24 July 20238:43850 views on YouTubeWatch on YouTube
Every rider has a private list of things now sitting on the bottom of their lake. Phones. Cameras. Surf mounts sold as floating that sink the moment they come off the board, taking a GoPro with them. Sunglasses, repeatedly. Earbuds. This episode is the answer to that list: one connected rig, worn on the body, built so that nothing can leave you.
Start with goggles, even if you never wear them
The anchor for the whole system is a cheap pair of swim goggles, chosen not for the lenses but for the rubber strap, which sits comfortably around the neck and gives everything else something to clip to. The second reason is better. Sooner or later you will kick something off the dock and watch it go in, and goggles let you get your face under and actually look for it. A GoPro, a 360 camera, a tripod: if you can see it, you can usually get it back. That alone is a reason to have a pair on you every session.
Glue the clamps, then float them anyway
The waterproof MP3 player clips onto that same strap, but the clip is not trusted on its own. Hot glue goes in two places: across the closed clamp, and where the cord meets the top of the unit. It peels off later if you want to swap headphones, and it holds for a season. Then small rubber floats go on the gear as a second layer, on the assumption that glue can fail and a clip can open. Light enough not to bother you, buoyant enough to keep the thing on the surface if the first line of defence gives out.
Why floating sunglasses still get lost
This is the part worth reading twice. Sunglasses sold as floating tend to sit right at or just under the surface, which is useless in chop. After a fall you also end up further from where you went down than you think, easily by several feet, and by the time you have collected yourself the search area has moved. Bright frames help, which is why bright yellow, bright green or bronze get bought over black, since black is effectively transparent underwater. The real fix is not buoyancy at all: a cheap coily cord and a carabiner joining the glasses to the goggle strap, so they cannot travel in the first place.
Earplugs, and the camera problem nobody has solved
Earplugs go in whether or not music is playing, because a lot of falls land on your side with your head turned, and the slap of water into an open ear canal is how skiers and wakeboarders end up with a perforated eardrum. That heals with scar tissue and takes your hearing with it. If you ride somewhere busy and need to hear boats, there are plugs that seal the ear while still letting sound through. The camera is the honest exception. A 360 camera on an invisible selfie stick has to stay light and small, so it cannot be made to float without ruining the shot. The mitigation offered is an aluminium cage for board mounting, so a kick does not pop it open and scatter the parts.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction – Lost in the Lake
- 00:18 Strategy for Gear Security
- 01:13 Retrieval Tools – Goggles
- 01:47 Foolproof Sunglass Retention
- 02:13 Protecting Your Ears and Eardrum Safety
- 03:00 Keeping It All Together
- 03:42 Surfing with the Insta360
- 04:04 Stay Focused, Stay Safe
- 07:01 Conclusion – A Surfer's Paradise
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