[Paddlewise] Paddle Tethers

Marvin asked:

<snip>
Q.
Paddle tethers....
Are they good or bad?

A. Worse. They are evil. But, an often necessary one.

Q.
Do you consider them essential?

A. I do, some don't. They are not essential all the time. For open water
paddling a few tethers can sure be an asset. I use them for convenience,
and as a backup -- two seperate issues. For a re-enter and roll, or many
self-rescues, including helping others, a tether sure can be a big help
keeping track of your paddle. I would say however, learn to wet exit
properly, coming up with boat and paddle in contact with you. Practice
this skill to perfection. Then keep a boat-to-person tether as a
back-up. No one has as many encumbrances on their boat as me (some
smarty pants even called it a "ship" :-)  ), but the extras and tethers
to me are all backups to good skills, techniques, and proper avoidance
of problems in the first place. Some items can slip away to a watery
grave very quickly. As Ralph noted, one often tethers many things.

Q.
Do they attach the paddle to you or the boat?

A. Chris Duff used a boat-to-person tether for his NZ trip. The line is
attached to the bow, and a belt with quick disconnect goes around his
waist whenever the wind goes above 20 knots. The belt come off for surf
landings. He uses a wrist-to-paddle tether, and can continue to use this
in the surf. During big surf landings, he lets go of the paddle, lest
his arm be yanked off, then when life settles down in the soup, he pulls
the paddle toward himself and rolls back up.

The other option is to tether your paddle to the boat, and it can be
done for as little as three bucks US. As Ralph said, this usually
ensures if you come out of the boat, by holding on to the paddle, you
still have the boat. This works well, with the exception of one
situation. Trust me to find this out, and it is suitably written up in
the annals of kayaking screw-ups. On my Trial Island incident, I broke
my wooden paddle clean in two, loosing both halves of the paddle in the
turbulent high wind/ rip tide combo. I had my backup boat-to-person
tether on, so was still in contact with the boat (a bit of a different
set-up than Chris'). It had been blowing 50 knots all day, with a good
sea and tide running, heavy overfalls, reflected waves and 6 foot
breaking seas (I waited for the wind to die down to 30 knots). There was
almost no way of holding onto anything in that stuff. I did get tangled
in my personal tether, and have since given up thin rope in favor of 1"
(25 mm) nylon webbing, similar to Chris Duff's. Mine is bright yellow,
which shows up in the water better.

As far as paddle leashes (the better description), Matt reported on a
gal surfing with one a few years ago, who was horribly tangled up in
one. Our own Paul Hollerbach caught his leg in one on a sudden huge
windstorm on a river back east. He came out of his boat, and his foot
got tangled up. It worked out in the end,  because this meant he was
still attached to the kayak and made out okay.

Q.
How long is the tether?

A. Keep them as short as you can. A wrist leash must allow all your
normal and advanced maneuvers, as must one that connects boat to paddle.
Chris's boat-to-paddler tether is just long enough to reach the belt
around his waist which forms the end of the tether, with a bit of extra
slack. I use a short river tow line, coiled in a pouch, that I clip to
the deck line when things get over 25 knots, headlands, crossings, or
I'm night paddling. I still do rough water night paddling, but shouldn't
talk about it on this list. Like I said, backups. Most folks don't opt
for the boat-to-person tether, but do consider a paddle tether and other
lesser tethers as a reasonable safety and convenience addition.

Q.
Just straight rope, or some kind of springy/contracting line?

A. Coiled types are great, but bang on the deck as someone pointed out,
and shockcord tethers are nice in that if they do tangle, you can
usually get some slack happening. Usually. I don't like rope myself --
not anymore, no matter what the major tether. Of course, I'm not much
good at rope knots either. For secondary tethers (VHF) etc., rope is
okay. Just ensure nothing can wrap around your neck, man.

If you or anyone else would like a fax or xerox copy of my tether
article I did for SK Magazine give me a back-channel shout. I don't push
the idea, I simply want paddlers to know some of the options as well as
the dangers. I've seen some terribly dangerous tether arrangements over
the years. I'm glad you haven't seen any bad ones, Marvin. But then you
haven't seen any good ones either, it sounds like.

Doug Lloyd (who's wife is still trying to tether him)

PS If you write about tether use for any major publication, do expect to
be tarred and tethered by the odd individual bound up by BCU/ ACA
myopia  :-)

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