06/2014
Michael When I'm done surfing, I rinse off the wetsuit with fresh water to remove the sea salt, which would ruin the suit in no time. To do this, I simply take all the equipment with me under the bathroom shower and shortly hold the suit and the booties under the warm water before I move on to body care.

But how can you get the equipment dry again after use? I'm pretty sure you would agree that's quite important if you've ever tried to put on a cold wet wetsuit the next day -- that's so horrible that it ought to be against the Geneva Convention rules. Even if it's warm and dry outside, though, it takes a minimum of two days to get the suit to the point where its inside doesn't feel wet anymore. But the equipment needs to be ready to go on any given day, who knows, maybe the surf is up tomorrow?

That's why I spent about $60 on Ebay to buy a so-called "UK HangAir" monster coat hanger with a built-in fan. After hanging the wetsuit on the shower curtain rod and plugging in the power cable, the fan forces cold air into the suit from the top, which proceeds through the body until it exits through the arm and leg openings, and slowly wicks away the moisture from the suit's inside.

This procedure isn't for the impatient, as it can take up to five hours until the suit is dry, but you can then put it on immediately without the unpleasant feeling of cold rubber on your skin. The same holds true for the surf booties, they also tend to dry quite slowly because of the single small opening at the top, which doesn't wick away much moisture and if you don't let them dry completely, they'll inevitably develop a funky smell. Here's where another $60 device comes in handy: The "MaxxDry Boot Shoe and Glove Dryer" offers four plastic pillars with embedded fan vents, exhibiting a cold or warm stream of air, depending on the selected settings. If you put the boots over the pillars, so that the air vents protude into the boot leg, the air stream will dry the boots from the inside, and after the 3 hour timer expires, you can store the completely dried booties in your wardrobe.

And where do you store a nine-foot surfboard, while living in a rented appartment in San Francisco, without having access to a basement or attic, and the only other viable option being a shared garage where everything that's not bolted to the wall gets stolen the next day? That's why I ordered the so-called Surf Dogz wall rack, which consists of two metal bars, each mounted at an angle on a wooden base plate. Both of those are in turn mounted to the wall, right under the ceiling, with really thick screws. The surfboard goes on top of the bars which are padded with a rubbery material, to prevent slipping and scratching the board. How you can safely mount a weight-carrying item on a wall made of cardboard-thin plywood is going to be the topic of another edition of this newsletter, but rest assured that my surfboard is now safely stored. Figure 4 shows my home office with the board hovering high up over the sofa, where it doesn't take up valuable space and I can grab it any time to carry it down to the garage, put it into the car and drive down to the beach. To summarize: Three absolute top products this time!

Greetings from surfer paradise:

Angelika & Michael

• More topics you might be interested in:

  	How To Surf
  	Surf Etiquette
  	Rustic Oyster Lunch at Point Reyes
  	The U.S. Tax Return
  	Nicosia Cheese Company

  
  

• More topics you might be interested in:

  	How To Surf
  	Surf Etiquette
  	Rustic Oyster Lunch at Point Reyes
  	The U.S. Tax Return
  	Nicosia Cheese Company