So you are going open water swimming, either in your local training spot or on vacation and you park your own car or a rental car a block or two away. You leave your wallet and your valuables safely hidden in the car, but what do you do with your car keys?

Do you take your keys and swim gear down to the beach and wrap your keys up in your towel? Once at the beach, do you gear up, head out while your stuff and key sit on the beach?

While theft is uncommon, it does occur both on crowded and uncrowded beaches in the United States. Fortunately, if a thief takes your stuff, they probably will not find your car. So your car is safe, but you do not have the means to start your car either. In the worse-case scenario, maybe the thief followed you from your parked car down to the beach? He can then proceed to walk up and down the block with your car key remote, clicking unlock until your car greets him…and now your car disappears with the rest of your stuff. Few days on the open water are as disappointing and frustrating as that.

But if the thief grabs your towel and discards your keys elsewhere, you are out a set of car keys (and perhaps your house keys too) and the remote fob. Most cars today have a transponder in the key and cost US$20 to $70 to replace (online vs. dealer price), plus an extra US$50 for the remote.

You can avoid this scenario with a visit to a key maker. Take your car key and get two keys inexpensively made. These cheap keys will not start your car (the engine will crank, but it will not start without the transponder chip) but they will open your car door. Take that secondary key to the beach and consider hiding the other one. Maybe it is overkill, but it isn’t expensive.

Advise by Howard Burns, member of the Oak Streeter pod.

Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source