Accessories

If you think boards, mast bases, mast extensions, masts, booms, sails and fins are enough, your are sorrily mistaken :-( There are plenty of other things that can make your windsurf life MUCH easier or more pleasant.

Because windsurf equipment - especially boards are NOT small, there needs to be storage and transportation considerations... If you live in an area where things get "colder", you can extend your season with what I call "rubber suits". There are also all kinds of little gadgets, which are handy to carry in a kit or bag.

Storage and Transportation: If you windsurf at a lake and have a chalet, the basement is usually a good option. Personally do NOT recommend leaving equipment outside. A tree lost a branch causing a repair on my old F2 Comet 330. This was considered lucky since my much softer shortboard was less than ten (10) feet away. In the garage people use racks, hooks, etc. In apartments, I imagine you need an extra corner or racks, hooks, etc. For transportation a vehicle is useful, as are racks, quiver bags, etc. Personally have a van with roof racks and a sail / mast quiver bag for the roof to move all the stuff with family about. I have seen forum discussions about people like Robby Naish using a hearse to transport his stuff, etc. Naturally there are always the crazies with Smart cars, carts with bicycles, etc... Just make sure nothing blows off the top of your vehicle nor punches a hole in your back window !!! Use the good straps and not the cheap ones !! Mine came from a kayak shop and I see windsurf shops in the area are now starting to carry them as well...The following is NOT my van, but shows what lengths people go to ...

and here are some garage storage ideas: {once again - NOT mine in the image}
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Board-Gear-racks-for-the-garage/

Special clothing: Naturally people go to all kinds of extremes here, and there are always the minimalists. Please do NOT go windsurfing naked. You are bound to upset someone and may get a ticket. Booties at the very least can help your feet when on rough or yucky terrain. Bathing suits tend to keep the curious and nibbling fish away as well. T-shirts and sunscreen help the ever more powerful sun rays. Some like the sunglasses as well - strongly suggest some kind of attachment. Personally have an old pair of prescription glasses that I wear sailboarding. As it starts to get cooler, people like to wear shorties. When it gets cold, the "rubber suits" come out. There are wetsuits and drysuits and some seem more suited to windsurfing than others. Personally find wetsuits of a 4/3 thickness are more than enough for my local conditions. Get information from others in the area and from shops, forums, etc as well. Gloves and hoods are recommended as well when required. BTW/by the way, if you have never put on a "rubber suit", be forewarned, they are NOT easy to put on AND need to be peeled off inside out !! Since I have started reaching faster speeds and hit my head a few times, I am now a true follower of the helmet religion. In light winds, I may not use it, but mid winds with 7.0 and down I strongly recommend a helmet...Here is an image of a special pair of gloves that make a lot of sense. If you have ever used gloves windsurfing, you will know what I mean... (image disappeared - i need to download images and then upload from PC rather than using links %^&*()_)

gloves with nothing on palms or 

                a system whereby you blow warm air on your hands seem BEST!!!

Did I forget to mention "life jacket" or PDF/personal floating device? Personally, hate em! Apparently there may even be a law - enforced? It does help when learning water starting AND when you are panicking while stuck in the harness lines under your sail :-) Don't panic - wear a life jacket.

Harness: Personally do not consider this a piece of clothing, but a necessary piece of the planing setup. There are seat and waist harnesses with different types of hooks. They used to say seat harnesses were for racing and waist for all the "cool windsurfing" like wave, free-style, bump n jump, etc. Those ideas do not hold water any more and people use whatever they are comfortable with or have always used. One cannot stress enough that the harness MUST be comfortable for YOU... The same goes for harness lines. People can suggest putting them back 1/3 on the boom and close together. You need to put them where you feel comfortable and then gradually move them about... Seats like the following are almost a mix of the seat and waist harness in the sense there are fewer seat harnesses with the uncomfortable straps...

Tool kit or bag: In a Windsurf Magazine article they showed all the goodies inside Bruce Peterson of Sailwork's toolkit. Many items were to ensure he could get back on the water no matter what - like Ding Stik for board repair. Others were to help setup for the day - like a marine lubricant called Sailkote. See  Bruce's Tool Box Gear Guide In my tool bag I have screwdrivers for fins et al., Sailkote, one handed down-haul tool, measuring tape (metric and imperial), sharp blade, lighter for nylon ropes, hex keys for battens, markers to mark regularly used lengths,electrical tape, triple pulley with hook for older sails, bungee cords, light gloves and some spares discussed in next section. In the van I keep the keys to the chalet and my windsurf prescription glasses. Other suggestions are peroxide and band-aids. Some people just have a first aid kit in the car. I have a list of things to bring when I go windsurfing that are NOT in the bag, like money, cell-phone, and my favourite suggestion: sunbath. You fill it with water and leave it in the sun. When you have finished sailing, you take a nice warm shower - very useful on cooler or colder days/daze !!! A really handy thing is to have a list in the tool bag of what you need to bring to the water. I break it down by light, mid and heavy wind as I do not have enough space for everything at once. {when it is time to go, I am usually so excited that I would forget a critical piece without my list(s) !!!} My wife says i love windsurfing more than her. Just do not understand why she gets so upset when I don't argue the point :-(   :-) One thing I always forget to put in the bag AND forget to put on is sunblock. Have had to stop windsurfing becuz I was too burnt :-(
Also use a waterproof bag called drypak:

Spares: Cannot stress enough NOT to lose the nut from the mast-base OR make sure you have spare %^&*( Nothing worse than missing a session because you lost it !! If the harness lines are getting old, put a new pair in the toolkit. I carry a spare mast-base as well. If the tendon on one breaks, I am back on the water in no time at all... I also keep a six (6) foot length of down-haul rope in the kit. Also have a really old up-haul cord - JUST IN CASE.. Other suggestions include the screw that goes in the fin. Personally have never had an issue with this {did i just jinx myself %^&*(}

Repairs: I have used Chinook ReDek , SolarEZ and MarineTek for board repairs. On sails I used to use duct tape, but that is NOT a good solution. You can buy monofilm rolls and they are not expensive. My fins are repaired in the off-season and as such I do not carry files, sandpaper, etc.

Others: Some things not mentioned and which I do not have include: mast base pad, mast base tendons and/or universal joint , washers and/or O-rings, water starter pad, easy-uphaul for the back and perhaps even spare footstraps. A fun thing to have (for some essential) is a wind meter. There are hand held digital versions and i used to use a ping pong ball on a compass where degrees determined wind speed. There is an app on the ipod that seems to have gained popularity as well.

If you have too much money and jump too high, perhaps you need a shadowbox ?

You think you are too fast? Get yourself a waterproof GPS - people log their speeds all over the world.

In 2019 I lost my windsurf van - it died. All I had after was a Prius C and they don't make REAL roof racks for this car $%^&* It purchase time - this was not even a consideration ... Now I am wondering... how many people have tried this ?? will ask on iwindsurf ...