Surfing Waves

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if I should change my surfboard leash. I've been reading online and it said that you should usually change it after a year. For my leash, I've had it for about 1 1/2 years but I haven't been as consistent surfing due to injuries. I read that most leashes snap at the swivel either on the surfboard or at the ankle cuff. I was wondering is there a way to test it or look at it to see if it needs to be replaced? I pulled on the swivel on my Dakine Kainui Team leash and it feels pretty strong. I've also looked at the swivels and it seems fine. I've uploaded the pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/kjTUdKl

You can look,along the leash see if there are any scratches or nicks or curl the leash in a loop on the sunlight any cracks will show up.
Always have several leashes otherwise just when you have one you arrive at a classic surf to find your leash damaged, do you risk your board not if you have a back up!

Good point, I've used my leash for 4-5 years already. It's still strong and I always rinse and soak it in fresh water.

I better check if there's and damages as I'm pretty sure I won't be able to swim that far if I lose the board.

jaffa1949 wrote:You can look,along the leash see if there are any scratches or nicks or curl the leash in a loop on the sunlight any cracks will show up.
Always have several leashes otherwise just when you have one you arrive at a classic surf to find your leash damaged, do you risk your board not if you have a back up!

Thank you for your comment. I will check to see if there are any cracks.

Also check the rope where the leash is tied to the board. That often wears out faster than the leash and needs replacing

You can’t really tell if the swivels are about to fail, but using Jaffa’s tests you should be able to see whether the leash itself is weakened. If the swivels are starting to look rusty or not moving freely (even after a warm water soak to get rid of the salt), then that’s one warning sign. However it’s not definitive.

dtc wrote:Also check the rope where the leash is tied to the board. That often wears out faster than the leash and needs replacing

You can’t really tell if the swivels are about to fail, but using Jaffa’s tests you should be able to see whether the leash itself is weakened. If the swivels are starting to look rusty or not moving freely (even after a warm water soak to get rid of the salt), then that’s one warning sign. However it’s not definitive.

Thank you for the advice.

Yeah, I recently bought these leash strings from a company called Leashlok. I used them in the past and it's been pretty good. https://leashlok-hawaii.square.site/pro ... 53?cs=true

I will try that warm water soak. I never knew we were supposed to do that. When you say the swivel should move freely, you mean that I can turn it easily?

Soaking the swivel isn’t required as normal maintenance, it’s just that if there is salt in the hole then it might make the swivel a bit stiff, but it’s only the salt jamming it up and not the swivel deteriorating. So you don’t want to replace it if it doesn’t need to be replaced. it’s probably worth doing it now and then anyway.

You want your swivels (at both ends) to move relatively freely so that your leash doesn’t get twisted and tangled (which happens when the swivels don’t work). Also it can be signed of corrosion albeit that they are stainless steel and should ok for a few years on that score. It doesn’t have to be freely spinning, but you don’t want any significant resistance

If you wrap your leash around the fin(s) after surfing and store the board that way, you'll probably have to replace the leash sooner than if you did not do that.