I tried out Ralph's "jetski kill switch" paddle tether Sunday on a 20+ mile paddle from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. I worked well and it didn't have any of the downsides that the heavier telephone style leashes I had seen before did. Mainly, it wasn't heavy, it didn't clack on the deck, and it didn't tangle. I tugged pretty hard on the plastic hook end and it didn't break. I was a little concerned as to how well the shaft on my ultralightweight graphite paddle would fair if I yanked real hard and fast with both hands on my paddle so I refrained from trying that just yet. I'll try it on a blue pole-vaulting company glass paddle shaft to see if the loop will hold together (once I find one with a big enough loop to fit over that shaft--of course the alternative is to just tie it on to the shaft with some nylon parachute cord wrapped several times around the shaft--this might protect the shaft and let one use kill switch cords with "too small" loops).. Right now the Jet Ski kill switch strap looks to be the equal of my present 3/16" shock cord and shock cord clip leash in every way except price. $6.99 vs. $1.69 (in materials and tying a couple of knots). Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Matt Broze wrote: > > ...<big snip>... > Right now the Jet Ski kill switch strap looks to be the equal of my present > 3/16" shock cord and shock cord clip leash in every way except price. $6.99 > vs. $1.69 (in materials and tying a couple of knots). I also use 3/16" shock cord for my paddle leash. Great stuff. Very light, and it comes in pretty colors. :-) But I use a much shorter piece (3' or so) running from the paddle shaft to a loop around my wrist. (I use a separate boat tether to provide a connection from my body to the boat.) The slack in the leash is wrapped loosly around the paddle when paddling. The slack is necessary so that I can set the paddle down and use my tethered hand without it yanking the paddle about. The wrist loop I use is sized so that if my hand is relaxed (or clenched) it will not pull out of the loop, but if I scrunch up my hand it will slip free. Of course I remove the leash in the surf. Dan Hagen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Matt Broze wrote: > > I tried out Ralph's "jetski kill switch" paddle tether Sunday on a 20+ mile > paddle from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. I worked well and > it didn't have any of the downsides that the heavier telephone style leashes > I had seen before did. Mainly, it wasn't heavy, it didn't clack on the deck, > and it didn't tangle. I tugged pretty hard on the plastic hook end and it > didn't break. I was a little concerned as to how well the shaft on my > ultralightweight graphite paddle would fair if I yanked real hard and fast > with both hands on my paddle so I refrained from trying that just yet. I'll > try it on a blue pole-vaulting company glass paddle shaft to see if the loop > will hold together (once I find one with a big enough loop to fit over that > shaft--of course the alternative is to just tie it on to the shaft with some > nylon parachute cord wrapped several times around the shaft--this might > protect the shaft and let one use kill switch cords with "too small" > loops).. > Right now the Jet Ski kill switch strap looks to be the equal of my present > 3/16" shock cord and shock cord clip leash in every way except price. $6.99 > vs. $1.69 (in materials and tying a couple of knots). I suspect the jet ski one (does anyone else appreciate the irony of our using something from a camp generally despised by kayakers! It is not the only good such device. I covered others in my newsletter including tow line, dock lines, and several anchors...virtual of all of their gear is that it is lightweight, marine grade and generally covered in vinyl to avoid scratching up their shiny machines) will hold up to the tug test better than any of the velcro strapped type with bungee tethers, but would fail at some supreme test level. What Matt failed to mention is the aesthetics of these jet ski tethers. They come in wonderful day-glo colors...orange, yellow, green. They are kinda pretty dangling from you paddle and add to your being visible (well maybe I am stretching this a bit :-) If you go this route here are some things you should know and ways of getting around some of the fitting to paddle situation: The kill switch tethers have a plastic hook on one end that is certainly as tough as that in the Perception bungee tether but with a wider gate so it can go around fatter fastening spots (heavy deck line, beefy D-rings) and disengage quickly. I always found the Perception plastic hook too tight even on the moderate size D rings used by Feathercraft and hard to disengage when I was in a hurry to unhook the tether from my boat. This hook is in a loop. The other end has a plastic device in 3 varieties that is meant to match up with the kill switch key of different makes of jet skies. It is also in a loop. I found that the one for Sea-Doos works best. BUT here is the important point: The loops have been made with no particular uniformity as they are only meant to hold the key or snaphook. The manufacturer was not thinking that some creative, ever-inquisitive nut like me would want to use one loop end to insert his paddle shaft into (need a takeapart paddle to do this). My first one of the jet ski tethers had a loop that fit perfectly around my paddle even with the kill switch key still on. There was absolutely none of that annoying sliding I have found with either home made or factory made paddle tethers before. When I bought several other of the jet ski tethers to leave on two other paddles that I use, the loops were a bit too small. Here are the remedies: 1. If you can and are buying the jet ski tethers in a store (West Marine), look at the blister packages and select the one that seems to have the largest loop. 2. If you can't or are buying via catalog, you can do several things if the loop is too small to fit on your paddle shaft. First, clip off the kill switch key. It is made of polycarbonate but it can be cut easily with a pair of garden pruning scissors or any heavy duty scissors. That may make the loop work. Two, see if the loop on the other end that holds the snap hook is big enough. You can then switch the hook to the kill switch key end and run your paddle through the loop that originally held the snap hook. Matt, creative and ever-inquisitive person that he is did that with his. So did I with one of my jet ski leashes. Lastly, and this is last resort stuff and least desirable solution: open up the loop. I had to do that with one of my leashes. It is easy to do. Slip down the cover that is over the base of the loop. You will see that the loop has been created by running the leash line back on itself and applying a multi-toothed clamp to hold it in place to form the loop. I opened this up with a screw driver and then clamped it back down with pliers. I think it will hold okay but probably not as well as the factory applied clamp. For the also creative, ever-inquisitive among you who want to go this route, the West Marine order number is 310088, SeaDoo PFD PWC Tether cord. You could also try the other brands of jet ski kill key ones, but go for the ones that attach to PFD not the ones for the wrist. Yamaha 331357, Kawasaki 33165. Hmm, the wrist attachment ones...I wonder if something can be done with them around a kayak!?!?! BTW, do look at the pages of the West Marine catalog on which these tethers appear. You will see all sorts of nifty anchors, dock lines etc. that would work well on a kayak. For example they have a nice 20 foot tow line that is meant for one jetskier to tow another. So it is a tough line...it originally came with plastic nylon hooks which are plenty tough but recently they switched to metal carabiner hooks. Another BTW, it is always worthwhile to look at gear from other endeavors for possible cross-over use in kayaking. There is an old principle that comes from my competitive intelligence days which states that you can often find info on a competitor by locating other information gatherers (especially in the public field) who might need similar information. The corollary of this for kayakers is "who else needs to use equipment similar to our needs?" Gear for jet skiers operating in a marine environment is a logical place to look. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
>> I also use 3/16" shock cord for my paddle leash. Great stuff. Very light, and it comes in pretty colors. :-) But I use a much shorter piece (3' or so) running from the paddle shaft to a loop around my wrist. (I use a separate boat tether to provide a connection from my body to the boat.) The slack in the leash is wrapped loosly around the paddle when paddling. The slack is necessary so that I can set the paddle down and use my tethered hand without it yanking the paddle about. The wrist loop I use is sized so that if my hand is relaxed (or clenched) it will not pull out of the loop, but if I scrunch up my hand it will slip free. Of course I remove the leash in the surf. Dan Hagen >> This sounds very much like the paddle leash I made for my old Wind Swift, except that I used 1/8-inch cord and it was only about half as long as yours. The loop around the paddle shaft was loose enough that it could slide back and forth easily, and the wrist loop was loose enough that I could pull my hand out easily when, like you, I scrunched it up. For a paddle park, I added a plastic snap hook to one of my deck lines, which I would snap onto the wrist loop when I wasn't paddling. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** 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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