Author Topic: Leash Use.  (Read 63514 times)

SUP Sports ®

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #150 on: August 29, 2015, 04:02:10 PM »
I should also add that for my application (waves) I alternate between leashes...I also sell the clear version...so black one day...clear the next...
I never use any product that my life depends on until failure...learned that from windsurfing in giant waves and currents that you cannot possibly swim against...downhauls...outhauls...inhauls...universal joints all changed out every year whether they *needed* it or not...

Colored urethane is OK for flatwater...but, I always felt that adding pigment would weaken it...nothing scientific there...but, every colored leash I ever had...partial to blue in my decades of crawling days...ended in failure...I also believe in double folded over Velcro for the leash rope attachment...and, 4mm Marlow for leash rope...of course double leash plugs...hasn't failed me yet...;-)
Mahalos...{:~)

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Easy Rider

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #151 on: August 29, 2015, 04:11:44 PM »
Wardog - Black and clear urethane has pigments added.  Urethane in its raw form is yellow'ish / amber. 
Easy Rider is the name of my store in Edmonton, AB, Canada.
My name is Warren Currie . . . and we SUP Surf indoors . . . in a shopping mall!

pdxmike

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #152 on: August 29, 2015, 04:18:44 PM »
The posts by Easy Rider and SUPsports illustrate a big part of the problem by showing what's not the problem.  Two shop owners show the leashes they recommend (and sell or include) based on the conditions their customers encounter.  Sounds like nobody walks out of either store with a new board without a leash to go with it, or at least without being asked if they have one (not just if they want one).  Same is true of my local shop.  Probably nobody buys a leash at any of them without being asked what it's for, either.  If all boards were bought or rented from businesses like these, safety would increase remarkably. 


goodfornothin

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #153 on: August 29, 2015, 04:23:47 PM »
Waist leash. Downwinding, small waves, big waves.

I've scene stars and pink elephants,,with a quick release. Very rare can you get that pin undone with a load on it, let alone the current, coupled with hypoxia.

Waist leash allows.quick release of leash or belt.
Waist leash keeps a 4-20ft leash out of your feet
Waist leash allows you to use less energy and eases hypoxia on big hold downs
Looks gay as hell,,we are suping

I should have drowned out at avalanches with a quick release. I'm an x ranked national.swimmer and national team member in water polo. As messed up as I am, I still a beast in the water and  I couldn't get to my foot. Two wave hold down drug two football.fields, it sucked. I got so lucky

I almost drowned on a big towing day at mexi beach, with a vest. I was pinned for two waves.

So I'm with kalama on this. Get flotation, who cares if you look the kook. And get a lot of it and don't be afraid to wear it
Same dam thing with the waist belt, it works and it's safer. I wish some people with more pull than my sorry ass would start advocating this. 

I will.admit, I was spooked after avalanches. If my leash hadn't broke I would have drowned.  I got the waist leash and went to Killers with my buddy Troy.  He caught a bunch of bombs and I however sat on the inside for a half hour and got my head back straight and see how the waist leash works.  (Haley talked me Into it one day out at newport harbor. Thank you for that by the way. You will.help.save a lot of lives if you keep advocating as you are.)

It worked great. I don't think I ever took a stroke to get air.  And I was sitting directly in the impact zone, getting detonated.  I think troy thought I had finally lost my mind.  Then my leash broke, hahaha that sucked. I swam like 2 miles searching for that dam board. It has replaced all my lost confidence. 

standuped

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #154 on: August 29, 2015, 05:08:47 PM »
Waist leash.............. It has replaced all my lost confidence.
Thanks for this reminder. It's on my list to do.. What/where did you get?
Florida gear.. Bic 12'x31"~207L.. JP Fusion 10'8"x34"~190L..Angulo custom 9'6"x33"~160L.. SIC Fish 9'5"x29.6"~145L..Epic gear elite paddle~7"x75"..Oregon gear..JP Fusion#2..Foote Triton 10'4"x34"~174L.. Surftec Generator 10'6"x32.3"~167L..Kialoa Pipes 6 3/8"x75"...Me 6'1" 220 lbs circa 1959

SUP Sports ®

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #155 on: August 29, 2015, 05:50:30 PM »
Don't get too carried away with this leash stuff...at the end of the day...leashes won't save your arse...fitness...experience...external help...and/or, luck will...
I went to double plugs and double leashes after almost losing my life in 48* H20 after swimming relentlessly with no avail for 45 minutes after a leash plug pull out during a 3 hour surf sesh...I'm talking at a spot that flips 45' Coast Guard cutters on end like little toys...;-)
« Last Edit: August 29, 2015, 05:52:05 PM by SUPsports »
Mahalos...{:~)

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Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Blue crab

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #156 on: August 29, 2015, 06:12:21 PM »
With that said, it goes back to being appropriately prepared and educated for the areas and conditions we are entering as paddlers. Wether we champion a "leashes save lives" slogan or not is besides the point. However, I would not be surprised if this doesn't become a catch phrase in the near future. I'm willing to bet deaths caused by leashes are the rare exception, and not the norm. Once again, we hear about the entanglement scenarios more often than those cases where leashes helped or actually do save lives. Much more.

Spot on. I've no idea what the best way to market the message is. However, at least in certain contexts (high volume downwind runs), it is so obviously clear. My instinct is that the routine use of leashes saved a non-trivial number of lives in the gorge last weekend.  I  am completely certain that the routine use of leashes prevented dozens of people from having to endure long swims to shore, lost expensive boards and unneeded worry amongst loved ones.  The message "Leashes save lives", while perhaps not applicable to all settings, seems absolutely perfect for the downwind context (perhaps at the entrance to highly trafficked downwind runs, nearby surf shops etc....).

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #157 on: August 29, 2015, 07:09:10 PM »
The largest group of Stand Up Paddlers goes a single time a year.  60% go 3 times or less.

From what I can find, the vast majority of the potentially preventable fatalities (excluding things like boating collisions, fins to the head, heart attack, etc) were novices.  That is where the greatest opportunity to improve safety lies.

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.americancanoe.org/resource/resmgr/General-documents/ResearchPaddlesports2013.pdf


Glowmaster

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #158 on: August 29, 2015, 07:12:26 PM »
Minds can  be changed.  While i was made fun of in the 90s wearing a helmet windsurfing, now it is common even on multihull sailboats. Common sense will eventually win out,  more if nudged along. 

ed
« Last Edit: August 29, 2015, 07:21:10 PM by Glowmaster »

PonoBill

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #159 on: August 29, 2015, 07:31:41 PM »
Admin--I don't suppose they have a percentage for 250+ times?

Honestly, I think the slogan is fine, and it already seems to have a life of it's own. But I'm going to put my efforts into the other stuff. A general open docs pamphlet that shops can print if they choose, that talks about all the bits and pieces of being safe on a SUP. A video about safe downwinding in the Gorge. And anything else that pops into my head. I'm also quite willing to help with furthering the "Leashes Save Lives" effort, because I believe they truly do. But the more I read Bic's copy on leashes and safety, the better I like it.

I heard an interview with Jack O'Neill years ago wherein he was asked why O'Neil the company didn't make leashes (they do now, in kind of a halfhearted way) and he said he never considered leashes to be safety equipment, it was so surfers didn't have to keep swimming to the beach. But now people were relying on them to keep them safe in conditions they couldn't handle, and he didn't like that. He said something like "No one has ever engineered these things for safety."
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pdxmike

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #160 on: August 29, 2015, 09:04:57 PM »
The largest group of Stand Up Paddlers goes a single time a year.  60% go 3 times or less.

From what I can find, the vast majority of the potentially preventable fatalities (excluding things like boating collisions, fins to the head, heart attack, etc) were novices.  That is where the greatest opportunity to improve safety lies.

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.americancanoe.org/resource/resmgr/General-documents/ResearchPaddlesports2013.pdf
Based on the statistics and the drownings I remember reading about, the very first priority might be getting rental places to require customers to wear standard pfds and/or leashes. 




magentawave

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #161 on: August 29, 2015, 09:11:08 PM »
PonoBill's experience at Lanes is very scary and something I hadn't thought about when surfing rocks. I stand corrected - waist leashes or at least calf leashes makes a lot more sense. I've had my calf leash get yanked right off my foot too.


Helmets and body armor because those America's Cup cats can push 60 mph in ideal conditions. Just falling off at those speeds and you'll probably break something from skipping across the surface. We used to make fun of the euros on Maui that windsurfed with helmets. They never smiled and always looked pissed off. We used to call them "Helmut" (pronounced HELL-MOOT!) but there's no doubt a crack to the head by our rig or board on a mast high+ day could have killed any of us. Heck, even on a little day too! Remember when Tom Carroll used to wear a helmet at pipe?

Minds can  be changed.  While i was made fun of in the 90s wearing a helmet windsurfing, now it is common even on multihull sailboats. Common sense will eventually win out,  more if nudged along. 



60% go only 3 times or less per year is an amazing statistic. We really are in the minority.

The largest group of Stand Up Paddlers goes a single time a year.  60% go 3 times or less.
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lucabrasi

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #162 on: August 30, 2015, 06:52:21 AM »
Nice start to getting this out there Easy. Looks like your open letter to the industry is getting picked up and really making the rounds.  You are definitely going down the path of raising awareness. The details of when, why, where and all that will follow. Nice job and nice start.

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #163 on: August 30, 2015, 06:58:05 AM »
The largest group of Stand Up Paddlers goes a single time a year.  60% go 3 times or less.

From what I can find, the vast majority of the potentially preventable fatalities (excluding things like boating collisions, fins to the head, heart attack, etc) were novices.  That is where the greatest opportunity to improve safety lies.

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.americancanoe.org/resource/resmgr/General-documents/ResearchPaddlesports2013.pdf
Based on the statistics and the drownings I remember reading about, the very first priority might be getting rental places to require customers to wear standard pfds and/or leashes.

It is wild to think of it that way.  Over 540,000 people SUPing once per year.  Over 900,000 people who SUP 3 times or less a year.  To that group I would think any broad sweeping suggestion would have to be all three: Site Specific Instruction, Standard PFD, Leash (with strong caveats for certain areas/situations).

*-based on the ACA's 2012 study (above) which showed 1.5 million participants.  That is likely higher now.

Here is the ACA's take:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMjgnFPnEqU
« Last Edit: August 30, 2015, 07:32:07 AM by Admin »

PonoBill

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Re: Leash Use.
« Reply #164 on: August 30, 2015, 07:29:48 AM »
That's a really good video. Thanks.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

 


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