Every occasion where I’ve elected to strap my surfboard on top of my car and head to the beach has one thing in common: a strange humming from above.
See, I’ve owned the same pair of nylon webbing surfboard straps for close to ten years and they haven’t let me down yet. But, the problem with roof tie-downs of any sort is no matter how you tie ’em, knot ’em, or close them in your car door, you still get an annoying hum when they flutter in the breeze as you careen down the highway.
There are other downsides, too. Namely: your crossbar pads ruining an expertly executed wax job.
It’s these small inconveniences of the modern surfing life that led forward-thinking San Diegan Joseph Abrantes to wonder if there was a better way. And from the looks of it, he may have found the solution.
Abrantes’ system, called WaveRaxx, consists of four padded hooks that attach to most third-party rack’s T-Track Channel system. The hooks slide to adjust to the appropriate width of your board and tighten to snugly cradle its rails without allowing the board to actually touch the crossbars, thus eliminating the need for straps.
In WaveRaxx’s Kickstarter campaign video, Abrantes claims that once installed, securing a board should take no longer than 30 seconds. Abrantes has also, apparently, field tested the system, driving in excess of 85 miles per hour (which may also be an inadvertent advertisement for the man’s lead-footedness on SoCal highways where 65 miles per hour is the average speed limit).
WaveRaxx also features a lock-and-key version for added security.
One of the few downsides of Abrantes’ WaveRaxx system versus a traditional tie-down is, for now, they only secure a single board per set. But the upsides are obvious: ease of use, no contact between board and crossbars, and no annoying hum.
It’s worth noting that WaveRaxx is the latest in an effort to make car carrying systems strapless. But starting at about $135 for early bird pricing on the no-lock system, this attempt is considerably cheaper than competitors like LockRack.
Learn more about WaveRaxx by checking out their Kickstarter campaign here.
