Maiden voyages of NSP Sonic paddle board and VESL prone board with MetaLeash.

Paddle board leashes are essentially the same leash as an outrigger or surfski leash. This means the inexpensive leashes (and even some of the expensive leashes) marketed for boards have most of the same problems as the cheaper leashes on the market: breakage, slippage, UV rot, heaviness, etc. The stand up paddle board (SUP) paddler has some unique issues, mostly having to do with how you fall. When I bought my NSP 24” Sonic surf paddle board, the seller (Vermont Surf and Ski) had hoped to take me out to a river and give me a few lessons near Brattleboro, Vermont, where I had to drive to pick it up. My first thoughts, as a safety geek, were: how deep is the water, how rocky, how fast is the current… But he was limited on his time as NSP boards were in hot demand that day. He bought four MetaLeashes and told me if I fall off my board, to basically dive sideways so I don’t come down on it and crush the carbon hull with the paddle. Obviously, other crushable things are bones… Luckily when I took the board out on my maiden voyage, I ran into this fellow, below, who got me standing up in five minutes.

Most people would not buy a race board before getting cozy on a wider, shorter board first. As an experienced ocean outrigger paddler, my comfort level was high enough to bypass entry level boards. The price was right on this used board, which only had a couple of dings I had to repair. Compared to my outrigger canoe, the NSP Sonic looks really wide, but I am in a sitting position with a low center of gravity in the canoe. Shifting that weight upwards was going to be a challenge. This is how we met that challenge: my stand up coach stood at the back of the board and basically used his hands to steady me. He told me to get into a crouched position and start paddling. So, he walked behind me, and after a minute he told me to come up on one foot and (KEY PART HERE) WHILE TAKING A STROKE come up on the other foot into a standing position. Just like that, I was standing. Let’s cover this again: crouch on your knees, come up on one foot, stick blade in water, stroke, come up to standing position with the other foot.

Aha! A brace stroke! What is a brace stroke you ask? There are variations on it, but basically when you see a paddle board surfer leaning on a wave, on the paddle, they are bracing the paddle. When you see someone flying the ama on an outrigger, they are bracing the paddle. And I am lucky that Oscar Chalupsky taught me the brace stroke for surfski, which is the most important one: the one that keeps you from rolling over. In this case, standing up on a paddle board, the board is more stable because you have the paddle blade planted in the water, momentarily “locking” you into a stable position just like a rudder does, while you mess with gravity.

The fellow continued to hold the rear of the board while I stood and paddled (my legs shaking like mad), and I really have no idea when he let go. So, try this with a friend or family member, and make sure they don’t tell you when you’re on your own. The psychology of BELIEVING someone was stabilizing me, even if they were not, meant my brain could not tell the difference between him being there and when he let go. In fact he made it a point to let me know he would not tell me when he was not holding the board. So, I got my first “downwind” paddle on the Sonic my first day out. And in all subsequent paddles, I did not fall off.

Back to leashes. What happens when I do fall? It is more dramatic than a fall off an outrigger or surfki, where you mostly just roll into the water. Your bouyancy is such that you usually don’t go under. Not a lot of countering forces here. But a plunge? You really don’t want to smack the board, with hands, legs, head… And when you do leap sideways, you will submerge further, which means there will be more stress on the leash.

The first thing I noticed while on my knees on the paddle board, was the cuff of my leash. You have to position the cuff so the attachment to the leash is on the back of the leg, otherwise you will squat on the hardware. Issue number one solved, just position the hardware to the back of your leg. But there are other solutions. I have seen a lot of social media images of stand up paddle board paddlers preferring to connect the leash at the waist. While I do make a belt, on my first day out I just connected my leg cuff to my PFD, similar to what I’ve seen others do. I have been selling more and more of the belts lately, so it is worth considering what is comfortable for you. Link to MetaLeash shop: www.metaleash.com.

A note about prone paddling, foil, surf: the MetaLeash also works well for prone, or for any other board activity like foil. A surf leash is in development with a different set of fall parameters, because falling off a surfboard involves very complex forces, similar to paddle board surfing, with a lot of fancy footwork, and surfers prefer straight leashes. Stay tuned or hit me up with suggestions, comments, feedback, concerns, customizations, you name it, I will leash it for you. metaleash@gmail.com

And now for a video of some truly amatuer standup paddle board surfing and some speedy prone paddling. Here we ended up sharing a leash, another upside of a quick release, which is critical for getting out of trouble, possibly critical for a race start or critical if you are sharing! Have fun and stay safe. It is February 28, 2021, 39 degrees F in my local Atlantic Ocean, and that is paddling weather to me. See you on the water!