Because we care about your surfboards just as much as you do and dinging and breaking them isn’t the only danger they face, we are passing along some extra needed help to keep your boards safe. Almost all thefts on surfers are targeted and on the rise. The thief is often watching you park, suit up, wax your board, hide your key and head out to the water, letting them know exactly how to easily break into your vehicle all while giving them ample time to do so.

 

Are Car Key Lockboxes Easy to Break into?

While thieves utilize different tactics to steal from you, the SF gate earlier this month notes, “Most of these thefts have one thing in common — a lockbox, like those devices real estate agents frequently use. This has been a typical place to keep your car keys in recent years while swimming or surfing since, as electric keys have become more prevalent, you can’t tuck them into the pocket of a wetsuit as they can be damaged if soaked repeatedly.”

The guys at Silent Pocket (who are surfers themselves) developed a Key Fob Stash Bag to address this very problem. Their key fob bag is designed, first and foremost, to keep your car from being stolen. They further educated us on the fact that, “Key fobs operate on proximity and do not allow you to lock your car if the key is inside or stashed somewhere near, which is a nice feature most of the time.” This is why so many people use the lock box, leaving them more exposed than they’re aware of.

The SF gate article goes on to cite Will Sileo, a writer, surfer and surf shop employee as saying that criminals can break into a lockbox “in 10 seconds with a simple tool.”

Silent Pocket’s Key Fob bags protect you from the above scenarios in two ways:

• Because the bags are lined with Faraday technology, the key can’t communicate with the car, allowing it to be locked with the metal "valet key" which is then inserted into your wetsuit, ridding you of the risk of using a lockbox.
• And, because the wireless signal (bluetooth, RFID, cellular and wifi) from your key fob is blocked, sophisticated criminals that would normally have the ability to hack your car’s keyless entry are now SOL.

 

Where is the Best Place to Hide My Key Fob While Surfing?

Additionally, if if you do find the need to leave the key outside the vehicle and you’re confident know one is watching, the key fob stash bag is magnetically backed and rubber coated so that you can hide and attach it underneath your car all while being protected from the elements.

With the new way of hiding your keys and locking your car, all you’ll need to worry about is keeping your boards in prime condition. To learn more about Surfcare’s Surfboard Protection Plans and how they differ from each other check out our plans page for details and pricing.