Got to the river around 6pm,
Nice 15-20 knots, rig sail, prepare brand new board for first use.
Hit water, Yeehar !!
Bear away, fin starts humming ?, I crank a big bear away, fin starts really humming.
Mmmm, I thought I spent a good hour fiddling with this fin!
Very hard to initiate a gybe, a few tail walks !!, Oh dear I hope this new board ain't a lemon. 
Wind drops, session over.
Put board on ground, have beer.
Friend says, gee that's a big fin you've got for a board that size !
I look, I have put a 42cm fin on my 86 litre board .......
That would explain the whistling, and I still got a 29 knot maximum. 
The board pointed upwind really well though.
Done anything dumber 
My "dumbness" usually involves rocking up to the beach with all my goodies, EXCEPT for one vital item .... usually the booms 
Arrived at salt lake with no front wheel,or no sheet rope, or rear axles, or mast slid off trailer on the way, or left the esky on the front verandah.
Even drove off and left one of the kids AT the lake.
had to drive back 10kms that day
Walk my Formula board out to thigh deep water, jump on, sheet in and s..t ???the board goes out from under me . What the ?????Try again , same thing . What the, what the !?????? Turn board over . Ah , that 70 cm long expensive thing is still in my car.
More of a home handy man dumb equipment mistake. I like to keep my gear pristine, and having bought a new JP FSW Pro Ed I wanted to make sure I didn't smash the more delicate light construction in the surf.
I bought my self a JP nose protector, a unit that has two layers of different density eva foam with a hard plastic layer on top. I decided to use silicon as the bonding agent so it could be removed later on.
Well the whole process was a disaster. To fix the thing at closest point to the edge of the board as recommended the protector needs to bend quite a bit, but the top layer of plastic is quite stiff.
So the sides kept coming up. I've spent a few days now gluing one side, giving it plenty of time to cure and then gluing the other side. However putting enough pressure to flatten it on one side causes it to un stick on the other. Today at my last attempt, not only did it come up it's taken the board decal with it.
So much for keeping the board pristine, it would have looked better with smashed nose! 
It was probably partly my workmanship but I think the thing is way to stiff to allow correct positioning (on the curve) that fully protects the edge of the board. .
I don't know why they don't fit a factory nose proctector on for boards that are going to be used in rough conditions, ie. wave / freestyle.
Hadnt sailed for quite awhile. Middle of winter. Forecast looked unreal. Carefully packed car.
Drove all the way to sailing spot, rigged up. Went to go out. FORGOT WETTIE!!!!!!
Flew to Brisbane to do a regatta, Forgot vang and cunningham system for my laser, bit more than a 20 min drive home to go get it! Luckily it was a couple days before the regatta and a friend was flying down that day, a quick phone call, and she arrived the next day with my gear, nearly an $800 **** up!
A vang and cunningham set up for a laser costs $800?
Or they don't sell them in Bris?
Thats only a 2 ropes and a few pulleys in a nice array!
--
I often forget to bring the right mast or mastfoot (or at least did when had old gear that would need specific bits that didn't fit anything else)!
Buying 2nd hand masts that snap the first time you rig the sail right and it looks good
It was probably partly my workmanship but I think the thing is way to stiff to allow correct positioning (on the curve) that fully protects the edge of the board. .
Maybe this would be the go. That remnant of the tape stuff comes off with a glue release agent used in household products.
i've rocked up without a sail once.
and another time without a harness.
and i pretty much always forget to close the garage when i leave :/
Twice this year I have rigged up, gone to attach sail to board and realised the deck plate for the mast base was bolted to a different board at home
left boardies at home a few times, sailed in denim shorts with leather belt, nice look though, another time bought a new pair from surf fx on the way to sailing. not a biggy but enough to give me the sh1ts
Half the posters here need a van. Just like writing and paper, a van helps those who have a bad memory.
this wasnt me, But i remember hearing a story, it may have been one of the guys on seabreeze, or it could be a good story,
he was going out on his new gear, and just couldnt get plaining, he was changing his out haul, down haul, mast track position, everything, But still couldn't get going, after a good 20 minutes he came into shore to adjust some more things when some one finally pointed out to him he had left his fin cover on
I recall a mention of a home made lino fin cover.
KeepSailing
Jordan
Duh !
Back in the days of one piece masts - forgot mine - big thing to overlook. Also forgot to tie it onto roof once, amazing how long it took to fall of.
Have forgotten to do up harness a few times, OK until you hook in and it comes undone !
Last summer forgot the boom end (had pulled it apart to clean and left one end in the shed).
Went out in marginal conditions, couldn't work out why I kept falling in on gybes and feeling generally uncomfortable. Wind picked up, so I thought I'd give the small board a go. Went to the car and pulled it out, go to put the rig on and realise I've been sailing the small board all afternoon. Quickly put the big board back in the car and try and make sure no one has noticed.
Rooted the clamp on a thousand dollar boom by overtightening, even though the guy I'd bought it from a few days earlier had specifically said "most importantly, don't overtighten it"...
...it would've been cheaper if it had just crushed the mast, but noooo...
