Whats the most heavy duty leashes everybody uses. I just snapped my 3rd leash in 6 months. 2 at swivel and 1 about an inch above swivel. Not sure if the added pull on a 10ft board vs my 100kg anchor in the water is adding to the strain.

Thoughts?

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SupBandit said..
Whats the most heavy duty leashes everybody uses. I just snapped my 3rd leash in 6 months. 2 at swivel and 1 about an inch above swivel. Not sure if the added pull on a 10ft board vs my 100kg anchor in the water is adding to the strain.

Thoughts?

I tore my hamstring when my leash pulled my leg last week. Grade 2. Creatures. Break your ligaments before breaks the cord. Solid.

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mediumbilly said..

SupBandit said..
Whats the most heavy duty leashes everybody uses. I just snapped my 3rd leash in 6 months. 2 at swivel and 1 about an inch above swivel. Not sure if the added pull on a 10ft board vs my 100kg anchor in the water is adding to the strain.

Thoughts?

I tore my hamstring when my leash pulled my leg last week. Grade 2. Creatures. Break your ligaments before breaks the cord. Solid.

Ouch! You should message them that for their new slogan though. Might get some royalties.

"Your leg break before the leash does"

I was surprised though the plastic fitting broke before the leash itself

i rate the balin stormrider leash for SUP. not much stretch but it's built tough

I recently bought a creatures leggy ahead of surfing in some juicy waves down south -it got a good stretching and survived.

Always thought creatures were reasonable but your run of breaks raises questions for them.

Balin 10mm storm rider.
Waister model when it is solid size. Getting pulled to the surface during a heavy close out style set is a treat.

"About 1 inch above swivel" sounds like a fin cut. Maybe sand them a bit, and try to not bailout with the board facing the foam, thus being pushed fin-first into the leash.

I am not a big wave rider. I used Creatures and was OK with them, but I switched to Ocean&Earth "The One" for years with no failure. I was attracted by their "no added part" design at the swivels, and the test made by stretching them with a car. I have in my van a spare big wave creature of leisure "Outer leash" 10mm diameter cord, but never had to use it.

What I like with the O&E One is that they stretch quite a bit, it acts as a warning, giving you time to streamline yourself in the water to be dragged by the leash with less resistance and avoid huge tension in the cord that will cause breakage and/or injuries.

Try this leggy , guarantee you'll be hard pressed to snap or break this one. It is the OE One XT extreme. You will find it will dislocate your hip before breaking .
Minimal stretch at 7 foot long with a pull pin to release your ankle strap form the cord. Good if you surf around rocks. Definitely won't spring back at you.
I bought it from SurfFX on the Gold Coast 2 years ago and only use it when it gets big. Strongest leggie I have used . I use it from 8'0 sups to 12 FT PSH which weighs a ton and rate it.

I agree and use the OandE OneXT on my Sunova Surf 10'6 all the time. Broken leashes have not been an issue since I have used it. Having had to swim the 200m across the rivermouth current with paddle twice due to broken leashes (both new, 10', and 8mm), leash strength is important to me :-)

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mediumbilly said..

SupBandit said..
Whats the most heavy duty leashes everybody uses. I just snapped my 3rd leash in 6 months. 2 at swivel and 1 about an inch above swivel. Not sure if the added pull on a 10ft board vs my 100kg anchor in the water is adding to the strain.

Thoughts?

I tore my hamstring when my leash pulled my leg last week. Grade 2. Creatures. Break your ligaments before breaks the cord. Solid.

Couple of questions, what length leash in what size waves ?
I go Creatures Outer Reef 9mm 10ft for norm as big bloke ,big boards and add length for big waves, 12, 14 . I'm really happy to have the board as far away from me as possible in the washing machine, soft stretching, less drag.

Personally for the waves I surf which are generally 0 to 3ft I use a 7 foot leash onall my boards that are less than 9 foot . Easier to retrieve and less risk of hitting someone else

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colas said..
"About 1 inch above swivel" sounds like a fin cut. Maybe sand them a bit, and try to not bailout with the board facing the foam, thus being pushed fin-first into the leash.

I am not a big wave rider. I used Creatures and was OK with them, but I switched to Ocean&Earth "The One" for years with no failure. I was attracted by their "no added part" design at the swivels, and the test made by stretching them with a car. I have in my van a spare big wave creature of leisure "Outer leash" 10mm diameter cord, but never had to use it.

What I like with the O&E One is that they stretch quite a bit, it acts as a warning, giving you time to streamline yourself in the water to be dragged by the leash with less resistance and avoid huge tension in the cord that will cause breakage and/or injuries.

+1
Have had a good run with these, failures only by fin cuts.
I tend to use a foot smaller than the board I'm on, as they do stretch over time.

On the length, if you take into account the rail saver, cord, and the fact that the leash plug is not exactly at the tail, it means that a leash can have a stated length of 1' shorter than the board and still allow your foot to go over the nose. This means I have a 7' leash on my longest boards: 8'1" and 8'4", and 6' otherwise.

I like my leashes as short as possible so that I have more control of the board in wipeouts: i feel better where it is, and I can get the board quickly with one swift leg motion without ever having to grab the leash by hand. Especially useful is that not feeling any leash tension means that the board is close by and I should be VERY cautious when surfacing. Would I tackle double overhead + waves, I would definitively go longer.

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Bighugg said..

mediumbilly said..

SupBandit said..
Whats the most heavy duty leashes everybody uses. I just snapped my 3rd leash in 6 months. 2 at swivel and 1 about an inch above swivel. Not sure if the added pull on a 10ft board vs my 100kg anchor in the water is adding to the strain.

Thoughts?

I tore my hamstring when my leash pulled my leg last week. Grade 2. Creatures. Break your ligaments before breaks the cord. Solid.

Couple of questions, what length leash in what size waves ?
I go Creatures Outer Reef 9mm 10ft for norm as big bloke ,big boards and add length for big waves, 12, 14 . I'm really happy to have the board as far away from me as possible in the washing machine, soft stretching, less drag.

When there is size and power to the waves a shorter leash is going to break. Besides the danger of proximity, the wave will quickly get pulled to it's max stretch. Having a 10-15' leash will give it the chance to stretch out to max length slower and without the break force.... to a point.

I run Da Kine Kainui big wave leashes on all boards now having snapped a variety of other leashes previously. Have yet to break one of the Da Kines. I run 7ft for conditions up to head high and 10ft beyond that

Since my rear knee has been on the way out , a leg rope has been torture
recently swapped to waist leash : Balin coiled

no more knee pain ( from the leash) , ? less dragging towards shore when wiped out , maybe safer retrieval
>

And definitely safer if unfortunate enough to be hooked up on a reef (as I have short boarding in the Telos - was only in 50cm of water , but it was draining back off the reef so hard I could not reach beyond my knee)

I have found they all break but creatures of leisure replace them if you keep your receipt. In big conditions wearing 2 legropes reduces tombstoning in the white water for reasons unknown.

Having been caught in the washing machine and found my knee getting twisted in sorts of directions I went to a waist leash and haven't looked back.I have a coiled one which I do like but I am looking for a thicker one. Coiled leashes do have a nasty tendency of springing back in the direction of your face.

leashlok hawaii has served me well

I use Balin 9ft Surfboard leash.

I tried the 10mm Storm SUP Leash and hated it. It had no stretch and yanked my leg in all sorts of horrible directions.

I'd rather have my leash snap than dislocate my knee or hip.


I treat leashes as a consumable and replace them every year. Had two snap on me over 20 years of surfing (prone and SUP) and both were overdue for replacement.