Peter Osman wrote > Re tether issues. Actually I should have said that I always tether my paddle > to the kayak with the intention of holding on when capsized. Its so > instinctive that I forgot to mention it. I don't normally tether myself to > the boat, the personal tether is something I've been thinking about since > starting to kayak - I know its controversial but I intend to use it when > faced with unexpected and extreme conditions away from surf. i.e the sort of > situation Lone Madsen found herself in. I note several very well known long > distance paddlers use them. Doug Lloyd wrote > Was I ever surprised to see my paddle floating away, having come > undone due to the jostling of boats. I was able to grab the paddle and do a > half put across roll. I never mentioned this is my narrative I gave Matt > for the upcoming Sea Kayaker Magazine article, as I figured it was not too > important, and that the leash failure was a remote happening. But, as I > talk to others, I'm finding out that velcro suffers many problems when used > in a water environment under pressure.G'Day Thanks more than I can say for the personal tethering discussion and experiences. For the last year I've had the impression that personal tethering was undesirable and none of the books I've read discuss the subject. The Paddlewise debate has given me a more balanced view. Doug', regarding the details in your story (which I much appreciated). Do you remember how the Velcro fastening which failed was made, was it a single or multiple strip fastening? Does anyone have any feel for how much load such tethers must take? - I'ld guess the maximum would be full body weight falling through a metre during a second or two? Velcro fastenings seem to be regarded with suspicion. Maybe like knots, they can be good or bad? The paddling gloves I once used were fastened with Velcro and were hopeless. Fell apart in water as soon as you looked at them. My Klepper spray deck is fastened to the coaming with Velcro and it's worked for a year very well, but mostly under light sea conditions. The personal and paddle tethers I use are made for surfboards and are fastened by sandwiching 3 separate strips of Velcro together. They seem very secure. The paddle tether has the Velcro fastened around the paddle shaft above the drip ring so it doesn't drive me nuts and the loop is fastened to a deck ring. It has survived about 400km of paddling with no problem and seems fine. I tried the personal tether with the Velcro loop around my wrist. This allowed it to be short and with less risk of tangling. But, it's occurred to me this might sprain or break a wrist. I've fitted another D ring to my belt and will test again with that. Have decided not to fit a quick release to my personal tether fearing that it will too easily release unintentionally. The Klepper has gone in for its 500km service, oil and lube so can't test anything at the moment. Elaine Harmon asked about my tow rope, following the Klepper self rescue post. I checked and it was 25 metres long. Our local club recommends 15 metres. The bungee shock absorber was 30 cm long and tied between loops 1 metre apart on the tether. (I overestimated the bungee length in my post, sorry). I had a quick release clip attaching the tow rope to a ring on the towers dive belt so it could be detached by removing the belt or using the quick release. The tow rope at the towee end was clipped near his kayak bow. All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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