over by. And you know that if your board gets run over and a shard of it scratches the paint of the rich jerk behind you ( or distracts her in her oversized SUV from her endless and mindless conversation on the cell phone that is surgically attached to her head) you're gonna get sued for everything but your oldest bar of wax.  

Do you really want to trust aging and UV-munched gift wrap ribbon and stamped tin? Sure about that?

Like the man says, CHECK YOUR STRAPS. Including the hardware. Any rust, wear, weathering from UV, springs in the buckles not too springy any more, replace 'em. Good straps are cheap. Especially compared to the cost of another board. Or you can buy the hardware and buy some strap material and make your own. It's not hard, look right here and there's even a $#@& video there on how to do the stitching.

And if I can do it, you can do it. 'Cos I am not all that bright and definitely not all that coordinated.

And I don't wanna do any more car vs surfboard ding repairs, okay? It's such a drag getting the tread marks off.

doc...

9

the sun also rises in the land of the dyslexic

where there resides a deep belief

that there is a dog.

 

 

THE SAFTEY ROPE

spell that epor

not for effect

but for clarity.

 

as the doctor says

ecch on the cheap webbing 

where the wear is in the same

damn place time after time after time

all things fail so it’s about failsafe 

mechanizms in place so that

the failure of the primary

is backed one or two times.

 

my 50’ rope is going

I can see the inside

unidirectional guts.

typing this congratulatory

on your board retrival is

at best gonna get me to

change to my other 50’ piece

the 100’ line cost me 11$

some years back.

a buckle aint as good

as a good clove hitch

and the stopper and cinch detail 

makes the load part of the vehicle.

wives and friends dont check 

the tension on the loads.

 

dog esiarp…

my board my board.

 

…ambrose…

 

this guy cal trans is apparently omnipotent

10

Ah Brother 'brose…

So good to read your words again.  Have you taken a gander at my latest?

http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/taylor-tos-thoughts-and-photos-newest-board-comments-encouraged

Let me know what you think - 

11

Three strand rope's my favorite kind

You can see it's good if you're not blind

When worn it is, you'll see the fray

and then replace it right away

The braided kind, it's pretty stout

when you see inside it, throw it out

Nylon's good and cotton's not,

Hemp and sisal soon will rot.

Bowline knots are strong and nice,

better yet, put in a splice,

figure eight on made on a bight

will help to get it nice and tight,

you got no bitch with a trucker's hitch,

unless you pull the rope too hard,

'cos then crushed rails are on the card.

Bungee cord's a dream, you know.

The nightmare kind where horrors grow

Soon they wear and sudden snap

and then it all turns into crap

Rubber stretchy straps are worse

When they go snap you'll start to curse

they go from new to hidden crack

and then the board is off the back

And then that board is out of luck,

and beneath a close by semi truck

A horrible drawn out crunchy sound

as glass and foam are finely ground

You needn't stop, or even slow

Because your board to dust will go

 

burma shave

doc....

 

12

Doc’s advice is good and sound

use it; keep your boards around!

tubular webbing is also strong;

Spectra cord you can’t go wrong…

assuming you can tie

(or knot).

 

13

Doc!  Thanks for the video, that’s a good one I hadn’t seen.  I get my stuff from strapworks but I’ve been using the SS CamBuckle.  I like the idea of no buckles as in the vid!  I’m changing everything today!

Love yours and Ambrose’ prose.

LEs

14

Heh- and Keith ain't too shabby either. Ah, the literary life....

Now, the no-buckle stuff in that video is for boat canopy tie-downs, I'd definitely stay with the stainless buckles just like you've been using. Best thing out there, they don't corrode or rust or just plain die.

What that video illustrates really well is doing the box-and-cross stitch pattern to use for assembling straps, which, dammit, wasn't there the last time somebody asked a strap question either here or someplace else.

doc.... also kinda out there.....

15

Glad you got your board back Les. It looks like the one you brought over here.

I once had a board come off a car back in the mid 70’s. It was a custom from my cousin, Brian Hamilton and the board under it that also went airborne was a custom Gerry Lopez pipeline board. 

We learned that day that those old surf racks with the rubber straps won’t hold your board if you’re going over 70 mph. Worse than that, I loaned my racks to my best friend’s brother and told him about the straps, so they tied the boards to the racks real good. Later he told me the whole thing came off the car. The straps held, but parts that hold the racks to the car didn’t and all the boards were damaged.

I just keep my boards inside the car, then I can drive as fast as I want. 

16

Ya, it was the one I brought over.  I’ll start fixing it tomorrow night.  Got the wax off today.

I guess I need to get one of those Sprinters to carry my boards inside!  Ha!

Les

17

Always a pleasure to read Ambrose’s posts. Like a lost surrealist poet from the Beat Generation. Truely lovely…