Author Topic: SUP leash for Surf  (Read 10734 times)

Zooport

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #15 on: January 26, 2015, 06:51:47 PM »
Did anyone besides me make a homemade leash back in the '70's?  Buy bungie from a hardware store.  Drill a hole in the base of your fin and tie it on.  Tie a loop in the other end and put it over your ankle?  I remember when there were not many around and we made our own back in high school. 
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PonoBill

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2015, 07:06:24 PM »
That's how Jack O'Neil lost his eye--bungee cord leash.
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southwesterly

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #17 on: January 26, 2015, 07:13:02 PM »
Did anyone besides me make a homemade leash back in the '70's?  Buy bungie from a hardware store.  Drill a hole in the base of your fin and tie it on.  Tie a loop in the other end and put it over your ankle?  I remember when there were not many around and we made our own back in high school.

Pat O'Neill used the first leash (at least around here) in a 4A contest at Steamer Lane in 1970. It was consisted of a suction cup connected to surgical tubing stuck to the nose of his board with a loop worn on his wrist.

Overnight there was a run on surgical tubing at the medical supply store on Ocean Street. Shortly after this Jack O'Neill (Pat's dad) was surfing the Hook and had the cup fly off the nose of his board and he lost his eye.

We all switched to bungie cords connected to our fins after that.  A few just used rope so the board wouldn't have fly the back that the stretchy cords had.

Right after the invention of urethane Cadillac Wheels (1973?) for skateboards (what a invention, but that is another story), the next step was the first commercially available urethane leash. That's how I remember it, but my memory is kinda fuzzy sometimes.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2015, 07:24:06 PM by southwesterly »

Zooport

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #18 on: January 26, 2015, 07:19:25 PM »
1974 was when we were making our own.  We didn't know anything about O'Neil and all that was going on up there, but we were obviously influenced by it nonetheless.   

HOLY COW!  That was 40 years ago...I'm freaking old! >:(
« Last Edit: January 26, 2015, 07:21:17 PM by Zooport »
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toolate

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #19 on: January 26, 2015, 11:48:34 PM »
great replies everyone.
I don't have the gumption to make my own, so in the commercial market are any better than others?

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #20 on: January 27, 2015, 05:39:04 AM »
Thanks for the memories SW.... and thanks, it's weird that I never knew how Jack lost his eye and gave rise to "the world of the One Eyed King"

I still refer to my leash as a "cord"

1970-71 winter I was living near Sebastian Inlet (fla) when cords life began.

We took a long piece of bungee, made a loop out of 1 end, just big enoug to squeeze your foot through.
We drilled a hole in the rear base of the fin and passed the other end through.... then tied a knot so it wouldn't slip back out.

You had to twist your foot during a wipeout so the loop wouldn't slip off your ankle as the board pulled away and stretched the cord out.

Because the cord was tied to the fin under the board, they did not "tombstone"..... they shot back at you like a missile. ha ha... I can't believe any of us lived through that.
I am glad they evolved quickly to the urethane leash.

They twisted up like the rubber band on a toy airplane.

I got the bright idea to put a swivel on the end.
I used a brass swivel from a dog run or sailboat (can't remember)

It worked perfectly.... I should  have patented it  :'(

But I DO remember that the "dawn of the leash" did more to change the line-up than any other event in surfing history....way more than SUP.
A clean-up set used to mean.... everyone lost their board and had to go find it. That meant if you saw the set coming and got over it.... you had the whole place to yourself for a half hour.
The worst thing leashes did was it was possible to take off way too far back and suffer no consequences. Lots of perfect waves went unridden cuz some jerk would call the wave then doesn't make it. Before leashes... if you called out a wave from too far back, you paid for it with a swim. So the guy in best position to make the wave actually got it ;D

The "Dawn of the leash" meant that line-ups became super congested and cantankerous. There were many hold out purists that took decades to come to the "dark side"

We used to get super leg cramps trying to pin down our boards to the surface while our bodies were under water... you held onto your board with death grips.... over the falls... whatever... just don't lose your board.

Really rocky shorelines became possible to surf ..... jetties, rips... all the places we avoided before the leash made them safer for board and body.

jumpfrom13k

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #21 on: January 27, 2015, 06:46:51 AM »
I've always wondered why they call it the "clean up set".

I can see it being really big deal without a leash and or without a board that you can easily duck dive with.

mrbig

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #22 on: January 27, 2015, 07:08:58 AM »
Hold onto that board! I remember wrapping my arms and legs around my Hanson 50-50 to keep it from hitting the jetty at the Indian River Inlet in '66.

My first Kook Kord was made from plastic covered rope liberated from the clothesline covered gizmotron that looked like a giant antenna in my backyard.

I used a suction cup because I didn't want to drill a hole in the giant Doyle designed skeg on the Hanson. Spooky that Jack O'Neill lost his eye from his..
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Badger

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #23 on: January 27, 2015, 07:38:39 AM »
One great way to avoid breaking your leash a good percentage of the time is to use a tail handle. It also saves wear and tear on the leash. All boards should have them.

Tail handles may not be the best idea in DOH surf but I've been using mine for a year now in up to head high conditions and never ditch or lose control of my board in oncoming waves when I'm in the water. 
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The Kernel

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #24 on: January 27, 2015, 08:04:16 AM »
One great way to avoid breaking your leash a good percentage of the time is to use a tail handle. It also saves wear and tear on the leash. All boards should have them.

Tail handles may not be the best idea in DOH surf but I've been using mine for a year now in up to head high conditions and never ditch or lose control of my board in oncoming waves when I'm in the water.

Amen.
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BigSlaveDave

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #25 on: January 27, 2015, 08:08:58 AM »
Hold onto that board! I remember wrapping my arms and legs around my Hanson 50-50 to keep it from hitting the jetty at the Indian River Inlet in '66.

My first Kook Kord was made from plastic covered rope liberated from the clothesline covered gizmotron that looked like a giant antenna in my backyard.

I used a suction cup because I didn't want to drill a hole in the giant Doyle designed skeg on the Hanson. Spooky that Jack O'Neill lost his eye from his..

Wow, that was my first board--1967.  On Long Island.  We didn't know about any stinkin' leashes.

I spent most of my bigger wave life-time surfing Ocean Beach in San Francisco in the 1980s.  We we're always under the impression that LONGER leashes were better.  With polyurethane you get more stretch and consequently more buffer by going longer.  If you wanted to increase leash strength you did not double two leashes, making them go parallel, but put them end to end.

I don't surf anything like big OB anymore.  Either I've gotten smarter or more cowardly.  Likely some of both.

Wetstuff

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #26 on: January 28, 2015, 11:57:11 AM »
PB&B...  Find someone with a vinyl sign cutter/plotter.  I mark everything after having lost two boards and one kite over the years. ..plus lent a new kite/skim board to a friend who left it sitting on sand while off using another board ..it grew legs while he was out! (was happy to see the kite go ..and no, he didn't pay)  Jim



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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #27 on: January 28, 2015, 12:18:26 PM »
PB&B...  Find someone with a vinyl sign cutter/plotter.  I mark everything after having lost two boards and one kite over the years. ..plus lent a new kite/skim board to a friend who left it sitting on sand while off using another board ..it grew legs while he was out! (was happy to see the kite go ..and no, he didn't pay)  Jim


That's a great idea. I might try that.

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PonoBill

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #28 on: January 28, 2015, 12:40:13 PM »
The cleanup set is back with the advent of SUPs. They don't have that much effect on prone surfers, but SUPs, with their greater volume and lower average skill level get mowed. After a really good cleanup a lot of them don't return--straight to the beach. Those that do have to wait on the inside for the set to finish up before they can get back to the lineup. The best thing that happens at Kanaha is a three wave set with number two being the Cleanup Woman. If you don't take the first wave and you scratch over the second you have clear sailing for number three--and usually good position. The only problem is the flotsam bobbing about.
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southwesterly

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Re: SUP leash for Surf
« Reply #29 on: January 28, 2015, 02:27:04 PM »

But I DO remember that the "dawn of the leash" did more to change the line-up than any other event in surfing history....way more than SUP.


So true STC.

 B.C. (before cords) there were lots of spots here in Santa Cruz that people didn't surf at high tide. Back then I was a kneeboarder. It was way easier to hold on to our boards. We would wait for the tide to get real high at the Lane. We'd be paddling out as everybody cleared the water.

Right after cords were popular in the early 70's, there was a crazy as hell local named Redo. He paddled out at Rivermouth with a skin diving knife strapped to his leg and went on a cord cutting spree. He also threw a cord wearing kook off the end of the point and into the water with his leash cut in two pieces.

Things like this made some people have instant legend status. You don't see too much of that now days.

 


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