storing leashes

durrrr, stretching them out with create tension (obviously), which when released it will bunch up. ever stretch a rubber band? As soon as you release it, the band quickly jumbles into a ball. I never wrap my leash around my board for that same reason. Wrapping the leash around our boards (tight around the fins) creates the leash to get more bunched for that same reason. Pretty elementary science.

 

XM and a few other labels offer "tangle free leashes." Nothing special about the leash, just a small weight added during production (see image). I'm sure that if you came to the conclusion to "stretch" your leashes, you can figure out a way to attach a weight (post fabrication). Fishing weight?

 

i just hang them from a nail in my garage. no tension, just hangin out. seems to work

 

I bought a board over the winter from a guy who hadn’t used it in a long time. My guess is he walked into a surf shop and bought the whole 9 yds, used it maybe a half dozen times one summer, put it back in the bag and there it stayed for 6 or 7 yrs. The leash was wrapped around the fins tightly. When I took it off it looked like a new shoe lace just out of the wrapper. I put a water bottle in the ankle strap, then hung it in the garage and left it for about a month. It straightened out a little but not much. It took about a month of usage before it returned to normal.

 

I'm amazed at the detail everyone goes through to keep their leash straight, lol. I wrap mine around my board and fins after every use, always have and don't have an issue with it tangling. One or two good stretches in the water after a closeout and it is pin straight again.

 

really it doesnt matter how you store them, they are still gonna wrap around your feet and annoy the crap out of you anyway...ha-ha

 

I just throw them in my boardbag and however they they land that's how they stay, seems like overkill to keep them all stretched out. The real difference is getting a quality leash, ever since I got a Stay Covered leash I have had no tangle problems. I've had it for about 6 months and I will never go back to another brand. They use a different kind of urethane I guess, plus it's made in the US.

 

Toss it in a board bag with the board after a surf, and there it stays until I use that board again.

 

Ditto.........

 

The only thing NOT to do is store them wrapped around the tail of your board. I put my boards up on a rack and just toss the leash on top of the board.

 

I have had my leash tangle around my feet while up on a wave many times.... Im starting the think that that yellow thingy actually makes it more likely to tangle!

 

I keep one in my trunk under the false floor, keep one in my board bag, and the rest go into the giant bin full of misc surfing crap. Never had a single problem. Thicker chords resist knotting better than the thin ones...

Please don't go putting them in individual freezer bags or anything silly, please tell me you have something better to do with your time...

 

Now that's funny

 

I keep a spare leash in the trunk as well, but I have to ask, why under the false floor?

You may be onto something about the thickness. I buy the thicker ones. At 200 plus lbs, the weight or the drag of my leash is the least of my concerns

 

30 plus years wrapping the leash around the tail of my board and the last time I checked they worked the way they were designed to work, basically a string that kept the board from getting away from me if I loose them. My only issue is with the swivel that corrodes and breaks after a few years.

 

I do the same, Zippy...after I get out the water I wrap mine around the board...I usually don't have a problem with the leash wrapping around my legs, but can't say it doesn't happen...bruised my big toe up pretty good friday, though...was surfing OCMD and the damn leash got caught between my toes wrenched my poor piglet...

 

Ouch, I have had that happen. I brought a 4 year old leash to El Salvador and lost my board in the biggest wave I have ever seen. I dove to the bottom and was being pulled backwards for a long time. After I surfaced the board was still under water and I got hit by a second monster. Finally the board came up and I grabbed it jumped on and paddled for my life. Once I was safely outside I noticed that my leash was noticeably longer and much thinner. Afterwards at the hotel we measured it and it had stretched to 8.5 feet, it was a 6 foot leash! My point is that this was a 4 year old leash that handled that abuse.