SUP w/ a leash

[Butch Crain]

bad idea in general?

or cool in Class 1 & 2 & depending on paddlers experience & skill level?

[Shep]

If you do it, make sure you use one of the quick-release hip-belt leashes.

But, in WW, I wouldn't.

[Larry Pearce]

Butch, your question is not easy to answer, but I will give you my risks and benefits analysis. First a disclaimer: I have less than a year's experience paddling whitewater on a SUP board. John Pearce has a lot more experience and training than I do. For this post I collaborated with John, who is an ACA SUP Instructor certified to teach in up to Level III (Class II Whitewater). We both wear a leash. I wear one all the time (when I can remember it). He wears one most of the time. On flatwater we connect the leash to the calf or ankle. The risk of a leash in flatwater is minimal, and the likelihood of your board flying away from you when you fall off or getting blown away by the wind increases the likelihood of getting separated from your board. I have not experienced any significant increased risk when using a leash on flatwater. Another paddler can help retrieve the board for you, but it is so easy to pull on the leash and get back on the board quickly. In my opinion, being able to get back on the board quickly becomes more important than any risk associated with a leash when paddling flatwater, especially when the water and/or the weather is cold.

John made the the following points. Someone learning to SUP needs to learn to heal-hook the board when falling off to keep the board from scooting away. If you learn to SUP with a leash from the beginning, you will be less likely to perfect this important safety maneuver when you fall. If you don't have a leash from the beginning, you are also more likely to learn to fall on your board than off of it. I am a good example of someone who hasn't yet learned the heel-hook and who depends on my leash. John's second point for not using a leash relates to either a group of SUP newbees paddling together in moving water or whitewater or to a group in a class setting in moving water or whitewater. If a bunch of people who don't have experience or skill all have leashes and are falling off boards, they risk getting entangled not only with their leash but also with others' leashes as well. When John was in his certification class, the instructor didn't use a leash and most of the candidates didn't use a leash.

On whitewater we connect the leash to the board with a quick release belt that goes around our waist or hooks onto the quick release belt of a swift water rescue PFD. In whitewater the leash should never go on your leg lower than a point that you could reach without bending over to release it. I think it is best to be a little dogmatic about where to connect the leash to your body in whitewater and just say that it should go around your waist or onto the quick release belt of a swift water rescue PFD. I have taught canoeing since 1994, and my initial response to anything that would tie me to a SUP board was: "Why would I ever want to do that?" It reminded me of some of our early safety discussions about using thigh straps in an open canoe. I only have 10 or so class II whitewater SUP trips so far, and the decision to paddle with a leash is a risk/benefit calculation. The biggest risk obviously is entanglement, most likely with the strainers and other flora of our streams. I have also had the leash wrapped around my legs and around my waist after a fall, but I have not encountered any problem with that wrapping and have found it relatively simple to get untangled. If you do proper spacing in rapids, you minimize the risk of getting entangled with another paddler and craft. The leash that we use is the NRS quick release SUP leash. Here are a few details about it:

Floating polyurethane coiled line
Extends from 20 inches to 11.5 feet
2 in-line swivels prevent tangling
Quick-release belt converts to calf strap
Comfortable calf strap w/ hook-&-loop closure
Attachment lanyard included

Key safety features of this leash include: it is coiled to stay out of the way, and it extends to 11/5 ft; it is made of polyurethane that you could cut with a knife; the 2 swivels really do help to prevent tangling; it works for both flatwater and whitewater depending on whether you use the calf strap (flatwater) or the belt (whitewater). I am sure there are other leashes out there with similar safety features.

One cardinal rule of whitewater paddling is that we are safer in our crafts than we are swimming, especially in a rapid. I am more likely to fall off my board in a rapid than I am in flatwater or moving water. The safety associated with being able to pull on the leash, get the board next to me and climb back on in a rapid while holding onto my paddle is a major argument in favor of using a leash in whitewater. Being able to self rescue also helps to protect those paddling with you from having to rescue you and/or your board. On a Green River Gates of Lodore trip in early July I forgot to get John's leash when I jumped on his board. In some easy class II water I fell off and look a long swim trying to catch up to my board that went flying downriver. Another SUP paddler slowed my board down, and I eventually got back on it. If I had had the leash, I could have been back on the board in a matter of seconds; I could have avoided the long swim and no one else wold have had to put themselves at risk trying to stop my board. Larry

[okieboater]

Way to go Senor Pearce!!

Always pushing the envelope on ways to have fun in and on the water.

[Larry Pearce]

Butch, your question is not easy to answer, but I will give you my risks and benefits analysis. First a disclaimer: I have less than a year's experience paddling whitewater on a SUP board. John Pearce has a lot more experience and training than I do. For this post I collaborated with John, who is an ACA SUP Instructor certified to teach in up to Level III (Class II Whitewater). We both wear a leash. I wear one all the time (when I can remember it). He wears one most of the time. On flatwater we connect the leash to the calf or ankle. The risk of a leash in flatwater is minimal, and the likelihood of your board flying away from you when you fall off or getting blown away by the wind increases the likelihood of getting separated from your board. I have not experienced any significant increased risk when using a leash on flatwater. Another paddler can help retrieve the board for you, but it is so easy to pull on the leash and get back on the board quickly. In my opinion, being able to get back on the board quickly becomes more important than any risk associated with a leash when paddling flatwater, especially when the water and/or the weather is cold.

John made the the following points. Someone learning to SUP needs to learn to heal-hook the board when falling off to keep the board from scooting away. If you learn to SUP with a leash from the beginning, you will be less likely to perfect this important safety maneuver when you fall. If you don't have a leash from the beginning, you are also more likely to learn to fall on your board than off of it. I am a good example of someone who hasn't yet learned the heel-hook and who depends on my leash. John's second point for not using a leash relates to either a group of SUP newbees paddling together in moving water or whitewater or to a group in a class setting in moving water or whitewater. If a bunch of people who don't have experience or skill all have leashes and are falling off boards, they risk getting entangled not only with their leash but also with others' leashes as well. When John was in his certification class, the instructor didn't use a leash and most of the candidates didn't use a leash.

On whitewater we connect the leash to the board with a quick release belt that goes around our waist or hooks onto the quick release belt of a swift water rescue PFD. In whitewater the leash should never go on your leg lower than a point that you could reach without bending over to release it. I think it is best to be a little dogmatic about where to connect the leash to your body in whitewater and just say that it should go around your waist or onto the quick release belt of a swift water rescue PFD. I have taught canoeing since 1994, and my initial response to anything that would tie me to a SUP board was: "Why would I ever want to do that?" It reminded me of some of our early safety discussions about using thigh straps in an open canoe. I only have 10 or so class II whitewater SUP trips so far, and the decision to paddle with a leash is a risk/benefit calculation. The biggest risk obviously is entanglement, most likely with the strainers and other flora of our streams. I have also had the leash wrapped around my legs and around my waist after a fall, but I have not encountered any problem with that wrapping and have found it relatively simple to get untangled. If you do proper spacing in rapids, you minimize the risk of getting entangled with another paddler and craft. The leash that we use is the NRS quick release SUP leash. Here are a few details about it:

Floating polyurethane coiled line
Extends from 20 inches to 11.5 feet
2 in-line swivels prevent tangling
Quick-release belt converts to calf strap
Comfortable calf strap w/ hook-&-loop closure
Attachment lanyard included

Key safety features of this leash include: it is coiled to stay out of the way, and it extends to 11/5 ft; it is made of polyurethane that you could cut with a knife; the 2 swivels really do help to prevent tangling; it works for both flatwater and whitewater depending on whether you use the calf strap (flatwater) or the belt (whitewater). I am sure there are other leashes out there with similar safety features.

One cardinal rule of whitewater paddling is that we are safer in our crafts than we are swimming, especially in a rapid. I am more likely to fall off my board in a rapid than I am in flatwater or moving water. The safety associated with being able to pull on the leash, get the board next to me and climb back on in a rapid while holding onto my paddle is a major argument in favor of using a leash in whitewater. Being able to self rescue also helps to protect those paddling with you from having to rescue you and/or your board. On a Green River Gates of Lodore trip in early July I forgot to get John's leash when I jumped on his board. In some easy class II water I fell off and look a long swim trying to catch up to my board that went flying downriver. Another SUP paddler slowed my board down, and I eventually got back on it. If I had had the leash, I could have been back on the board in a matter of seconds; I could have avoided the long swim and no one else wold have had to put themselves at risk trying to stop my board. Larry

[Butch Crain]

Thanks Larry & Shep - really good considerations

when Obiwan Dave can only add kudos you know you nailed it

[Butch Crain]

finally pulled the trigger on a Badfish 11'6" MCIT

if family pond outings aren't too humiliating I'll see y'all at Rockport this summer