Help! Broken leash again. Help big wave or super strong leash

[mrbig]

 +1 Crow Haley - Hand tied! Yep! Only place they usually break is the molded connection..

[bajasurf]

Okay guys, Wow, cool...  Thanks big time. Yea baby.. I had to go back and look at Beasho's leash thread in the archives..  I have a bunch of Ankle cuffs and rail savers and will be making my own leashed from now on.  I will buy a Crow Haley leash as an extra... Now I have to look at the archives for waist leashes for big days... I am not surfing much over double overhead anymore, but the waist leash just sounds like the ticket..

My wife is starting to panic now that I am 54 yrs old and still surfing bigger waves... When my leash broke, she couldn't see me and my board was flying over the waves, I finally popped up and she saw the next wave pound me heavy.  I told her, honey I was being held under, just relaxing and enjoying the show.. She didn't laugh at that.   

I doubt I will find the S curve copper hooks down here in Mexico.. But being a fisherman, and knots are my trade, I will probably make a Chinese finger out of Parachute cord( might be able to get away without doubling the cord at all, as it distributes the load over a wide area),  and a similar clamp to the S curve with galvanized wire..  Beasho  Look at the FG Knot for your braid to mono.   Its the best slimmest knot I have found.

Anyone know where can I buy the larger sized tubing for my cords? 

[PonoBill]

Get a vest. A little float makes everyone happy and it will save your ribs in a tumble. I'm working on a design for warmer climates that lets you swim relatively unencumbered, but the Oneil gooru or the da kine is a great option.

[bajasurf]

I got one, a gooru, but I didnt put it on as a had a shorty on.  She's the one that made me buy it after I crushed my chest a few years back... She gave me heck afterwards when she asked about why I left the vest off.. I guess its going under the shorty next time..

[KT]

I've used that same leash here in Hawaii with good results. I'm guessing waves there can pack a punch like it can here. What I have found to work for me is not having it be too long (8ft. for my 9' board) and always pull the board near before you get smacked. Many factors can break a leash and age, condition and stretch rank way up there but when I've had it stretched out before the ugly one hit, it only stretched even more before they broke. Good luck and hope this helps. Aloha

[PonoBill]

Actually longer leashes are harder to break. At least in the rope section. Short leashes neck quickly. Guys doing mega waves have leashes 20' long and longer.

[toolate]

Couldn't prove it by any of the available specs. From what I can see it looks like the railsaver end might be hand tied, but it's not clear, and the cuff side looks like a standard formed welded attachment. I'm not familiar with the brand but I can't see anything in the link you provided that says it's special. 5/16 is fairly stout, but 3/8" is more like it for larger volume boards. I'm slowly switching to hand tied for everything. Most failures I see happen at the junctions. I test all my old leashes to destruction

both hand tied

[toolate]

http://www.cleanlinesurf.com/hotline-stage-3-big-wave-leash.html

[KT]

I think that 2' overhead is not too much for that leash. The main idea is to pull the board near you before impact. The longer the leash the more momentum the board will have once the wave hits it.

[PonoBill]

I favor shorter leashes myself, because I like tail handles, and I like to get up on the board fast in big surf. But shorter leashes need stronger leash ropes. Longer ropes can stretch proportionally longer without failing. Lots of downside to long ropes--tangling, reeling back your board, easier to damage, drags in the water. But in big (really big) surf, you want a long leash. The board is less likely to hit you as well.

[CrosswindPaddle]

Jimmy Lewis leash should do the trick!

[APPST_Paddle]

Jimmy Lewis leash should do the trick!

I broke a 6' one in CR two weeks ago.

[Badger]

Jimmy Lewis leash should do the trick!

I broke a 6' one in CR two weeks ago.

They look similar to Dakine and a lot of other common brands.

.

[PonoBill]

Jimmy Lewis leash should do the trick!

Why?

[SUP Sports ®]

...in big (really big) surf, you want a long leash. The board is less likely to hit you as well.

Some big wave chargers prefer no leash(s)...;-)

I would use double leashes back in my big wave crawling days...swimming in 48* water against a 5 knot rip for 45 minutes in shark infested waters prompted me to start installing double leash plugs in all of my big wave guns...which I carried over to SUPs...

Having inflatable vests and rescue skis...cell phones...etc...would have gone a long way towards making it safer and upping the wave count...not to mention the "pseudo-existentialist" feelings toward documentation and exposure that existed behind the Redwood Curtain back in the day...;-)