Decided to have a crack on the ding in the strong offshore westerly today. A few clean lines of swell coming through and nice clean wave faces which we don't often get on the east coast, mostly the winds are cross onshore at best.Apart from it being gusty 23-37kns it was doable.....until my wing leash snapped and my 5m Duotone unit flipped its way out to sea with no chance in hell of catching up to it. Watched it disappear leaping and flipping high up to 20m above the sea level...faaaaaark !
I have done that a few times on the lake and been lucky to either catch it or have simeone else grab it.
Unlucky....
I wonder if the wrist leash like the ozone one made out of webbing with concertina elastic would be better than the urathane leg rope.....wouldn't think the webbing would snap like urathane does.
Just got back from a play inside the Clarence River, also on a 5m, had a mored cat and a break wall down wind. Anytime I made an error, lost heaps to the wind. Decided to cut session short as kept thinking about getting blown onto break wall.
A 3m wing would have been better.
What's the chances of your duotone washing up on Lord Howe, check Windy and project.
Select to expand quotegoggo said..
Just got back from a play inside the Clarence River, also on a 5m, had a mored cat and a break wall down wind. Anytime I made an error, lost heaps to the wind. Decided to cut session short as kept thinking about getting blown onto break wall.
A 3m wing would have been better.
What's the chances of your duotone washing up on Lord Howe, check Windy and project.
Lord Howe would be the right direction but a needle in a haystack.....It wasn't something I considered could happen as usually dinging in onshore 99% of the time. I have an irb at home pumped up and ready to go , but it was already kms towards horizon by the time I got back to my ute in the car park.
I was warned about this last week, at Botany Bay, by a guy who lost his Duotone in a westerly. There is a small dyneema link sewn under a reinforcing patch, Did it fail or did your leash fail ? If the Dyneema failed Duotone already know about this issue so you can contact them. I'm going to make a safety for mine (and put my mobile No. on EVERYTHING !!!! )
Stu
Kobo, looked at windy, let the boys in New Plymouth NZ know, think it is going south of Lord Howe.
No it's was attached to the front handle .......never trusted those loops , the urathane leash just snapped.
And yeh Tracking towards NZ with 2 more days of westerly it will probs make it.
Wondering if leash got knicked by foil at some stage.
Why a 5 m?
I loaned my 4 to a mate, a 3 would have worked for me.
I use a normal short board leash on my wings..
Having big wrists it's nice to have a lot of Velcro overlap and a strong leash that I can trust.
I like the bungee rope leashes like on the smik and PPC. It would take a lot to break that line, the leading edge would probably give out first. Also that kind of line shows significant signs of wear before it is weakened whereas normal leg rope rubber can get nicks and cracks that are much less noticeable.
I've had a couple break, but was lucky to claw the wing back.
After the last one I plaited 3 lengths of paracord together and connected it to my cabrinha wrist attachment. The wing will fall apart before it ever breaks.
Select to expand quotekobo said..
Decided to have a crack on the ding in the strong offshore westerly today. A few clean lines of swell coming through and nice clean wave faces which we don't often get on the east coast, mostly the winds are cross onshore at best.Apart from it being gusty 23-37kns it was doable.....until my wing leash snapped and my 5m Duotone unit flipped its way out to sea with no chance in hell of catching up to it. Watched it disappear leaping and flipping high up to 20m above the sea level...faaaaaark !
F-k that's F-ked
Select to expand quotekobo said..
I wonder if the wrist leash like the ozone one made out of webbing with concertina elastic would be better than the urathane leg rope.....wouldn't think the webbing would snap like urathane does.
I thrashed the ozone ones very hard and they're all I'd use going forward.
Think I'll just give up the ding it's sux compared to prone anyhow .........dang except for DW, I'm not good enough to do that without it ??
Select to expand quotekobo said..
Think I'll just give up the ding it's sux compared to prone anyhow .........dang except for DW, I'm not good enough to do that without it ??
Nah, don't give up, just give up sailing in a westerly.
Have the Ozone leash on all my Slicks but there's no swivel so puts quite a twist on the dyneema leash loop!
good otherwise
It sucks to lose any wing but I have a different perspective on the leash strength I actually want it the weakest link. I use SMIK wings and the braided leash they provide will probably never break. I got caught inside by a head and half lipping wave after falling in the zone. Just enough time to grab my board by the front strap and go as deep as possible. Massive hit but held on so no loose foil but the wing pulled my arm so hard for what seemed like ages. I was amazed to see no damage to the wing but my shoulder was in allot of pain.
In kiting in that situation if you can't relaunch I just pull the safety and and disconnect completely and start swimming to save kite damage. Decided I needed a similar solution for wing.
I now use a 5ft competition weight surf leash. They are nice and light with a big cuff which I like so it rotates. I've now had 2 snap on me in similar big wave close out situations . It's instant the wave hits and the leash snaps then you start swimming but at least my arm is ok. In both cases cross onshore so the wing stopped at the dunes undamaged.
Even a lipping head high east coast wave has allot of power if you get caught out. If your leash is super strong it finds the weakest link usually the wing panels or your arm . Just something to think about before building your triple para cord unbreakable leash.
Select to expand quoteKB7 said..
It sucks to lose any wing but I have a different perspective on the leash strength I actually want it the weakest link. I use SMIK wings and the braided leash they provide will probably never break. I got caught inside by a head and half lipping wave after falling in the zone. Just enough time to grab my board by the front strap and go as deep as possible. Massive hit but held on so no loose foil but the wing pulled my arm so hard for what seemed like ages. I was amazed to see no damage to the wing but my shoulder was in allot of pain.
In kiting in that situation if you can't relaunch I just pull the safety and and disconnect completely and start swimming to save kite damage. Decided I needed a similar solution for wing.
I now use a 5ft competition weight surf leash. They are nice and light with a big cuff which I like so it rotates. I've now had 2 snap on me in similar big wave close out situations . It's instant the wave hits and the leash snaps then you start swimming but at least my arm is ok. In both cases cross onshore so the wing stopped at the dunes undamaged.
Even a lipping head high east coast wave has allot of power if you get caught out. If your leash is super strong it finds the weakest link usually the wing panels or your arm . Just something to think about before building your triple para cord unbreakable leash.
Excellent points and I would have to agree with you , a wing is cheaper than a shoulder reconstruction, not to mention time out of the water.You are only going to lose a wing in offshore conditions which are rare and as I've discovered pretty useless here on the east coast for wave riding anyhow as there are too many lulls near the shore.Im mainly using it for DW and it will only blow into the shore on those days if the leash broke.
Select to expand quotegoggo said..
Kobo, looked at windy, let the boys in New Plymouth NZ know, think it is going south of Lord Howe.
Ok we will look out for it in a few weeks. Don't expect there will be much to salvage after the crossing although a yacht abandoned off Tasmania years ago made it here intact only to be demolished on the Seawall in front of the post office.
Select to expand quotekobo said..KB7 said..
It sucks to lose any wing but I have a different perspective on the leash strength I actually want it the weakest link. I use SMIK wings and the braided leash they provide will probably never break. I got caught inside by a head and half lipping wave after falling in the zone. Just enough time to grab my board by the front strap and go as deep as possible. Massive hit but held on so no loose foil but the wing pulled my arm so hard for what seemed like ages. I was amazed to see no damage to the wing but my shoulder was in allot of pain.
In kiting in that situation if you can't relaunch I just pull the safety and and disconnect completely and start swimming to save kite damage. Decided I needed a similar solution for wing.
I now use a 5ft competition weight surf leash. They are nice and light with a big cuff which I like so it rotates. I've now had 2 snap on me in similar big wave close out situations . It's instant the wave hits and the leash snaps then you start swimming but at least my arm is ok. In both cases cross onshore so the wing stopped at the dunes undamaged.
Even a lipping head high east coast wave has allot of power if you get caught out. If your leash is super strong it finds the weakest link usually the wing panels or your arm . Just something to think about before building your triple para cord unbreakable leash.
Excellent points and I would have to agree with you , a wing is cheaper than a shoulder reconstruction, not to mention time out of the water.You are only going to lose a wing in offshore conditions which are rare and as I've discovered pretty useless here on the east coast for wave riding anyhow as there are too many lulls near the shore.Im mainly using it for DW and it will only blow into the shore on those days if the leash broke.
I made this critical mistake but with 12mm dynex as my board leash. Spliced into the leash plug on the board and to waist leash. Following the first crash, I cannot describe the pain I experienced. Board dead stop, leash obviously didn't stretch, I did. Went back to 6ft surfboard comp leash pretty quickly after.
