Re: [Paddlewise] Tethers, hydraulic forces

-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Gill <nicholas.gill_at_adfa.edu.au>


<SNIP>
>when it finally wears out I'll probably make one from shock cord and an
olive cleat (to secure to shaft). such a leash , as has been pointed out, is
cheap and can be made in minutes from bits and pieces. Olive cleats are one
of the world's great marine inventions, We use them to secure stuff such as
deck bags, spare paddles etc to our decks  - we've never seen them fail.

What is an olive cleat?

>I do keep the leash on in the surf . I've never had, nor seen, a problem
with >entanglement but have been glad of a tethered paddle when I've had to
exit or >lost my grip on the paddle.
>
>Does anyone have experience of entanglement?

I know of one case of a paddler going out through surf with a cord type
leash attached. She was pummeled and while trying to exit the kayak got one
thigh straped fast to the outside of the kayak (I'd guess the kayak was
tumbling but the paddle acted more like a sea anchor so the cord wrapped
around the kayak and was cinched up tight. She and the kayak tumbled into
shore together and she had one heck of a bruise on her thigh as the result.
I reported on this in an early edition of Sea Kayaker.

Oh, let me add my me too to Dave Krugers analysis of the forces involved and
the warning to untether in surf (or while trying to land in a hurry).

I have my leash on the paddle but only attach it to the kayak if  the wind
might blow the kayak away faster than I could swim after it. And I carry a
spare where one could come in handy but not usually if I'm just out on the
local in city lake.
Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com



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