How not to lose your board

last edit: February 2021

picture by Maciej Aleksander Kedzierski | Instgram @studio81sport

It is quite common to lose your board when kitesurfing – could be because of a jump, choppy wave, basic mistake… And it is also quite common to get it back just by body dragging.

But sometimes you lose sight of your board, and then it can get very difficult to find it back…

In some spots where the streams are strong, your board can disappear in the blink of an eye. Burrow beach, sometimes named “the board graveyard”, is a good example (more info about that on this article)

How to prevent this from happening? I am sharing in the below my top tips for you to never lose your board.

Stick a label to your board

Super easy, super cheap: you just stick a robust sticker to your board with your name and contact.

I personally use Sea-ID stickers and am very happy with it. You can customize and order online at sea-id.com.

On my board, it looks like this (the orange sticker next to the handle):

Below is a video where I almost lost my board, and I was happy to have a sticker on it!

Use a Go-Joe

The Go-Joe is designed for sitting between your feet on the board.
If you lose the board, the Go-Joe’s inflated body will flip your board over for you and catch the wind, sailing the board down wind so that it is never far from you after a crash or hard landing.

When riding, you basically don’t feel it. It looks like this:

You can buy a Go-Joe at oceanrodeo.eu/products/go-joe .

Reach out to kitesurfing groups

We all know how easy it is to lose your board!
Check the kitesurfing groups and if you’re lucky maybe somebody will have already found your board.

All the groups are listed in this article: Kitesurfing groups in Dublin.

Don’t use a leash

The leash is this rope that you will attach to your board and to your harness or ankle so that if you lose your board, you are always attached to it and can retrieve it super quickly just by pulling the leash.
That way it seems except if you would break the leash, you will never lose your board.

Tempting, isn’t it?

However I would strongly advised against using a leash, because it is dangerous: if you lose the board in certain circumstances, the speed and power of your fall can unexpectedly pull the board back at you, which can severely hurt you.

A picture is worth a thousand words: