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Plastic Leash Failure 5/20/2023
snapped leash
Nick Kelly May 20 #33816
Today was my day to swim. I was giving it my all to jump through a couple waves to catch Dennis. I put away all caution and went as hard as I could and went over. Got back in the boat and the leash was wrapped around my ankle so I was doing one of those swiveling your foot around trying to unhook myself while sitting beam sea. One hard kick to get untangled and over I went. As I was heading over, I saw my leash snap. So I held on tight to my boat. Dennis and Dean were there to make sure I was OK and after I jumped back in they escorted me back to shore. I've been regularly replacing the velcro part of my leash, but the coiled part was 3'ish years old. I would have thought these things were over engineered!
gsouthstone May 20 #33817
Ok, my two cents. From the images, it appears that the extruded plastic coil failed where it was possibly tortured (heated and possibly contorted) to the point that the plastic essentially becomes “brittle”. Note the transparency along the length of the coil until the failed end where the diameter has visibly shrunk. Boils down to poor design in a number of ways. You might want to window shop the multitude of homemade waist leash designs that are the fashion amongst us old-timers. Even my Dyneema shock cord on my homemade waist leash is rated at 500 lb shock load and that is the weakest “link”. The foot leashes that I use only on oc's are old school, the coil is coated braided SS cable with no bungee connectors. The first sign of degradation and it gets retired completely. It was good conditions for both a swim and to test your leash.
G
Dan Mayhew May 20 #33818
After many friends have had failed Velcro and snapped standard leg leashes, and my trials and tribulations with stern leashes, I've happy settled on the meta non-velcro leg cuff and super-strong kite surfing leash seen here: https://surfski.wiki/safety_leashes.
My two cents in leashes. I doubt anyone else in this group has opinion on leashes. :)
Egor Klevak May 21 #33821
Edited May 21
Saw that happen to a friend of mine while in Gorge. He got a tow from kite surfer on his back back to the boat. It broke exactly in the same place.
Check out metaleash doesn't have this shrink wrap problem or Velcro problem. Reinforced with dyneema line. It is probably going to take your legg off first before breaking.
zach May 21 #33822
Nick - i am guessing that is an epic branded leash. The plastic coil turns to powder under the shrink wrap. Of about a dozen surfski paddlers I know here in MN and WI, 5 have had that happen. The deterioration is invisible because it is hidden under shrink wrap. It does not happen with all epic leashes. I still have multiple epic leashes that I use regularly. I cut off the shrinkwrap so I can see the condition of the coil. All are intact, and none show any sign of loosening without the shrink wrap. Ill attach a pic of what it looks like under the shrink wrap.
Dan - be careful with the quick release on the metaleash. Just last week my friend Lars took a swim a mile off shore in lake superior and the quick release of his meta leash had come undone. He was saved by our friend Tim who happened to be in the right spot and looking upwind. Of note, I was there that day and waves were 8-10 ft with 30+ mile an hour winds. Almost too windy to turn a boat upwind. The loose ski was tumbling and rolling. Tim, who caught the loose ski, made numerous brilliant decisions in a matter of a few seconds. He quickly realized that he and the two skis were drifting downwind faster than the other guy could swim. He took the loose leash from the runaway ski and clipped it to his own calf. He then had two skis tethered to his leg. He then got in the water with an arm over each ski to anchor them. But he was still drifting downwind. So he moved to the bow of the skis, turned the skis upwind, and kicked hard with his legs to try to move upwind. Facilitating this was the fact that his paddle was leashed to his boat so he could drop it and use both hands. The guy Lars, who lost the ski, had paddle leashed to his pfd. Had his paddle been leashed to the boat instead he likely would not have lost the ski as he would have been holding his paddle.
Don’t trust any quick release to stay shut. I have had many quick releases and they have all opened at some point when I did not want them to. I have permanently closed all my quick releases with wire, fiberglass, etc. i have some NK branded leashes currently that I like. No quick release and a lot of high quality velcro.
Also regarding the metaleash the plastic fastex buckle makes me anxious. Those things break all the time on backpacks. velcro is not perfect and is a common site of leash failure on old leashes. But I feel that I can at least monitor the quality of the velcro to know when to replace it.
Thanks for listening. I am not trying to trash any brands or choices people have made. But leash failure is an issue that hits very close to home for me.
zach
Paul Reavley May 21 #33823
I believe this is a very good discussion to have on a regular basis.
Some of my own opinions:
- Zach's idea about getting rid of shrink wrap so junction/connection condition can be monitored is excellent.
- There is no level of standard engineering for leashes - my preference leans toward overengineering.
- I believe that the solid plastic coil leashes (no stronger filament contained within) are some of the weakest, particularly where they inevitably have to have a junction with another leash element.
- Even with velcro that is in good condition - if it is soaked and you have connect it wet ( as in disconnecting it then reconnecting it to get untangled) particularly when done in a hurry, I believe there can be a significant loss of holding power.
- I suspect that coiled leashes, while possibly staying out of the way somewhat better because of how well they compress their length, have a somewhat greater tendency to tangle with anything they come into contact with in comparison to something like the kite surfing bungie/dyneema that Dan is using (and I use one on my OC). Boyan uses leashes with really big coils - they seem like they get in the way more initially - but we got used to them and they may not tend to tangle with other things quite so easily (but I haven't tested that)
- Quick releases, particularly ones with one single releasing gate/mechanism, are worrying.
- If you can make them more secure you may want to do that - or just avoid altogether.
- One thing I worry about when someone else reports a quick release separation is whether it was engaged correctly to begin with
- One thing I prefer about the meta buckles is that they kind of have 2 points of fasten/release with the two sides of the buckle. There is a certain amount of resistance to release if pressure is applied to only one side - it is not easy to release just one side even if you are trying. However once/if one side has been released, while the buckle may initially stay together, it is no longer completely secure. Likewise you have to make sure that both sides have been engaged when you buckle up. You can put the buckle together and think it is fully engaged, but without the full snap you should hear, see, feel of both sides being engaged (you can feel and see the difference) - you may have only snapped in one side and you are not secure. I do believe that the meta buckles are significantly heavier duty than the kind of fastex that Zach is referring to as breaking on backpacks, etc.
Paul Reavley May 21 #33824
Zach,
The meta belts come with a metal quick release clip (I don't use those). Did your friends quick release clip disconnect or did the belt itself come loose?
Reivers Dustin May 21 #33825
Great info here. I consider the leash more important than the PFD. So I've given this whole leash thing a really hard winnie-the-poo think.
I just can't really tell what is best. No matter what there are some heavy pros and cons.
-a leash to the middle of the boat gets huge forces imposed. Hundreds of pounds of impact force when a blown ski reaches end of travel against a body anchored in the water. Imagine adding breaking wave forces to this.
-a stern leash will get comparatively light loading. It's nice and tidy in the flat days.
-every additional inch of line/cord/string is potential entanglement. This goes up exponentially with multiple lines. If you've gone over in bigs you know this. It's the murphy conspiracy in hell. I am still confounded by how messed up the six-inch cord holding my radio could have gotten that fouled up.
-every sticky-outie thing will reach out for the strings and connections in a tumble. British Canoe Union “BCU” has influenced design in this matter. They can tell you of deaths by clip-connectors. This is why non-US made boats have recessed everything.
-I would personally avoid paddle-to-me leash for above reasons. The boat is your flotation, much more than the PFD.
-So. I dunno. For really big days I like stern leash … kinda. Except I'm not so keen on really big days anymore.
For many years I used a paddle-to-boat leash. You gotta hold something -boat or paddle. But then nothing is tied to you. So you could switch. Which I did once exactly as Zach's post above said about Tim. I was able to hold boats and swim toward the fallen while LG amazingly retrieved the paddle. However, my leash got stretched tight as a fiddle-string. That is scary. If I always knew conditions would be consistent, paddle leash would rule. BUT. ain't gonna bet my life on the weather.
must close now. the brain cell is tired.
Reivers
zach May 21 #33827
Paul - The metal carabiner style quick came undone. The calf loop with the plastic buckle was still on the leg.
Reivers - I like the fact that a plastic coil offers incremental increase in tension as it lengthens, so a boat would not stop abruptly with full force on whatever little screw is anchoring it into the ski.
Dan Mayhew May 21 #33828
No leash will ever be a failsafe solution. Best practices suggest that a leash should be treated as a backup safety measure. Never losing contact with your boat being the primary method. This means throwing your arm over the hull of your ski when you go over. Requires a lot of practice. Easier said than done, but is another action to improve your chances for a good outcome.
James Schulz May 21 #33830
I have had the quick releases come open and off on multiple brands during remount practice so I duct taped them closed and when I got my meta I removed it. I also buy a new leash every fall at the start of the Storm season.
Paul Reavley May 21 #33835
I just came across this fairly recent episode where this fellow blew right past the first two lines of defense we just talked about - missed the boat grab and forgot his leash but decided to run Maliko anyway.
https://www.acrartex.com/survivor-stories/maui-hawaii-surfski-emergency/
But he does keep up his long distance swimming and extended water treading and he seemed to be familiar with the local hazards….
Tim Niemier May 22 #33837
For years I would do surf kayaking in big waves with sit on top kayaks. I would attach the leash from the paddle to the front of the boat and never ever let go of the paddle. Sometimes this meant putting one end of the paddle in my armpit and have the leash stretch out 30 feet but after a few waves we were all together. The problem with this is that there is no place to put the leash on the Vega Flex on the bow. I use a piece of bungee and just tie it to a good snap hook and hook it in around the seat area and have a Velcro around the paddle. If it ever got over 30 mph I may snap it to the rear where there is a place to hook in. Having the leash to the bow or stern can make it easier to get back into the boat without getting your legs tangled up.
It also has ran across my mind that for severe conditions there could be some extra flotation in back of the seat that could be attached to the boat somehow. This flotation could be for greater stability in remounting but be high enough to never touch the water under normal paddling.
There is a way of making a connection to the boat with a little peal I and stick deal that they put on surfboards that work well even in extreme conditions if the surface is free of wax. I think they may call them surf “plugs” or something. The surface has to be flat or just slightly curved for the two styles. Maybe this is something that Phil could get at his shop. OK I will put one on my Vega before Thursday morning.
–
Tim Niemier
Dennis Mowry May 22 #33838
On the Vega & Flex there are 2 screw mount locations where they attached the boat for fabrication. Both are on the deck fore and aft of the cockpit. You can buy a SS half loop at hardware sales to attach your paddle leash.
:D'
