If you’ve ever decided to take your favorite stick with you on your travel adventures far and wide, only to arrive at your beautiful destination with a wrecked surfboard due to baggage mishandling, you’re not alone.  My beloved 6’ 1’’, which has traveled with me to multiple countries, ridden hundreds of breaks, and witnessed some of the planet’s most beautiful islands, beaches, waterfalls and terrain, had its tail wrecked last year upon my return from Costa Rica.  It breaks the heart.

Fortunately, a company has finally produced a board bag that is designed specifically to protect your surfboard from damage.  SOMA AirBag Designs is introducing a new board bag that utilizes air pressure by implementing an inflation system that not only protects every facet of your board (including rails nose, tail, and general surface areas) but can deflate and fit inside a carrying bag.  Efficiency and convenience all rolled into one.

Granted, I haven’t tried one of the bags yet so I can’t certifiably tell you that it works.  However, just from looking at the photos and reading the details, I can tell you that this is the first board bag I’ve seen that is geared towards effectively protecting your stick from severe dings.  The Soma AirBag includes “an individual column that wraps around the circumference of the rails” with added reinforcement around the tail and nose.  Their website adds that the board bag will “literally mold around your board like a glove.”  Mmmmm, comfy.

For someone like me who treasures his sticks like they’re living, breathing gems, all of SOMA AirBag’s selling points are winning me over.  I’ve been chatting via e-mail with one of their customer service representatives named Perry, and he tells me that I’m welcome to stop by their Santa Cruz headquarters to try the board bag for myself.  I’ll provide an update after my next trip to Santa Cruz to let you know if these are worth the buy.

Just from reading about the products and seeing the accompanying photos, I’m already sold.  It still boggles my mind that it’s taken a company this long to finally come up with a board bag that protects surfboards from annoying, destructive dings typically associated with extensive travel.