Sup Surfing with my helmut and waist leash in September.
After a few trips to Bali in the last few years with my sups next potential visit will be surfboards only.
Sup surfing in one of the most surf crowded places on earth has run its course for me I believe.
Travelling without my wife and kids and exploring more of the infrequent spots may be a different story.
Ive been surfing with the waist leash and contributing to the design with Jon from Balin for a year now and only wear an ankle leash now when its smaller conditions.

Leash Lok are good - been using for 12 months - order online - delivered to door!
Steve

Surfing with an ankle leash is so Medieval.

After the first pull from a big wave using a waist leash you will wonder what the heck you've been doing. You might as well have been using a wrist leash.

Pulls you to the surface, face up. If the wave is big enough you will plane up on your back happily skipping along like a fishing lure.

i experimented by sewing velcro to some 50mm webbing and attaching my usual leggy to the now formed waist loop. i though about using plastic or metal dive/waveski belt camlocs, buckles and snap locks but went with velcro which doesn't dig into my guts when getting back on board. like Beasho, i won't be going back to either ankle or knee leggy positioning
pete

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Beasho said..
Surfing with an ankle leash is so Medieval.

After the first pull from a big wave using a waist leash you will wonder what the heck you've been doing. You might as well have been using a wrist leash.

Pulls you to the surface, face up. If the wave is big enough you will plane up on your back happily skipping along like a fishing lure.

Sounds sensible.....especially if riding all that Mavericks stuff like you do

I discovered waist leashes when using them (with a coiled cord) for foiling.

I understand now why people use them in big waves: as beasho described they work wonders when the board is pulling hard.

I did not see disadvantages to them. I still use regular leashes for surfing, but just because I am too lazy to install the belt on them, and their advantages on normal waves is not so big.

The belt + coiled combo is very interesting, as it does not touch water, and could be interesting to people paddling over shallow reefs where the cord could tangle in the reef, or spots with weeds.

Leash around the ankle on smaller waves is fine...no reason to swap to a waist belt. Small waves to some mean totally different to others.

I guess Beashos small waves will be monsters to me

I notice none of the surfers in the Pe'ahi Challenge use waist leashes. Okay their boards are lighter but but by how much? Surel if waist leashes were so great they would be on them.

I like the waist leash for downwind as it keeps the coils off the board and one less thing to get in the way. Can you put up a pic of the Ballin product that you've been working on with Jon?

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Slab said..
if waist leashes were so great they would be on them.

Do not underestimate the conservatism of the surfing world. Not a lot of surfers, especially competitors, like to try new things.

On flat-water, I attach my coil leash to my PFD because it keeps it out of water completely.

Surfing, I use an ankle leash because of 2 reasons:

1- when the board is going to get a serious yank, I can coil in a ball and uncoil my legs, "with resistance" to dampen the "jerk", and lower the chance for a leash to snap when it runs out of stretch. Much like an airbag will lessen the impact "just enough" to make a huge difference.

2- I like to be able to yank my board back to me with my leg, so I can recover quicker and get over the next wave.

I don't ride anything nearing beasho waves... but I take some hits, never had a problem, so I am less inclined to the waist leash.

9ft waistleash from leashlok--hawaii---great setup---bomb-proof strong
certainly looks a bit douchey when on small waves--but, hey, im a supper, so apparently i dont worry much about looking douchey!

Heres a couple of pics of the current waist leash named the "Waister".
They have the standard Fin key grub screw system so they can be alternated to whatever sized leash you require.
I recently had a surfer paddle up to me to enquire and compliment what he called a "Man leash" which is an excellent description as it is really just an oversized ankle leash to go around your waist.
Not everyone has strong and healthy hips, knees or ankles and this leash system takes the worry out of surfing solid sized waves if you have a bit of a tweak or strain.
No more getting your legrope in-between your feet or toes, your deck is literally your 'dance floor'.
No scrawling into a ball and preparing for a leg pull on a solid day, I just position myself accordingly and wait to be assisted to the surface like the artwork in 'Beasho's" previous post on this thread.
Leash's pictured are my current 10mm 9' straight 'Waister' and an 8mm 2.1m Coil with straight section/ aka 'Monster Coil'.
The leash is still in development phase and some limited numbers are available for sale, I have some in stock and so does Balin for any retailers that may be interested.
Regards
Jack

If you wear a waist leash when surfing then ensure that the leash is tied to the side of your belt, not directly behind you. If it is directly behind you like a tail the leash has a tendency to get between your legs in a wipe-out, which can lead to a ball-popping moment. This doesn't tend to happen with leash attached at the side of the belt (choose which side based on goofy/natural stance).

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paddlepop said..
i experimented by sewing velcro to some 50mm webbing and attaching my usual leggy to the now formed waist loop. i though about using plastic or metal dive/waveski belt camlocs, buckles and snap locks but went with velcro which doesn't dig into my guts when getting back on board. like Beasho, i won't be going back to either ankle or knee leggy positioning
pete

Not sure i would ever wear a coil leash in surf - attached to a waist, near or ankle strap. Got a habit of firing the board back at you at ballistic speed.