leash wrapped around legs

Happened to me the other day on a 23 footer, my pet narwhal luckily came to my rescue.

On a serious note, it really did happen to me the other day on some head high stuff. Not much you can do about it. Keeping your leash untwisted helps.

 

Pet narwhal...that was funny.

 

Maybe you should try using your arms

 

I find that if you make yourself horizontal bend your knees and work it loose you can work some slack into it. Also practice treading water with just your hands.

 

Yup- the ol rodeo wrap is fairly normal... you just gotta get use to it and deal with it... and know when its going to happen before it happens... expect it.

the best advise if your worried about it is the way that you store your leash, as mentioned above.... now lets say you wrap your leash around the fins and tail of your board... for one reason or another, you dont surf all winter, then summer comes and your ready to surf with the pros again and your leash keeps wrapping about your ankles... its cause the material the leash is made of has a "memory" so it will keep wrapping up in the same shape it has been sitting for an amount of time... so the best advise is to not wrap your leash- and hang from one end when not in use...

 

Ive never understood why I see so many people wrap their leash around the tail of their board after surfing.

 

I have to be honest, I typically wrap up my leash around the tail, so i am not dragging it up the beach. Won't do that going forward, thanks for the tip.

 

As far as the original question, its happened randomly to me before... if its not a big day or anything, nothing to worry about regardless, you can calmly get to the surface and get your leash worked out. If its big and you are way underwater, don't panic, just reach down to your ankle and undo the leash. I have had to do this on a bigger day because i got wrapped up in the sea beds/seaweed and was about 5 feet below the surface. I just unhooked my leash and swam to the top. My board was tombstoning, so I just ripped it loose and then put it back on... It happens sometimes....

But people speculate that Mark Fu died at Mavericks because his long leash tangled him up on the bottom at the reefs. Who knows....

But I always wrap the leash around the tail... Its usually a long walk and I have never had recurring leash issues because of it. But if you choose not to wrap the tail, please dont drag the leash... Thats similar to the guy walking back to his house with his leash still attached to his ankle... Tacky =)

 

ya i still wrap my leash lol... it really does not personally bother me...

 

Same here, I'll wrap it so it's easier to walk with, but as soon as I put my board up for the drive home I take the leash off and then when at home I hang it up to keep it straight. 60% of the time, it works everytime.

 

Speaking of leashes, how about some reviews on leashes that can handle a trashing? I still use FCS comp leashes and I have no idea why... I have destroyed so many FCS leashes. Ive had creatures of leisure and some others... The FCS' always break where the metal ball bearing thing is... It rusts and then after one good romping, the thing just pops out... I have had FCS leashes with no metal just snap like a rubber band....

Are there any good leashes out there? Or are they all designed for about 4-5 months of daily surfing and then they crap out at the most inopportune time imaginable?

My worst leash snapping was on a Brand new Plus One. I put an old leash on the brand new board.. The first one I ever bought... I was surfing a small 3 foot or so day at Peskys at high tide... I pulled into a little closeout and popped through the back.... when I came up, I had a leash and no board. I swam and swam only at the last moment to see my brand new stick slapping nose first up against the cliffs. I had to do an ugly repair job and remove the whole nose.... The thing was never the same again... Rode like a dream but was just ugly... A sad day...

Damn you leashes!

 

XM makes a leash with a small sliding weight attached that works pretty well, especially with a 9' longboard leash. The XM leashes also hold up better then some of the others.

 

I have had a few dakine leashes that held up fairly well... one is a dakine comp leash that i got on a craigslist board trade... im suprised how it has held up... but i dont really 'use' it- or try to rely on it- i try to hold onto my board as much as possible...
some of the cheapest junkiest leashes have proved to hold up well... poor boys (i think) ect... i had about 2 or 3 fcs leashes- they all broke rather quickly. they where all comp leashes. I got a really thick fcs leash on my long board right now that has not failed yet- but its the thickest leash i have ever seen... waiting for the metal to break on that one!!! or for the velcro to wear out!

 

yes, Dakines have worked pretty well for me, but the comp leashes and the shortboard models all have that same metal ball berring and I have that eventually go on the Dakines as well.. I think they use almost the same designs, just better material than FCS.

And yes, its always healthy to surf without a leash sometimes. Did a few weeks ago just for fun. Did it all the time in CA at certain "no leash" local spots, just cause "when in rome", sometimes just at the beach breaks to make you commit to your manauvers, but at the end of the day, I still always feel so naked without that leash, its like last week when I was leashless, i finished a wave with a pretty simple layback snap. I layed all the way out on it, hit the lip and let it bounce right back to me. I will stick that 9 out of 10 times, and when I didn't have the leash, I just ass planted at the end and couldnt pull the board back under me... I think it was just mental... Right as I went into the turn, the leash was on my mind... It was a small day too... But there is definitely a mental comfort zone when leashing as opposed to not.

 

+1 on Dakine

 

Ohh, and if you are ever south of the border, the only surf shop in Northern Baja is Sun Miguels in Ensenada, and DO NOT, and I mean DO NOT buy a leash there. I snapped one a Calafia, drove down and bought a brand new FCS leash from Sun Miguels and I sh** you not it snapped on my first wave. And not at the base, the leash snapped right in the middle of the cord, something I have never seen before. And I was stuck surfing big sh** for the rest of the day and swimming into shore. I had to move down to La Fonda so I didnt destroy my boards.

But needless to say, any FCS product in Baja is not legit, it was just a jump rope with an FCS tag on it. bastards.

 

Bully's all the way. I retire them every two years, even though they don't go through that much abuse

 

Check the cord attaching your board to the leash. After a while or if it's too long it will twist resulting in the leash wanting to twist on itself. In the water rake the leash off your leg and let it untwist.