My paddle tether is made with 5 mm bungie cord. The paddle shaft is attached with 37mm (1.5in) wide webbing covered with Velcro. In order to prevent it from coming undone, I added a 25mm (1 in) D ring and a short bit of 20mm (3/4 in) webbing. A side release clip is attached to the 20mm webbing and this slips through the D ring. A short piece of webbing on the other end of the side release clip forms a loop into which the bungie ties. At the other end of the bungie, I have a short section of 25mm webbing that has a loop for the bungie and clips into a nylon cam buckle on the kayak deck. The Velcro allows me to set a fixed size (and friction) on the shaft so that the thing doesn't slide around too much. Pulling on the leash tightens the webbing around the shaft and prevents the Velcro from coming undone. This arrangement gives me the choice of releasing the paddle from the leash at the shaft via the side release or from the deck via the cam buckle. In a real emergency, I can also cut the bungie with my rescue knife. I've practiced releasing both ends during inverted aqueous manouvers. I also set the bungie length such that it doesn't interfere with my rolling. I attached the cam with 3M 5200, assured by all that the stuff never releases. My SO pulled the thing off a couple of weeks ago as she came alongside looking for a kiss. It lasted a year. I haven't reattached it, as I still haven't decided how I'll do so. I like the tether. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Sep 16 1999 - 17:22:36 PDT
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