The Heat Can Ruin Your Paddleboard/Surfboard!

Wow...in a few short hours, my favorite board went from well-used to useless, and it was all from riding on top of our SUV in 100 degree Florida heat. I had the board in a sock and I have since learned that using the sock may have even helped cause the delamination problem. I am going to try to fix this, but from most of the reading I have done so far, I won't be too pleased with the results. Most of the fixes involve adding weight to the board, and weight is one thing you don't want more of on a paddleboard.

As you can see in the photos, the side of my board that was facing the sun now has a raised donut section, looking something like a crater. I spoke to the dealer and he said that the problem is with the board needing to breathe through the release valve and the valve may have blocked by the sock. For me, this came after a week of surfing all the time and I can now address the process of fixing it at leisure. The main thing that bothers me is that this could happen anytime. I did once have a smaller delamination issue on an epoxy surfboard...and it happened while hanging on the wall in my garage....I'm not sure how you can avoid that in Florida. Not too many of us can have paddleboards in the house...Next up: the repair process..

Sunglow Pier in June, Another Great Trip!

We just came off a week at South Daytona Beach and I spent almost every single morning surfing the Sunglow pier. Actually the waves don't break the best right next to the pier, but that is the hangout area. I saw a lot more paddleboarders this year, and I believe that part of it is due to a nearby massage/exercise/paddleboard shop. I saw groups going out a few times with an instructor, but there was almost always some experienced paddlesurfers in the water as well. My board served me well this trip, enabling me to catch waves in times where the waves were quite mushy. In fact, the tides were extreme the whole week, getting to the point where I was almost riding waves up on to the beach.
The only downside to the whole trip was coming home to 100 degree heat...record setting heat for Central Florida. When I finally unpacked this morning, I was looking at severe damage to my board from the heat. Next up...how to get it fixed.