I ask do you know of a case were entanglement with a short tether caused a kayaker harm or death.
I sail and deal with lots of different lines on the boat. I am well aware of how they can catch on things, and tie knots in themselves. From experience I know a short line is a lot less likely to do so. I have no experience with being in the water attached to a kayak with a tow belt. I would be leery of more than 5 or 6 feet of line in the water with me. I suspect it would be less risky than being separated from the boat.
There are numerous cases of paddlers being separated from their boats. This outcome has known fatalities associated with it. Therefore the practice of having perimeter lines added to kayaks, and training to hold onto the boat. Yet neither guarantees you will stay with the boat or manage to hold onto it during a capsize. A tether does that.
I personally feel entanglement isn’t a big issue with a tether. I have yet to use my knife to cut myself free while kayaking, yet I keep one on my PFD. I would like to hear any accounts of people being entangled in their tether. I have yet to hear of one. That’s not proof it hasn’t or couldn’t happen, but does suggest it is uncommon and a much lower risk than separation from ones Kayak.
I think the risks are also dependent on where you are paddling and the conditions you are in. I too think a tether is a valuable safety addition just like perimeter lines.
Yes, holding on to the boat should always be your primary save. Practicing holding on is a good idea. Indeed leashes can break and I personally know a fatality that resulted from a leash breaking in cold water in the middle of a big downwind run. So they are not fool proof as you say.
But…
That said, I have had an occasion where it was so windy the boat was ripped out of my hand a mile off shore in 6’ waves. (it was late in the paddle, and I was tired and slightly cold. What then?? everyone gets cold and tired, and your extremities are the first to go when you’re cold, the exact time when you need to stay with your boat most)
Another time I had to go under the boat to get back to the upwind side to remount. When I came up I lost my grip and was saved by the leash. winds were 20kt+ and the boat blew away at amazing speed.
Another time I hit something in the water and slightly bent my rudder so that it would not go past neutral. I hopped in the water and bent it back a few degrees and paddled on. This was in 4-5’ downwind seas with 15kt wind. Doing this without a leash would have been very, very sketchy and a rudder was absolutely required to finish the paddle.
So yes, hold on to your boat, but also wear a leash unless you trust your grip with your life 1000% of the time, through unforeseen circumstances, injury, hypothermia, etc…
I was watching a group of kaykers practicing wet exits and reentering there boats. One of them had a rope tether to there boat. . He got all tangled up in it. I was amused as I have always believed in tether being a hazard. For sit inside kayaks. The surf ski tether is another story as the ones I saw were a coiled thing attached to there ankle.
If you learn to roll you don’t worry about coming out if your boat. Never have myself in some nasty conditions. Very first class i took was a roll class.If you paddle ALONE in 30 mph winds and 6 foot waves and you don’t have a bullet proof roll then you are insane in “my opinion”. I have but have never come out of my boat because of rolling.
I use a coiled cord tether from my paddle to my boat. Naturally one should always keep hold of the boat, but things happen. I figure as long as I have hold of either the boat or paddle, I have both.
Another advantage is that if I need to free up my hands, like to perform a rescue or even stop for a break, I can just toss the paddle over the side. I prefer tethering the boat to the paddle as I think it is somewhat safer than tethering myself to the boat. Just an unsupported opinion though. This may differ for surf skis and other boats that often have no perimeter lines or many places to grab hold of the boat.
I’ve deliberately capsized many times teaching rescues and never had an entanglement issue, nor do I personally know anyone else who has. I don’t doubt that it can happen, but I think it’s very rare. I do know of otherwise skilled kayakers who have lost hold of their boats, however. Fortunately they were with a group where people could stay with the paddler while someone went to retrieve the boat. Never leave a person alone in the water to retrieve a boat. It’s amazing how hard it is to spot a head bobbing in rough water. I’ve seen many people lose their boats on a windy day when learning rescues, wet exits, or other skills where they capsized.
I don’t recommend a leash for a kayak in surf or whitewater where a boat may be rolled multiple times.
I’d never heard of this idea until now, but it makes sense to me, especially for people who kayak offshore, and even more so for those who do that alone. Not really necessary if there is no wind, but in windy conditions a kayak (or other boat) will be blown downwind surprisingly fast. A swimmer has no real chance of catching up. Even if there is some rope entanglement, better that than stuck a mile offshore without your kayak, IMHO.
I think I like the longer line. In rough windy conditions it would not be fun to get hit by your wind-tossed boat, or held underwater (even briefly) by the pull of a short tether.
One of the worst calamities that can befall a cold water paddler is to loose his or her boat. This can happen because it blows away, it sinks, or the paddler is unable to reenter it. While paddlers should definitely “hold onto their boats” when they wet-exit, relying on that as your only safety net is a bad idea. I’ve described that here: http://www.coldwatersafety.org/Rule5.html#rule5Case2
Many paddlers cite fear of entanglement as their reason for not using a boat tether. It’s an understandable concern if you’re accustomed to using a long, small-diameter paddle leash, but for me it’s a total non-issue.
My boat tether has a working length of 25 inches (63cm), and as pictured above, one end attaches to my PFD and the other end clips into a stainless steel ring that runs on a line across my foredeck. It doesn’t impede a wet exit from my small ocean cockpit or interfere in any way with a smooth reenter and roll. For the record: you can’t get entangled in a short length of 9mm marine-grade elastic.
Since the leash isn’t long enough for an assisted rescue, I unclip when the other paddler has a firm grip on my boat. I also unclip when launching or landing in surf, but otherwise I remain tethered – and happily so, particularly in windy conditions, in tide races, and when surfing offshore bars.
Finally, some paddlers maintain that since they’ll never let go of their paddle in a capsize, they’re effectively tethered to their boats with their paddle leash. Maybe, but it’s not the kind of thing I’d want to bet my life on.
The forces trying to separate paddler from boat can be huge at times - particularly with a loaded or waterlogged boat in rough water. That really is a situation in which a paddler would be justifiably concerned about getting tangled up, jerked around, and really hurt by a long, thin leash.
I have lines on the bow and stern for mooring in marinas etc. If I capsize off shore, I would use them to attach to clip onto my pfd, as I have done in Man Overboard Practise simulating the impossibility of getting back into the cockpit and swimming to shore, otherwise no. I do not use a paddle leash either as it was a royal pain in the posterior.
Tethers are not uncommon among solo outer coast paddlers in BC. Some use them though most do not. Personally, under those circumstances I have a favorable view of them.
That all assumes that you have not lost hold of your boat. Although it shouldn’t happen in a normal situation, there are a number of reported instances where it has.
I always tether my paddle to my kayak. I learnt this from my days as a wave skier. One evening late dusk and alone I ended up with paddle in hand while my ski was being tumbled shoreward in the wash. I threw the paddle towards the shore and swam after both. Just be careful when you try to retrieve a retreating kayak by grabbing on to a tethered paddle that it doesn’t get pulled through your hands.
I didn’t use tethers for sea kayaking. I have not been using them with the ski but will be doing so next season.
The big differences are these: (1) I could roll the kayak and was therefore less likely to lose bodily contact in the first place; (2) every tipover or dump on a ski = remount, in which losing hold of an untethered ski in rough conditions would be likely; and (3) sea kayaks have perimeter lines and skis do not.
If I was in a remote location, where being separated from my boat was undesirable, I would see no problem clipping my tow system into the deck lines directly in front of the cockpit. Especially if solo.
A bomber roll would be my first choice, but if I did get knocked out of my boat, I’d want to maintain contact with it. You can train yourself all you want to hang onto your boat and paddle, but if you get hit hard enough, I’d say it’s almost impossible to hang onto a heavy boat being swept away.
I’ve had my boat pulled out of my hands in opposing wind, waves and current. I was long boat surfing a local inlet with friends who were able to reunite me with my boat. But I would not want to experience that while making an exposed crossing where I might be hours or days from help.
Sailers have tethers for blue water situations. Surfers almost always have a leash that allows distance from a board, so they don’t get hit by it, but allows a quick retrieval. I guess a sea kayak is somewhere in between. Personally I would want a setup long enough that would allow me to stay clear of my kayak until things settled down enough to be able to retrieve it. Surfers typically use a leash that is the length of the board, with the leash attached to the tail, and a velcro quick release system connected to themselves. They’ll joke about a 10 foot board with a 10 foot equals a 20 foot kill zone. But that 10 foot leash means they’re less likely to get struck by their board. Maybe set up the towline for 10-15 feet of play, would be adequate for a touring length boat, but attached in front of the cockpit where it’s easy to disconnect if needed. And the quick release on the tow belt would always be available as well.
Would I use a tether during a landing in the surf zone? Probably not, I’d just let the waves push my boat into shore, and swim in after it.
MoultonAvery has a good idea with some type of release like that is on my toe belt. This way less chance of entanglement. I will still never us e a tether but for some who like it a quick release of some type would be a good idea to have.
I’m curious as to your rationale for never using a tether. I personally would never use one in a “surf zone”, but for downwind surfing, offshore bars, tide races - I prefer not to lose my kayak like I did one time back in the 80’s: Going For A Little Swim
Simple really, I NEVER come out of my boat in the 10 years now I have been kayaking. There is no such thing as a roll failing for me. I can literally float up into a balance brace and slide up onto my boat. I can roll up over a dozen different ways including one handed. Not trying to brag just explaining my reasoning. Its very rare for me to even being flipped over unless in the big surf I get into on the Great Lakes. I have only done limited ocean paddling. Now I have seen some video of insane surfboard surfing on the ocean which I wouldn’t even try and kayak in. 30 foot plus crazy stuff.
I still don’t like tethers as I have witnessed on two separate occasions of a paddler getting tangled up in it while doing practice recuses on FLAT water. I would think much worse in real conditions. No one who I regularly paddle with uses them .
I’m curious as to your rationale for never using a tether. I personally would never use one in a “surf zone”, but for downwind surfing, offshore bars, tide races - I prefer not to lose my kayak like I did one time back in the 80’s: Going For A Little Swim"
Hi MoultonAvery
I have a question regarding your tether setup? Does it give you enough clearance from the boat if you are getting tossed around? I like the aspect that it’s not long enough to get tangled up in, which must expedite reentering the boat. It’s just that the first time I saw the setup, it looked to me to be a little close for comfort, if you are in rough conditions right next to the boat. But I don’t have first hand experience with it. So I’m wondering how you came up with this configuration? Did you play around with different length tethers before arriving at your current setup?
Thanks
Good question. Yeah, we experimented with different lengths. As I think I noted earlier, I don’t tether if I’m in a surf zone. I think you could really get hammered by your kayak in a large breaking wave. We didn’t like the longer tethers because it seemed like getting the line wrapped around some part of your body could be very dangerous. The other issue is what you do with the line when you’re just paddling. We wanted to make sure it was out of the way and easy to manage. So we went with the short tether concept.
When you wet-exit, ideally you’re going to be holding onto your kayak. The tether is just backup in case it gets knocked out of your grasp by a wave or gets blown away before you have a chance to grab it.