SUP Leashes have been considered a critical piece of safety equipment for paddleboarders since the sport began to take off in the late 90’s early 00’s.
But why? Are they? Are there times where SUP leashes can be dangerous or even lethal?
History of Leashes
SUP Leashes came directly from surfing. But where did surfing leashes come from? Recreational surfers originally did not wear leashes at all. During a wipeout their board would go flying and eventually the surf would push the board back in to shore. But you can imagine how much of a pain this would be after just a few times paddling to the lineup, surfing, falling, then chasing your board who knows how long.
So people started tying their boards to themselves and were initially laughed at with the tethers being dubbed “kook straps.” Well, it didn’t take long for people to realize that this was actually really beneficial for catching more waves, and the kook strap became the standard leash.
Note that at no point was safety considered as a reason for wearing a leash. There are up- and down-sides to leashes for safety while surfing. One one hand they prevent your board from flinging out toward someone else and keep it close by to make it easier to get around on the water, on the other hand, they can cause the board to fling back at you (though this is less common with straight leashes), or the leash itself can snap, and cause injury.
So when SUP came long, the leash came with it.
SUP Leashes Save Lives
Paddleboarding gives us the opportunity to explore vast distances on the water – well beyond the shore break. We no longer have the swell pushing us into shore when we fall (like surfers do), and losing your board could mean a very long swim to safety.
SUP is unique to other paddle sports in that we are standing, and falling completely off and away from your vessel is not only common, it is expected. On open water, or even on a medium size lake, losing your board can be dangerous, especially if you aren’t wearing a PFD (but you should always be wearing your PFD!). Your board makes it much easier to get around on the water, even if you don’t have a paddle, and gives you refuge out of the water. For all these reasons it make sense to wear your leash – in most situations, but not all situations.
Leashes are an important part of SUP safety equipment, but leashes should never be considered an alternative to wearing your PFD. Always wear your PFD.
Leashes Are Lethal
“But you just said they are an important part of SUP safety equipment!?” Yes, but they are not always appropriate to wear.
Leashes kill people every year.
Flowing water (rivers, streams, tidal estuaries and races, etc) presents a very unique hazard for paddlers called entrapment. There are different kinds of entrapment like foot entrapment, sieves and strainers, and leash entrapment.
Entrapment occurs when your body is stopped by a solid object, but pushed or held in place by flowing water. In leash entrapment this happens when your leash becomes tangled on an object (like a tree branch or buoy chain) or when you and your SUP are separated around an object (like a bridge pylon or boulder).
When this happens the flowing water will stretch you out and begin pushing you down vertically through the water column, even if you are wearing a PFD. While wearing a standard leash (on the ankle or calf) you are not able to fight against the flowing water to reach and release the leash from your body.
It doesn’t take fast water to do this either. British Canoe recently did a study and found that leash entrapment can happen in waterspeeds as slow as 1km/h (0.7mph). That is incredibly slow!
In flowing water there are two options for safe SUP Leash use:
- Do Not Wear a Leash – this is the easiest and best choice for the vast majority of paddlers. When paddling on rivers, streams, or tidal flows, simply do not wear your leash. These areas are constrained with nearby shore and do not pose the degree of exposure risk found on larger open bodies of water where leashes are recommended. If you are paddling a flowing body of water to get to a still body of water, leave the leash off your body, but put it on once you have reached open water without the flowing force.
- Torso-Mounted Quick-Release (QR) leashes offer a leashed alternative to experienced paddlers with the appropriate training. A QR leash is NOT a silver bullet to this problem and should only be used by those who have trained extensively with them and understand their limitations (of which there are many). QR Leashes are not perfect, and have – for safety equipment – a very high rate of failure to safely release (5-40% failure rate depending on the type and setup).
Conclusion
Leashes are an important piece of equipment for stand up paddleboarders in most situations. However, when paddling on flowing water, it is safer to wear no leash than it is to wear a standard leash. Quick Release leashes should only be worn by those experienced paddlers who have trained extensively with their use.