I've windsurfed, surfed and SUPd for 7 years, although not particularly often, and love the look of windfoiling. I've had a couple of goes on a windsurf board and one lesson on a proper foilboard. I love everything about it, and seem to be getting on well, apart from the leashes, which are driving me nuts. I keep getting them tangled around each other, me, the board, the wing etc. My last attempt was Monday and I called my lesson short because of safety concerns - I'd got the board stuck on top of the wing, with my arm pinned under the board by the leash and the board leash around my legs and it all just felt a bit dodgy.Any tips on leashes? I was using a straight wing leash on my right wrist, and a coiled board leash around my waist. How do ankle leashes compare? No leash?!Are my safety concerns genuine?

This sounds like a beginner issue that you will sort out with experience. Unless I'm in a situation with waves, currents and chaos, I don't seem to have these issues (and even then its quite rare). Occasionally the board leash will wrap around my foil mast, but its a pretty quick and instinctive fix. Once you are up on foil and moving fast, you will usually fall away from the board (either off the side, or over the front), which keeps the equipment separated and prevents tangling. I also habitually grab the front luff handle, or the end of the leash attached to the wing when I'm in the water sorting myself out, to control the wing and prevent it from flipping and flapping all over the place.

An ankle leash for the board could help. I've tried all leash configurations and my preference is a waist leash for the wing and an ankle leash for the board.

I vastly prefer both leashes on my waist. Since I made that switch very few situations can't be resolved easily in seconds.

Try wing leash attached to your belt, and a short coiled board leash around your leg, just below the knee. Keeps your arms free for swimming if needed.

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Windsurfer77 said..
How do ankle leashes compare?

I started with a straight ankle leash for the board and hand leash for the wing. That got me into tangles often, sometimes some that were almost impossible to sort out in deep water. Later, my wife gave me her coiled waste leash for a few sessions, which worked a lot better. I do not recall a tangle around the mast at all with the waist leash.

I went back to an ankle leash for a couple of sessions while waiting for the waist leash I had ordered to come in, and had more tangles again, although not nearly as many as in my first sessions. Still, the waist leash improved things a lot when I finally got it. Tangles are quite rare, and easy to sort out if they happen (usually just the wrist leash around the tail of the board, or similar). So I would definitely not recommend going to an ankle leash for the board. That means one end of the leash is below the foil when you swim, and can easily get wrapped around the mast.

The leashes can be quite annoying when you start, but it gets a lot better quickly. One piece of advise that I found quite helpful is to "go with the fall", holding on to the wing. Meaning if you feel that you are starting to fall, don't try to save yourself through acrobatic acts. If you try to do that, there's a good chance that you'll fall in the direction of the foil (do a "taco"). Even if you don't hit the foil with your body, everything will end up close together, which increases the chances of stuff getting tangled up. If you instead accept that you will fall when you start loosing your balance, you can usually control the board so that it goes away from you, while holding the wing and keeping it close to you.

Thanks everyone. It seems like the school gave me the best combination of leashes (they're an excellent school). I think you're right - it's probably how I'm falling, and my lack of speed. I'm tempted to have another go and try and get the wing and board apart when I fall (counter-intuitive, esp coming from windsurfing), and push through the learning phase onto falling at speed, which like in surfing shouldn't cause tangles.

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Windsurfer77 said..
Thanks everyone. It seems like the school gave me the best combination of leashes (they're an excellent school). I think you're right - it's probably how I'm falling, and my lack of speed. I'm tempted to have another go and try and get the wing and board apart when I fall (counter-intuitive, esp coming from windsurfing), and push through the learning phase onto falling at speed, which like in surfing shouldn't cause tangles.

Waist leash for the wing only. Wrist is a joke. Board can work on leg but I find waist best for that too.

LOL I went windfoiling last week after more than a year of wingfoiling. I fell a couple of times and needed to swim (faster and faster) towards my board/sail in the middle of fast moving chop.

I couldn't help thinking how silly it was not to be leashed onto my gear This after hating leashes in the beginning! Funny how our mind works.

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AnyBoard said..

Windsurfer77 said..
Thanks everyone. It seems like the school gave me the best combination of leashes (they're an excellent school). I think you're right - it's probably how I'm falling, and my lack of speed. I'm tempted to have another go and try and get the wing and board apart when I fall (counter-intuitive, esp coming from windsurfing), and push through the learning phase onto falling at speed, which like in surfing shouldn't cause tangles.

Waist leash for the wing only. Wrist is a joke. Board can work on leg but I find waist best for that too.

A couple of others have mentioned this. I would instinctively think that if both are on the waist they're more likely to get tangled around each other? I'm assuming this doesn't happen for some reason?

Personally, i find waist leash annoying. I have tried every combo (including waist leash to front of board, mainly out of curiosity as to why there was a leash point there on my starboard- don't do this it sucks).

First few sessions experienced exactly what you described, everything tangled everywhere and whole thing was a debacle. You'll adjust and it will become
a non-issue.

Probably an unpopular approach but i use coiled leash on ankle, coiled leash on wrist. The coiled leash on the board doesn't wrap around the foil as easily.

(.and don't try no leash, you'd be surprised how fast the board can move without you and once it has taken off you're snookered)

Waist leash for board and wing. Although the other day I didn't have my waist leash so just used an ankle for the board and whacked the wing on the wrist. Worked fine. You kind of get used to it but yeh early on I got myself into some right tangled pickles.

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CH3MTR4IL5 said..
Personally, i find waist leash annoying. I have tried every combo (including waist leash to front of board, mainly out of curiosity as to why there was a leash point there on my starboard- don't do this it sucks).

First few sessions experienced exactly what you described, everything tangled everywhere and whole thing was a debacle. You'll adjust and it will become
a non-issue.

Probably an unpopular approach but i use coiled leash on ankle, coiled leash on wrist. The coiled leash on the board doesn't wrap around the foil as easily.

(.and don't try no leash, you'd be surprised how fast the board can move without you and once it has taken off you're snookered)

Thank you. It's very re-assuring to know I'm not the only one. I'll book in for another go

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CH3MTR4IL5 said..
Personally, i find waist leash annoying. I have tried every combo (including waist leash to front of board, mainly out of curiosity as to why there was a leash point there on my starboard- don't do this it sucks).

First few sessions experienced exactly what you described, everything tangled everywhere and whole thing was a debacle. You'll adjust and it will become
a non-issue.

Probably an unpopular approach but i use coiled leash on ankle, coiled leash on wrist. The coiled leash on the board doesn't wrap around the foil as easily.

(.and don't try no leash, you'd be surprised how fast the board can move without you and once it has taken off you're snookered)

Thank you. It's very re-assuring to know I'm not the only one. I'll book in for another go

Question for those of you who attach both board and wing to waist belt attachments: does it work better (less tangles/easier to untangle) if the two leashed are attached at the same point, or on opposite sides (like left hip and right hip, where my harness has d-rings)? Any tips or experiences managing both leashes on the waist much appreciated.

For the past 2+ years, I've been using a reel leash (retractable leash..BluePlanet, Oceanus etc) attached off the back of my waist belt to my board. They're not cheap like a standard wrist leash but totally worth it. I have the wing leash off the middle front of the waist belt. I actually just loop the wing's wrist leash attachment around the waist belt at front middle. Everything stays nice and neat with no intertangling or issues. Free hands for wing maneuvers, the board reel leash lets the board come back to you slowly and keeps the leash away from your feet/legs when in the water next to board (no leg/foot wraps), no extra leash bouncing around on deck or water while winging. Highly recommend it and love it!

Ah there's nothing like having your board and wing leash tangled twice over as a large wave in bearing down on you like the other day. I was like a roo staring into a spotlight. Wasn't pretty lol.

rmitch. but you still have both connected to your waist belt. I can't see how this is any different overall. ??

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eppo said..
Ah there's nothing like having your board and wing leash tangled twice over as a large wave in bearing down on you like the other day. I was like a roo staring into a spotlight. Wasn't pretty lol.

rmitch. but you still have both connected to your waist belt. I can't see how this is any different overall. ??

Agree eppo, a waist leash is an improvement for both leashes to attach too for all the reasons described. The reel leash is an improvement by taking up all the "excess" board leash onto the spool, so you only have the straight 100cm or whatever from waist direct to the board attachment point while riding. No excess board leash bouncing around, stepping on it, hanging down off the deck etc. I always hated coil leashes surfing or supping as their very nature wants to coil around anything it touches, so use straight. I always fall or bail hanging onto the wing, the board goes away, sometimes the entire distance of the spool (5m?) then rewinds slowly back to me. I have never had a leash entanglement problem (knock on wood) probably will now!

Yeh that makes sense now. Cool.