BOARD LEASH

[Guest]

There had been a lot of discussion going on regarding if to use or not a board leash.
It looks like if you use it you may get hurt, but if don’t you may lose your board, specially in rough conditions or late when it gets dark, if it falls straps down.
I’m using the shortest possible (+/- 60 cm / 25 inch), non elastic leash on a TT; and so far it works great. I use the strap between the knee and the calf, as opposed to using it in the ankle. While sailing in a normal position it is almost tight, and the board hardly floats at my side when I’m on the water.
Using this setup, the leash is so short that there is never any speed difference between me and my board when I fall. So there never is any tension on the leash, that is what causes most accidents. If for any reason (it never happened) the board wants to hit me, it cant reach my head.
Does anybody sees any problem with this kind of leash?
Thank you.

[Guest]

MMm. Very much swings and round-a-bouts this one. I have just changed from a very short leash to a longer one as I recently went kitesurfing and when I crashed the board swung around the leash a whacked me in the ankle, not with great force but it was enough to bruise my foot and give me a limp for a couple of days and also prevent me from kitesurfing on a potentailly good day. I reckon that a longer leash may have positioned the board further away and I may have avoided the injury. I agree with the board closer to you it has less distance to build up potential speed however the further away from you the less likely you are to be hit. Even with a short leash it can still build up alot of potential energy.

[fokiten]

My only experience with a short leech was early days of downhill skiing (they called um saftey straps)had to wearum or no ski for you,thease bastards would wack you silly,all i have to do is think back to them,and my answers clear, if the ski didn't hit ya it would pull your leg so far around you had no chance to recover loose a ski hit the dirt cover your head and pray.

[cglazier]

Sounds like a bad idea to me. When you are airborn and lose your board, it should be very far away from you when you land. Landing on your board can be painful.

Chris G

[Guest]

usually, if you lose your board while in the air you will be going downwind as you descend.
In that case the board gets to the water before you do, and it will just drag behind, and not get under your feet.

[murdoc]

yeh, when boosting huge air with such a short leash you might finld your board a lil close upon a landing.

also, in a hard bodydrag, this one might whack ya.

long leash: slingshot,
short leash: whack!
no leash: good bye board ...

i used a medium one which didn't exand.
wasn't too good for my board and sometimes hurt my ankle, but i never got hurt because of the board.

if you're using such a short leash be sure to ride not too radical and not too overpowered.

[Hernan]

I dont like having the board too close on a wipeout.
I try not to use board leash. Some times,(strong current against wind direction, very light wind when waterrelaunching a kite could be a problem) I decide to use the leash (a have lost my board many times). If you go with leash, dot try radical new stuff, you can get hurt.

[Guest]

A short story from yesterdays session: I did not use board leash, since we were riding in a knee-deep water. Besides, it was pretty gusty (15-25knots). I crashed at one of this gusts, somehow lost the board and got dragged over the board... The result: nasty cut behind my right ear. No stiches though...

We can all say it was set of almost unrepetable events, but I got hit by the board even without using a board leash.

Wear a helmet in anycase (which I didn't yeterday).

Damjan

[Guest]

For anyone recommending not wearing a board leash remember that if sailing at sea and you end up a long way out or sailing in offshore waters the ability to loose your board definitely reduces the seaworthyness of your vessel. Kiteboards are already very unseaworthy and making them even more so has to be considered. I for one use the board to help me launch the kite if it falls in and would be worried if I dropped the kite and lost the board at the same time. I was on Holiday recently and wasn't able to body drag upwind to my board and so came ashore without it and luckily a windsurfer rescued it.

[harks98]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: harks98 on 2003-01-04 04:22 ]</font>