G'day All,

I'm surely is an annual question, but...

I've just bought a shiny spanking new Fanatic ProWave 8"9' and keen to get a new leggie to go with it.
Any recommendations? I had a Balin one, but dont think it was the SUP version - is that the best?

PS. Any others in Vic get out Sat; was pretty damn good (as was the board!)

Select to expand quote

windjunky said...
G'day All,

I'm surely is an annual question, but...

I had a Balin one, but dont think it was the SUP version - is that the best?

Yes..

I've broken a few leggie s ...I got a wave 10-15 foot creatures of leisure outer reef 9mm .thick .I reckon you could tow a truck with it ...we have rocks so just wanted to make sure i don't break another one .

Whaterver the brand:
- Do not buy the "entry level" models (the cheap ones). My regular Balin didn't last long.
- Pay attention to where the cord ends. You do not want any sharp edges:

See for instance my Balin, which had sharp edges at the junction: it created stress points where a crack developed easily:


Now I use only the 2 systems below:

Creatures of Leisure:


Ocean & Earth ONE:


There may be other brands having other ways to prevent sharp edges, too.

Wow glad this thread came up, stay away from the Da Kine SUP leash, went through 2 in 2 weeks (only about 4 foot waves too).

Just bought a Creatures of Leisure with the DNA thing as shown above, assured by the guy in the shop (a prone surfer who does not want to be mown down by my board being washed through the line up) that it should hold out to a fairly good flogging.


It's pretty crap to pay $60 for a leash only to have it snap first set you cop. Thinking of writing a letter of complaint to Da Kine to see if they can reimburse me or just to let them know that their product is defect.




Dunno why this image is so pitifully small, sorry!

I had to put leccy tape around the swivel on my Balin sup leash, the grub screw sits proud and scratches the rail at the back of the board...

I have tested the ocean & earth leggie,one.in big surf ,it did not break but ...went from 7 foot to 10 foot long ,it did not return to its original size ...on a .mana .the creatures leg rope is better ,also has a bearings in the swivels.make sure you put a double knot in the string that come with them ..it's so stiff the knot doesn't tighten.i put two strings on just in case. Mana + rocks =

They can all break, some of my favourites are the Creatures of Leisure Outer Reef 9mm and the Balin Storm 10mm but I have snapped both of them.
One good wipe out on a big wave and if the leggie gets wrapped around the fins....ping, your swimming.

My advice is to always sand the sharp edges of your new fins down a bit. It's a good idea for both, your leggies and your own safety

I have snapped a few leggies (FCS, Dakine).
6 months ago I got the OceanEarth ONE 7'. Still fine and robust.

I've just measured it and it's true that it tends to get a bit longer (not much though, just 6 inches longer )

BALIN STORMRIDER aka "The Hose" - best leggie out there (in my opinion) AWESOME after sale service (IF) you have an issue. Endorsed by dogbreath too!!

I'd go Surf Coast Accessories "Magnum". All hand-tied, locally-made product in Torquay.

Select to expand quote

tightlines said..
They can all break, some of my favourites are the Creatures of Leisure Outer Reef 9mm and the Balin Storm 10mm but I have snapped both of them.
One good wipe out on a big wave and if the leggie gets wrapped around the fins....ping, your swimming.

So true. I learnt to avoid sending my board straight before me to the whitewater when bailing going out, because you then have some chance that the board will be pushed back straight backwards, a situation where the leash can be caught in the trailing edge of the fins and the whole board push on it.

Cut a new leash this way just in front of a rock jetty... board ended up on top of the jetty :-)

XM leggies from the states are pretty good. My 9'0" big board leggie stretched to about 20ft on sat morning. all the boys couldn't believe it didn't snap.

A very important requirement for a surfing sup leggie is a lack of memory in the rubber/polyurethane. If the leash has coiled back into a spiral in the moment between falling off and stretching it usually will wrap round your leg or foot. A leg wrap in surf over 3 foot is very very very very painful. I have been in remote surfspots and have had the joy of checking if my toes were still attatched because of this. If it happens it will happens several times during each surf. I have tried heaps of brands and the only leggie for surfing I will use is Creatures Outer Reef.

How to vid

Ill second the Leashlok Hawaii leggies I've had mine on for about 4 months & no snaps yet /..

My last 1 i snapped was the 10ml balin storm ... At big left out there by myself and i though i was gonna die.

Balin replaced it straight away and told me the older leggies had some issues .. And there new 1s are pretty solid ..

Gotta say its pretty scary the feeling of your board getting taken away from you in some solid surf Then trying to swim in and not get smashed up ..

Thanks everyone.
I went with the Balin Stormrider 10mm... and it is pure sup-porn. Will rip my goddamn leg off before it breaks. Only given it one go in the surf so far and, well, felt tre' nice...
And yes, the service from Balin was brilliant and fast - thanks Gaye! Anything that comes from Flinders has gotta be good

Hi all, newbie question here......

When selecting a leg rope, is there a formula to board length vs leg rope length. ?
Also the recommended length for a 7'10" board. ??

Select to expand quote

toppleover said...
Hi all, newbie question here......

When selecting a leg rope, is there a formula to board length vs leg rope length. ?
Also the recommended length for a 7'10" board. ??

I always gone with leash same length as board for longer nose riding boards and slightly shorter than board length for surfing short boards....

Select to expand quote

toppleover said..
When selecting a leg rope, is there a formula to board length vs leg rope length. ?
Also the recommended length for a 7'10" board. ??

It depends if you noseride or not.

If you noseride you can take the board length less 1' (because the distance of the leash plug from the tail + the rail saver add nearly 1' to it). 8' for a 9' board. Plus leashes tend to lengthen with use.
For instance look at a 6' leash on my 6'9":


If you do not noseride you can go shorter: it may be a bit more risky on wipeouts (try to to never jump over the nose of the board, especially when going out - but jumping over the board nose is a bad idea in any case), but it is much better in crowded situations: your board wanders around less and you get the board back after a wipeout much faster with a quick leg movement.

For a 7'10" I would use a 7' leash if I want to be able to noseride, or if the waves are good. On small crowded waves, on a non-noseriding board, 6' would be better, in comp version to limit drag. Big waves riders would use longer (and stronger) leashes, of course.

I've had 2 Balin 10mm Storm and both have snapped in 3 and 4 ft surf. Wont be giving them a 3rd chance to send my board to the rocks. Shame cos I was hoping they would be as good and as strong as they sounded.

Select to expand quote

colas said..

toppleover said..
When selecting a leg rope, is there a formula to board length vs leg rope length. ?
Also the recommended length for a 7'10" board. ?

"it may be a bit more risky on wipeouts" (try to to never jump over the nose of the board, especially when going out - but jumping over the board nose is a bad idea in any case), but it is much better in crowded situations: your board wanders around less and you get the board back after a wipeout much faster with a quick leg movement.

For a 7'10" I would use a 7' leash if I want to be able to noseride, or if the waves are good. On small crowded waves, on a non-noseriding board, 6' would be better, in comp version to limit drag.

I learnt the hard way about jumping over the nose on the way out - cracked/broken rib which resulted in about a month out of the water before I could get back on the board.

Any my tips on swimming in through the surf with the paddle after your leggy snaps (I'm going to buy a new 6-7' leg rope but sure iI'll snap one some day).

Thanks for the info, colas-Loz

Select to expand quote

toppleover said..

Any my tips on swimming in through the surf with the paddle after your leggy snaps (I'm going to buy a new 6-7' leg rope but sure iI'll snap one some day).

Yes, in bigger surf don't. I had to go fetch some moron's board and prone it over to him because he forgot his leash, and couldn't get to his board because he was white-knuckling the paddle, trying to just tread water, and failing. A loose board may hurt someone, paddle is less likely. Furthermore, board = $$$, paddle = $.

If the situation is manageable: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Good-articles-on-swimming-with-your-paddle/

OnE SUP cords only way to go, I'm finding the weak link is the attachment rope getting cut up on the sharp side of the leggie plug, to the point I've got a spare tied in ready to go

Select to expand quote

breakbad said..
Yes, in bigger surf don't.

+1.
A trick is to add red/orange tape to your paddle so you do not hesitate to ditch it and swim to get to your board as soon as possible, then can see the paddle more easily to go fetch it.

I'm with TommyL regarding the Balin Storm SUP leash. I've had 3 let go in the last 8 months with the latest one being today which sent my new JP 7'4" Pro ($2,600) heading straight towards the rocks. Lucky the board is tough with only a ding on the bottom and scuff marks on the graphics, still, not happy Jan.

I'll admit 1 was my fault (sharp fins) but the other 2 times I know it was a manufacturing fault (as supported By Balin to their credit) but I will no longer be taking another chance with Balin

Oh dear... now ya got me wondering...

I'm not going to use this Forum as a Balin bashing excercise because they admitted to the problem and did replace the first one but now that the 2nd one has broken with the same problem this is disappointing. These boards cost a lot of money and to happen twice leaves me with no other choice but to try something else. I've gone for the Ocean & Earth 8 mm.

If anyone wants to know what the issue is with the Balin leashes then please PM me as I don't want too much negativity thrown the way of Balin because they didn't run away from the problem in the first place.

Hi Folks,

Just going to add my 2 bobs worth on leggies.

There's been some comments on our STORM leash. Yes our original stock had some issues with the webbing inside the tail savers wearing on the swivel. This was the fault of the swivels having some rough edges left from the suppliers manufacturing process. Needless to say very disappointing for us. The problem was random and we will replace any that are reported to us with the upgraded model. The fix was to re-engineer the swivel with a new totally smooth connection point. At the same time we beefed up the width and increased the amount of Grip tape on the tail savers. You can identify these tail savers because they are wider and do NOT have a logo woven in.

At this point I should point out that we developed this leash to be as bullet proof as possible - hence the heavy 10mm Poly Urethane. We have not seen one of our STORM PU cords break other then from a fin cut. The thickness reduces the stretch so this is the trade off... SUPs have more area and are there fore able to pull on a leash far more than say a regular surfboard or Mal. R&D is an ongoing process and we rely on feedback (good or bad)

Of course sharp fins will cut or nick any leash and we have always recommended you check the trailing edge of your fins and smooth them out if necessary with a bit of a rub.

To date I have not seen one of our current leashes fail. If they have no-one has reported it to us.

As for the correct length - it's personal preference but at least the length of your board, has always been a rule of thumb for surf boards of any type. SUPs can be dangerous weapons in the surf so a bit of extra length is always good to keep a bit of distance between you and your board. Depends alot on your skill level I suppose.

Any queries... you can always get in touch with us.

Regards JON (Balin)

see pic. of new swivel.

Select to expand quote

balin said..
Hi Folks,

Just going to add my 2 bobs worth on leggies.

There's been some comments on our STORM leash. Yes our original stock had some issues with the webbing inside the tail savers wearing on the swivel. This was the fault of the swivels having some rough edges left from the suppliers manufacturing process. Needless to say very disappointing for us. The problem was random and we will replace any that are reported to us with the upgraded model. The fix was to re-engineer the swivel with a new totally smooth connection point. At the same time we beefed up the width and increased the amount of Grip tape on the tail savers. You can identify these tail savers because they are wider and do NOT have a logo woven in.

At this point I should point out that we developed this leash to be as bullet proof as possible - hence the heavy 10mm Poly Urethane. We have not seen one of our STORM PU cords break other then from a fin cut. The thickness reduces the stretch so this is the trade off... SUPs have more area and are there fore able to pull on a leash far more than say a regular surfboard or Mal. R&D is an ongoing process and we rely on feedback (good or bad)

Of course sharp fins will cut or nick any leash and we have always recommended you check the trailing edge of your fins and smooth them out if necessary with a bit of a rub.

To date I have not seen one of our current leashes fail. If they have no-one has reported it to us.

As for the correct length - it's personal preference but at least the length of your board, has always been a rule of thumb for surf boards of any type. SUPs can be dangerous weapons in the surf so a bit of extra length is always good to keep a bit of distance between you and your board. Depends alot on your skill level I suppose.

Any queries... you can always get in touch with us.

Regards JON (Balin)

see pic. of new swivel.

Thanks JON,

As the original poster and new purchaser of a storm leggie, its great to hear what you have to say here. After only one surf with it i cant offer a lot of feedback, other than I'm hoping it will straighten out a little more with use, as it still has a lot of kinks in it from when it was wound up for packaging. Guess thats what comes from being so thick. Felt fine in the water at The Farm, but surf was only small. Keen to give it a crack at Big Left...

Personally i cringe every time i see people winding their leggie round the fins at the back of the board - surely that risks nicks. I just stuff it in the board bag on top of the board, or even take it right off. Whats your advice??

Thanks again for posting...

Hi Windjunky,

You won't cut your leggie by winding around the board. Poly urethane is really tough stuff, it will only cut if the leash is being pulled against the sharp edge IE when you fall off and there is tension on the cord and it is being pulled against a sharp edge. You need a sharp blade to cut this stuff. You can't cut it with say a bread an butter knife, it's just not sharp enough.

We all hate the kninks in the leggie from packaging but it should find its original shape (IE straight) in time. You might even try giving it a good stretch. Not so easy with the 10mm though.

Good luck at Big Left.

JON