Nice Rack

I was ruminating on the logistics of transporting the boards, which is getting a little ahead of myself considering the fact that I don't have all them yet. Then again, why wait to stress out over something when I can stress out about it today? It's pretty obvious that I'm going to have to get some sort of racking system for my car. I have a soft rack that I've used in the past, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted when I got it in the first place. Basically there are two types of soft racks - doubles and singles. A double can hold two boards on each side, while a single holds 2-3 boards in the middle. When I got my rack years ago in California, I wanted a single, but all they had was a double, so I bought it. I was sort of bummed but it may work out in my favor. More on this later.

The reason I like the single is because it holds the boards in the center and doesn't “bow-up” when you tighten it. A double tends to lift up in the center, which doesn't seem to affect it's utility (maybe it does) but is a bit unnerving. I haven't had any problems with it, but it's still not exactly what I wanted in the first place.

Now that we are on the verge of becoming New England surfers, I know I'll need a rack. A soft rack will run around $35-40, while a nice hard rack could cost hundreds. The nice thing about a hard rack, however, is that not only is it safer and more secure, but it can be used year-round for skis and probably even hockey gear - can you see the gears turning in my head?

Either way, I was toying with the idea of getting a single-soft rack (which I wanted in the first place) when it dawned on me that it probably won't work with my car. The reason for this is that I have an antennae that is smack in the middle of the roof of the car. Since a soft rack sits low, a board on a single rack will probably hit it. Sure, I could tweak things around and make it work, but I think the problem will be alleviated using a double since the boards will flank said antennae. This could be simple case of me trying to find a little sunshine in a dark world, but why not?

This makes me sort of stoked that I have the rack I actually need when this wasn't the case when I bought it. Don't you just love when that happens? We'll see how this goes, but needless to say, the road to becoming hip New England surfers is fraught with preparation. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when you have OCD Dad putting it all together.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to rob tucker for the pic.