Maintaining Your Windsport Harness
You’ve just had an epic weekend on the water. Yes! And now, still buzzing from the sessions, you do what you always do: wash your gear, dry it all, and get it cleaned up and maintained for the next session. Boards, kites, sails, control bars, wetsuits, even the beer cooler—all of it gets a full dose of post-riding wash/dry/inspect, TLC. Your harness? Bah—that rig doesn’t need the kind of cleaning the rest of your riding kit needs, right? Wrong! “Rode hard and put away wet” is not how you want to be treating your harness. Follow these basic care and maintenance directions and your Ride Engine harness will perform like the high-end stallion it is for many sessions—and years—to come.
Rinse:
This should be a no-brainer: always thoroughly rinse your harness with clean freshwater (the same as you do with the rest of your riding gear). It’s imperative that you wash off all the sand, salt, algae or any other detritus that your harness has been exposed to during your session in order to keep it easy to adjust and comfortable. Slack off here and in very short order you’ll end up with stiff, brittle harness adjustment straps and a rash-inducing lining that’s been sabotaged with sand and salt.
Dry:
The sun can be brutal on your gear—and this includes your harness—so after giving it a good rinse, hanging it up to dry in the shade, away from the sun’s full intensity. Your Ride Engine harness is built with the very best materials, but excessive, long-term exposure to the sun’s UV rays will add unnecessary wear-and-tear to the neoprene lining and plastic webbing-adjustment buckles. And don’t just leave your harness hanging out overnight in the yard—as soon as you can, store your harness in a cool, dry place like your gear room or garage.
Inspect:
Always perform a complete visual and physical inspection of all the key safety and connection points of your harness—the time to address any issues is before you get on the water! This isn’t some seasonal inspection suggestion—thoroughly examine your harness every day you use it, otherwise, something could go wrong and you’ll be faced with a long swim or much, much worse. Key points to check out include the connection points of your harness to your spreader bar and leash, as well as the spreader bar hook or sliding rope.
ASK US
If you have any questions about the current state of your Ride Engine harness, hit us up! You can send an email or call us at Ride Engine HQ and someone from our customer service can help you out ASAP. We absolutely want you out there riding safe and stoked!