Surfski Knowledge Base

Morris Arthur
12/11/14 #16648

(…..) we played around with remounts in “conditions”.

Things I (re) learned:

• After the initial “hoist” onto the boat, hands should never leave the paddle until you're under way. It takes a little time to master feet-wiggling and ass-arranging without a hand on the boat, but it's a valuable skill.
• “Superman/Cowboy' is more natural to me, but I can appreciate the advantages of side-saddle.
• You should be upwind of the boat before starting the remount. Pointing the boat upwind or downwind might work in small or medium conditions, but in big conditions, I prefer keeping the boat beam to the wind, parallel to the waves. The boat is more manageable … and it's more likely to stay in contact with the water. (Oh, and I learned quickly that side-saddle with your feet on the downwind side is a very bad idea. Duh…)
• Considering the above, I'm sticking with a leash attachment point at the cockpit…
• I prefer a stretch-y leash: I fear a no-stretch static line (with 12,000 lbs tensile strength or whatever) would rip-out the attachment point from the boat or myself. (Lines themselves rarely fail; failures usually happen at the attachment points.)
• I rarely “trust” the leash: my feet stay wedged in the straps until I can reach down and grab the straps with my hand. If you freak out when upside-down underwater, then this technique might not work for you :)
• A paddle leash seems like a good idea. Next time…
• … and keep fresh and warm: none of this works well if you're tired and/or hypothermic.

Reivers Dustin
12/11/14 #16649

heehee! can't quit laughing. snot funny - laughing with you guys. I so remember getting out of Larrabee cove trying to get enough to windward to clear the rocks near Whiskey rock thinking, “what in hell am I doing out here?” mustabeen truly barking mad to keep going.

Great breakdown: upwind from boat. broadside to waves. paddle in hand. feet out until all systems ready for power up. Anything at all out of place just blows up so bad.

I don't know about cowboy. I could only do it on shallow seat boats. However, in really high wind and oversized waves I can sit sidesaddle with both feet out with comfort - heart rate stable and calm. Very helpful with C.G. is on the radio asking stupid questions over and over. I only had one hand for the paddle and 40 mph made it challenging.

(……)

Downwinders are quite the adventure.

rd

bill
12/11/14 #16651

I I have just gone threw the nightmare side of being out of you ski and not being able to remount, I have a couple of thoughts.

Leash your paddle. It makes everything easer when you need use both hand to do something, such as using a radio, fixing a rudder, helping someone else or just saving you ass if you you loos it when swimming. … What ever. Having experienced the benefits firsthand I will be without one.

I never ever ever want to be separated from my boat. It is your beacon of hope. Just the fact you can drape yourself over it keeping your core out of the water is an enormous help in staying warm and ban add hours to your survival. It will help you be seen by getting your Hopfuly bright colored PFD out of the water and in the air plus your ski is easely spotted… maybe ( assuming it's not white!) I am willing to suffer what ever the consequences a bomber connection. If it rips out the attachment point on the ski it's not the leashes fault. If it bruises and hurts me, so be it.. I'm still with by ski. It was the ski that kept me alive, if I was drifting without the ski I'm not sure I would be typing this.

I'm a fan of stretchy leashes as well, but that doesn't mean they have to be anything but super strong. I make Dyneema leashes that stretch. A three foot leash stretches to 8 or 9 feet comfortably, but its ultimate braking strength is 1500lbs or so. This helps it have some longevity with wear and tear and UV exposure. At least that's the idea.

Where ever the attachment point for the leash it should be totally bomber….. Totally, no excuse. Lots of manufacturers really need to step up on this..

Bill

bill

12/11/14 #16652

Uff… Typing on a phone sucks. It should say “I will never be without one” among many other errors..

Bill

michael.medler@…

12/11/14 #16654

I wanted to offer a few quick observations about the leash discussion. It is fairly important to make sure there is some stretch in your system. Rock climbers use stretchy dynamic ropes that lengthen over 20%, or more when weighted in a fall. This stretch allows climbers to take very long falls, even over 100 feet, without ever impacting any component in their system with more than a few times their body weight. However, a climber taking even a few foot fall directly on a piece of webbing or static cord, such as Dyneema or Spectra, can generate 1000s of pounds of impact force, which can be enough to break harnesses, or even rip out bolt anchors that test-out at over 5000 pounds of holding force. Therefore, with a surfski leash, it would take very little momentum applied to any completely static leash system before you might start seeing complete failure at one of the connections. (just a thought)

Here is a long but educational video about these issues:

http://dmmclimbing.com/knowledge/how-to-break-nylon-dyneema-slings/

Reivers Dustin
12/11/14 #16655

Great point and well understood by OSHA and WISHA regarding industrial fall restraint systems. Even with shock absorbing built in, the anchor points require really large capacity. If memory serves, something like 5,000 pound capacity per person.

For those of you doing it yourself, heads up. For example say that the spectra somehow made a loop around your wrist: perhaps you just gave your right hand up along with the wind-blown boat.

Gee, it's kinda fun to play the old “eye poked out” game!!!

rd

bill
12/11/14 #16658

Just for the sake of the argument… A coil leach could wrap around you neck and be hard to undo with an unpleasant outcome as well. It's easy to pick something that 'Might' happen, but let's not forget leash failure is a real thing and there have been a number of fatalities as a result. The air bag in your car 'might' brake your arm, nose, neck or cause blindness, but I'm glad it's there. The most important thing is to make sure the single most dangerous thing in open water paddling doesn't happen… loosing your boat. Any material strong enough to be a reliable leash will always have the potential to cause damage. Where its connected and how it's constructed will help to minimize that. In my mind just about anything is better than those Velcro, glorified phone cord and crappy swivel things. It just seems a half ass attempt at something that needs to be a lot more secure. … How many times have you heard of those failing? It seems a frequent comment on various forms.

This is what I have been messing with. It's long enough to reach the rudder, does not tangle and is UV stable. Latex tubing works better but only lasts 2 months in the summer sun. It is 3 feet and stretches to 9 feet.

John Rybczyk

12/11/14 #16659

Having been dragged around countless times by a long board in big-ish surf, I am a huge fan of a very stretchy cord. I don't think I'd still have a lower leg otherwise. Velcro can work too. I have a surfing leash that is affixed to the leg via a triple layered velcro strap system (hard to describe but intuitively obvious once you see it). It's bombproof and if it has any weakness it is that it's hard to get it off in a hurry. I've always thought that we could learn much, leash-wise, from surfers. Their leashes are tested dozens of times every session.

johnr

michael.medler@…
12/11/14 #16660

NASA used Velcro to keep the heat shield tiles on the space shutle. That worked most of the time.