Hi, has anyone experience of using soft shackles, are they reliable? I'm thinking of using one to connect my wing-leash to my waist-belt? A good idea or not? Thanks.

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dingfix said..
Hi, has anyone experience of using soft shackles, are they reliable? I'm thinking of using one to connect my wing-leash to my waist-belt? A good idea or not? Thanks.

Ive used a pigtail + larkshead when I was in a pinch, but I don't trust it for this purpose, where the connection is repeatedly under tension/slack cycles. I feel like a soft shackle is the same. Even if the risk is low, its annoying to have to think about it and question it, and failure could leave you in a precarious position or with an expensive loss.

I now use a really small sailing snap hook that stays attached to my harness and clips to the wing leash. It works perfectly and there is zero chance that its ever going to let go of my leash (leash will snap, or harness will pull off before that happens).

Thanks. That was my concern too. I'll look at a snap-shackle instead.

I used one but the twisting is annoying, I'm going to get a swivel.

I've seen folks simply seal wing leash arounf waist leash in place of wrist.

cloud9surffoils.com/products/anchorman-safety-leash

With a large stopper ball instead of a knot, they are totally reliable.

I just put the wrist leash around the belt.
I have sewn a loop of paracord on the belt so the wrist leash will stay in place and not slide around the belt.

This is good because if you detach wing from belt you can still secure it to your wrist, a post ,fence or whatever.

I'm using an old freewing nitro leash straight onto a wing belt (took the wrist cuff off) then a soft shackle to the wing. Mind you, there's a small metal swivel with a neoprene cover close the the end to make sure everything turns. The wing leash stays on the belt, when I change the wing I just take off the soft shackle. Used a simple 2mm dyneema one .

Like this: www.lijnenspecialist.nl/dyneema-softshackle

I've also made a board leash with dyneema + bungee buried inside - both go to my belt. Works really well and keeps everything super tidy.

This thing looks like a pretty good solution. You just take the ankle cuff off of the leash and replace it with this. Includes a swivel. Not sure but you might just be able to use any old rail saver and do something similar (leash with rail savers at both ends).

xmsurfmore.com/collections/pow-surf/products/xm-pow-surf-noboard-waist-attachment-streamline

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Velocicraptor said..
This thing looks like a pretty good solution. You just take the ankle cuff off of the leash and replace it with this. Includes a swivel. Not sure but you might just be able to use any old rail saver and do something similar (leash with rail savers at both ends).

xmsurfmore.com/collections/pow-surf/products/xm-pow-surf-noboard-waist-attachment-streamline

I use a rail saver, it works well

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Velocicraptor said..
This thing looks like a pretty good solution. You just take the ankle cuff off of the leash and replace it with this. Includes a swivel. Not sure but you might just be able to use any old rail saver and do something similar (leash with rail savers at both ends).

xmsurfmore.com/collections/pow-surf/products/xm-pow-surf-noboard-waist-attachment-streamline

I did the reverse. My waist leash had the metal shackle and I removed it because it is perfectly positioned to scratch the board while climbing on. A friend lost a board when the spring shackle came open (different shackle and different location).

I got the velcro rail saver end off a normal surfboard leash and used that. It works fine. If the velcro won't fit through the webbing loop on the waist belt you can tie a loop of line and hook into that, same as you attach a leash to a surfboard.

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Gorgo said..

Velocicraptor said..
This thing looks like a pretty good solution. You just take the ankle cuff off of the leash and replace it with this. Includes a swivel. Not sure but you might just be able to use any old rail saver and do something similar (leash with rail savers at both ends).

xmsurfmore.com/collections/pow-surf/products/xm-pow-surf-noboard-waist-attachment-streamline

I did the reverse. My waist leash had the metal shackle and I removed it because it is perfectly positioned to scratch the board while climbing on. A friend lost a board when the spring shackle came open (different shackle and different location).

I got the velcro rail saver end off a normal surfboard leash and used that. It works fine. If the velcro won't fit through the webbing loop on the waist belt you can tie a loop of line and hook into that, same as you attach a leash to a surfboard.

That's exactly what I have been using, rail saver directly attached to a rope on the back of my harness, no metal clips or shackles. I've also used and made soft shackles, they work great and are very secure.