I have seen too many people almost drown getting tangled up in paddle leashes and kayak tethers, even short ones. Best cure for keeping your boat form blowing away is to not paddle alone.
Iâd like to hear details of all the possible drownings you have witnessed.
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Public service announcement - This is horrible advice.
I too would like to know details of the drownings you have seen due to entanglement.
Even if you can link a story or 2, many many more people die from losing their boat compared to entanglement, so even if there is some risk, the risk of losing your boat off shore (with or without a group) far exceeds that of entanglement. Lets assume you have a 10-20mph wind and lose your boat with a partner. Youâre high if you think they will be able to catch the boat, grab it, control it, and tow it back up-wind in waves from 1-6+ feet. When waves are larger than 3â you will quickly lose line of sight to your partner. Then what? If you think you can do this, I encourage you to try in controlled conditions.
Iâll say it again, Iâve paddled thousands of times over the last 7 years, almost every one with both a calf leash and paddle leash. Iâve had exactly 2 or 3 minor entanglements that were quickly remedied. If youâre having frequent issues with entanglement your setup is bad or you dont know what youâre doing.
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One could argue if you come out of your boat you donât know what your doing. I have never seen anyone drown BUT have seen in PRACTICE sessions on flat water seen entanglement. In real conditions I have yet to paddle with anyone who uses a tether. I think I will keep it that way. I have seen a few who lost the paddle in surf conditions, they pulled the backup.
Now I am not saying donât use a tether if you paddle in high wind alone and have a chance of coming out of your boat. I would say donât do that. Your not skilled enough. BUT if you must then use a tether. I would say carry a PLB if that is you too.
In my case Iâm in an advanced surfski (45cm / 17.7" beam). Fun begins at 15kts wind and 4â waves and peaks around 25kts and 6+ft seas. If you donât NEED a leash, its not a fun day in my book.
I would argue -
-If you never come out of your boat your skills plateau. Personally I get bored not being challenged.
-If you come out all the time, your boat is too skinny for you and youâll lose enjoyment, develop bad habits, or need rescue.
-If you come out occasionally, thatâs perfect. Youâre pushing yourself to the limit and increasing it over time.
I say, donât be afraid to fall out, just be sure you can get back in.
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I think that itâs fine to say that if we donât have the skills for conditions, we shouldnât be out them (and I agree).
Most feel (as do I) that we should all strive to stay within out skillset so that bad things donât happen.
Many profess (as do I) that we should consider pushing ourselves so that we can find the chinks in our armor and work on appropriate skills.
A lot of folks I know recite âThree if at Seaâ as law (and thatâs fine and itâs a very good idea).
I donât suggest that a tether should be standard practice for all paddlers but some skilled paddlers are going to go to sea alone and maybe they have never come out of their boats but what if they do?
Maybe they are weather and tide wizards but what if something changes?
Iâve never used a tether before but I see the potential value of one in my life, at the right time, as outweighing any possible risk of drowning due to entanglement. At those times I am also carrying a VHF, a SPOT and an EPIRB. Call me a belt and suspenders kind of guy.
I promise you that when and if I do another extended solo trip on the BC coast I will be using a short tether of some sort.
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I have more apprehension of losing my kayak than being hog tied or strangled by my leash or tether. I am usually paddling alone especially in the winter.
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When experienced competent people fail it is often due to heuristic thinking based on their own experience. I have never had a problem with X, or X never happens, or I can always manage X just fill in your X. So I donât need a backup plan for X. Yet none of us have experienced every possibility. A one in a million chance is rare, yet statistically will happen at some point in time. I was made aware of this when reading the Deep Trouble books analyzing the causes of kayaking accidents. Infallible we are not.
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I have read both Deep Trouble books and gave them to a friend of mine for her to read. In EVERY story I saw it coming. I laughed it was so clear what was wrong from the start.
Not coming out of ones boat is NOT plateau of ones skills. Its just learning that leaving the best flotation you have your boat is unneeded. I find this coming out of the boat thing a euro paddler fear. True geenland paddlers its laughable. Children learned to roll there boat before ever getting into one via rope practice.
Now putting a massive whole in ones boat would require leaving your boat. That is what a PLB is for. That is why I mentioned carrying one IN your PFD. Radio too.
Maybe for most a tether is a good idea. But I still say paddling alone in high winds and big waves (3 foot or larger) way out in large water and not being able to roll up is dangerous.
Great books DEEP TROUBLE I have both they were good to reinforce my pessimistic nature.
I started a thread back in the innocent days of March 2020 on the subject of leashes lots of good feed back there too. I am a big fan and use my simple leash almost always. Especially when I am alone. I know a fellow surfskier who died of hypothermia when his boat blew away from him. He wasted a lot of energy trying to catch his boat and wasnât successful. By the time other paddlers got to him it was too late and he was too weak to climb on the back deck and get out of the cold water. I have done a lot of summer capsize practice with my leash to get the correct length and anchor locations.
Paddle-on Lads
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So whatâs everyone using for a tether? Paracord and carabiners?
I use one coiled phone cord type
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This thread has been focused on the pros and cons of leases. I have started a new thread focused on existing designs HERE
Solo outrigger canoe paddlers frequently wear coiled ankle leashes, and infrequently wear life jackets. The hull is your âPFDâ, so it is anathema to risk losing it out in the ocean. Solo outriggers canât be rolled but are easy to re-enter because of the great stability provided by the ama, and collect almost no water in the footwells.
I have known some top whitewater open canoeists who, when paddling tough rapids alone â yes, not recommended â would tether themselves to the canoe with a long belt rescue rope having at least two breakaway points in case of entanglement. In this way, the dumped solo paddler can swim to shore and then pendulum the canoe back to shore without losing it forever downstream.
I canât argue the value of a tether, especially in cold water. The issue of whether a short tether would be a problem because it keeps you in proximity of a possibly kinetic boat seems questionable to meâŚif you DONâT have a tether, youâll be holding onto your boat with your arm, so youâre going to be close enough to be pummeled regardless. The only issue I see there might be an inability to get to the safer side of your boat due to the tetherâs short length. If youâre holding on by hand, you could theoretically move around your deck lines to get to a safer position, assuming the forces donât rip the boat out of your hands in the process.
Iâm concerned about having a longer tether, not because of possible entanglement, but because, say you get back to your boat and successfully reenter it. Now youâve got an unspecified length of rope trailing out in the water. If the conditions were bad enough to toss you out of your boat in the first place, itâs hard to imagine having the ability to coil your rope back up and stow it in the same conditions. I suppose thereâd be no harm in just leaving it out there until conditions improved, assuming everyone around you was aware of it. I canât imagine the drag from a floating rope would be significant.
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Most leashes are coiled. So you have a little play on elasticity. This will solve the issue of a long tether dragging in the water and also the ability to get to the other side of the boat.
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If your paddle is tethered to the boat and you want to get to the other side all you need to do is toss the paddle over the boat and then work your way around. No more dangerous than not having the tether plus you now have both hands free since you donât have to hold onto the paddle.
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I have never used a tether, but for windy conditions, big water and paddling solo I sure would. I would be tempted to make one out of a material like paracord. I always carry a knife on my life jacket at the ready. It could easily be cut with one hand in an entanglement. A half serrated and half regular blade works best for cutting lines.
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One of the worst things that can happen to a paddler is to lose his or her boat. The push-back on tethers from sea kayakers is often comical and it makes no sense. The skills argument is fundamentally flawed as is the fear of entanglement. See this personal account of my little swim back in the day. National Center for Cold Water Safety. I also wrote an article on it in Ocean Paddler - Issue 63: Kayak Tethers - A Paddlerâs Lifeline
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