Hydrofoil board leash

[bragnouff]

Snip...
I've had times where I attached my foil to a buoy upwind in deep water, while I was coming in to swap kites. And while this can be done somehow with wrapping something around the mast or footstraps (if any), it's always easier if there's something built in.

Just curious now, WHY ?

Isnt it faster to get back out having a foil (maybe on its side if "things" on the bottom) while dragging out, instead of having to body drag out to your board ?
Dumping waves maybe in lower water ?
If the wind was from the side, then it would be easier indeed.
But you wrote "upwind", so assume wind was onshore.

Or maybe just for the fun of doing it

PF

About 300m direct upwind from launch area, flatwater, walking in muddy seaweedy stuff until it finally gets to waist deep. So there isn't much to gain by taking the foil with you during the kite swap. Easier also to just stick to walking on one side as opposed to multiple bodydragging tacks amongst other kiters, whose favorite riding spot is as close as possible to the carpark/launch.
On one occasion also, we did some A/B testing, and leaving a board at the buoy made swapping boards much faster than going back to shore.

[Peter_Frank]

That makes sense - seaweed and mud is a PITA yes, when having the foil with you

One big advantage when leaving the board "out", would be you could (if no rocks and dont care about some weed ha haa) fly or loop your kite and just drag yourself almost fully to shore in/on the watersurface

I sometimes do a mix, when wind is too light to ride suddenly, and then hold the nose of my board with my arm, foil sticking up - and then loop myself to shore over low water when sand, head first flat in the water(surface), faster than walking.
Dont work if too much wind - too difficult to hold the board.

But WAY faster when you dont have your foil

Have never had muddy water, but indeed tricky to walk in this with a foil, I can believe
Seaweed close to shore indeed tiresome when extreme, the first way out - it can grow on the bottom and all the way to the surface so you almost cant drag out no matter what, only if a bit sideshore you can hustle out swearing like a sailor

PF

[TomW]

There's a spot close to my home that would be epic in certain wind direction. Problem is kite launch and getting out.
I could take foil and walk out on a stone jetty, go down the metal stairs and drag out 10 metres. With the kite and foil in hand it's risky because of the footing on the jetty and launch area is a bit crowded with objects.
I can't leash the foil to the stairs at end of jetty due to rocks and shallow water. Needs to be 10 m out.

It would be great if I had a bouy out there. I could just swim out w the foil and attach it, go back and get my kite and drag out to it. Then foil out the boat channel past a marker 200m off and then there's a lot of good water.

[Slappysan]

I leash my foilboard while relaunching in LW. I leash to the back end of the board but it would work better if there was a leash on the nose.

Why do I leash instead of sitting on my board?

1) My board just barely floats my foil so it doesn't offer much buoyancy
2) If I get pulled forwards from the kite while relaunching I wont be able to swim back upwind to get my foilboard again until I get my kite in the air (which might take 10 min in really LW)
3) I can actively swim against the pull of the kite if my hands and legs are free

[DAnderson]

I have ocassionally wished for a connection point on the nose to connect to when in chest-deep water attempting to relaunch.
Although I doubt I'd consider using a leash while riding a foil.

[Peter_Frank]

I have ocassionally wished for a connection point on the nose to connect to when in chest-deep water attempting to relaunch.
Although I doubt I'd consider using a leash while riding a foil.

In chest deep water it could really be an issue, and a leash needed (eventhough would still prefer to have it at the rear and not the nose).

Fortunately, we dont have any spots anywhere here, with chest deep water, so not a problem.

We got low water first, and then either quite fast, deep water, or we got a few sand banks so deep between, and then after 2 or 3 it becomes really deep.

Meaning, you can always sit on your board relaunching, and if caught when chest deep close to shore, you just wait a bit till you can stand on the bottom relaunching (holding your board with the other hand, or pushing it away upwind)

So the scenario with chest deep so you can not sit on the board without it touching the bottom if low volume, and you can not stand on the bottom relaunching easy and fast either - does not exist here.

I can see it would be a problem at spots with chest deep water for a long distance, indeed, and a leash would be good.

Unless one can turn the foil around, and sit on the board with the mast up ?
Anyone tried that ?

PF

[cwood]

I have ocassionally wished for a connection point on the nose to connect to when in chest-deep water attempting to relaunch.
Although I doubt I'd consider using a leash while riding a foil.

Unless one can turn the foil around, and sit on the board with the mast up ?
Anyone tried that ?

PF

sounds like recipe for stitches!

[DAnderson]

eventhough would still prefer to have it at the rear and not the nose

I believe the attraction here is: the board/foil naturally wants to ride into the current this way & it keeps the foil ~2ft further away under water when using the kite leash as a temporary tether

I'd considered one of those stick-on attachments a while back, but never did it
ie: http://www.northshoreinc.com/store/pc/v ... ategory=93

[kruzlifix]

On a hf the board leash has to be attached to the front, preferably a bit to the side, so you don t get hit when the board gets foiling and is faster than you. That is the only way you can drag a hf behind you.
You canot pull a hydrofoil with a leash attached to the rear. It will act like an anker and you will be inevitably pulled under water and die unless your board leash has a quick release.
VERY DANGEROUS! Please never use a hf board leash on the rear!

Andreas (near drowning victim)

viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2392511&p=928735& ... sh#p928735

PS: my board leash is a 2 m long kite-line, normally stowed away in my harness. It s only used for emergencies in no wind and kite down situations when I donot want to loose my foilboard.
even after almost 20 years of kiting I sometimes have to use both arms and both feet to get the kite back up into the air as soon as possible.

[Foil]

On a hf the board leash has to be attached to the front, preferably a bit to the side, so you don t get hit when the board gets foiling and is faster than you. That is the only way you can drag a hf behind you.
You canot pull a hydrofoil with a leash attached to the rear. It will act like an anker and you will be inevitably pulled under water and die unless your board leash has a quick release.
VERY DANGEROUS! Please never use a hf board leash on the rear!

Andreas (near drowning victim)

viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2392511&p=928735& ... sh#p928735

PS: my board leash is a 2 m long kite-line, normally stowed away in my harness. It s only used for emergencies in no wind and kite down situations when I donot want to loose my foilboard.
even after almost 20 years of kiting I sometimes have to use both arms and both feet to get the kite back up into the air as soon as possible.

not accurate.
both Moses boards the T40 or the T60 do not submerge when attached to the rear, no matter how violent the fall, and there must be a few more that I do not know about, however when I atached to the rear of the the shinn Jackson it dived like a brick, no volume and a sure way of ripping apart the rear stablizer, and as long as you use a quick release on each end of the leash line you are fine,with near 5 meters of line on the retactable drum type you have time to ping it off if a low volume board is used.
I did and released before any damage was done,then left the leash off but still attached to the harness as a quick clip on if needed.
I would never ever attach to the front, you only need to push the board from the rear to see how easily it flys up and out of the water, and if your in front of it with a leash attached, yikes!!