Leash Injuries

[kookRachelle]

Okay, so I'm very new at surfing.

I am pretty defensive with riding and falling. I stay away from the jetties and am aware of drifts. I avoid large line ups and even smaller line ups if they're made up of advanced surfers. I say this because, well, I know my limits, and I don't want my kookiness ruining their day. I always look to make sure nobody is coming out or paddling in front of me before going for a wave, and I always look behind me to make sure I'm not the one in front of someone else.

When I fall, I accept that I'm about to eat it. I relax my body and cover my head. When I come up, I keep my head and face covered until I know where my board is. I look around to make sure nothing else is coming at me. I grab my board quickly to make sure it's not a risk to anyone else.

The only injuries to date have been from my godforsaken leash!!

The first was during low tide and instead of falling off, I jumped off (duh) and my leash pulled my knee out to the side as I landed. ouch. My knee felt sore and wobbly for about a week, but it didn't keep me from surfing, just kept me from jumping off into 8" of water like that again.

The second was a really nasty fall into I guess the pit (?) and I felt the force of the wave ON TOP of me and push me down. I didn't know which way was up but knew I'd stop spinning at some point so I just kept my face covered and held my breath. Speaking of spinning, my leash had wrapped around my thigh, and another wave came behind the one that ate me, and pulled my board, with my leg in tow with such force, my thigh went a little numb. I've now got a 11" long mottled bruise wrapping halfway around my thigh which is super cute.

The latest was from two days ago. I had finished and was headed in and even though I was practically onshore, a wave came and my board went flying, the leash wrapping around my last two fingers and dislocating one! They're pretty bruised and swollen and the one that dislocated is still crooked (I had reduced it myself - yay but ouch).

A buddy of mine says that this comes with the territory but I was wondering if a thigh leash might help? Or should I just grow a pair and try not to let stupid things like #1 and #3 happen again?

[oldmansurfer]

I have never had leash injuries. I guess what I would say it is one more thing you need to be aware of when you are surfing. I try to make sure my leash isn't going to rip anything off when the next wave comes in.

[jaffa1949]

Hmm not sure how you are handling your leash, part of the mechanism is the progressive stretch.
So let's talk about injuries if you jump off you board in shallow water it is quite surprising how fast you are moving and the surface you drop your feet onto is not necessarily stable or even
quite a few people sprain ankles and knees doing this.
Leash wrap arounds and tightens, it happens, i avoid it be having the strap part from the ankle attachment pointing out from my ankle , that way I don't trip on the long taggy bit and the leash is leash is less likely to come between my legs.
I have had takeoffs where my legs are tied together, wipeout conversion technique.
The leash has between my toes on a take off, both these last two have sometimes been avoided by creative dancing of the I stepped on a spider kind.
Now a never do this prompted by your finger injury.
On a wipe out never be tempted to grab at the rail saver on the board end of the leash get your finger caught up there , not only can you dislocate, you can de-glove your finger/s.
The webbing there can strip off the entire skin of a finger easily.
Injuries happen may they be small and quick to heal,

[oldmansurfer]

Oh and yeah I forgot to mention that I have injured both my ankle and my knee various times jumping off the board in shallow water. Not very serious injuries but they lasted for a week or more. I try really hard not to jump off standing up in shallow water unless I am not moving much already then I kind of walk off the board. Hopefully I have learned my lesson there These injuries have nothing to do with the leash. Once I was caused some pain by my leash. I wiped out on a really huge wave and it caught my board and towed me underwater. Initially I thought it was going to rip my leg off. I thought they would find my board washed up on the shore with my leg attached missing the rest of me and think a shark bit me. But fortunately once I got up to the same speed as the wave it didn't hurt anymore.

[oldmansurfer]

I will on occasion stay underwater after a wipeout to untangle the leash before the next wave comes rather than come up for air. I have had some probably close calls but managed to get untangled in time. I have grabbed the leash close to the board and pinched my fingers but no obvious or lasting effects. Although as jaffa says you shouldn't grab the board saver part of the leash I do this all the time and never been injured but I also pull the tail of the board down so the wave doesn't catch it. But that doesn't mean you should do it

[Tudeo]

I sometimes feel during a wipeout my leash is tangled around a leg, I often somehow move my leg to get it untangled before the pull. When I cannot get untangled it's gonne hurt. But never had a serious injury that way.

My only leash injury was in the ego, when my leash was around my front leg during takeoff and I fell trying to correct it, and had to paddle back next the guy I called off the wave..

[RinkyDink]

This is probably not your problem, but on the offhand chance it is . . . make sure your leash is on your back foot.

[BoMan]

Patches of kelp have grown around one of my favorite spots and I've been grabbing my leash right after popup to keep it from getting caught. It hasn't been a problem so far but might be an accident waiting to happen.

[saltydog]

My only leash injury was in the ego, when my leash was around my front leg during takeoff and I fell trying to correct it, and had to paddle back next the guy I called off the wave..

I've had to do some wiggly dance moves to get the leash off and missed the bottom turn entirely

From my experience, stray kelp hanging from the leash can generate too much drag to catch a wave. And webbing of the rail saver can slice a skin open.

[oldmansurfer]

I imagine that I have caught more waves with my front foot caught on the leash than some of the readers have caught in anyway shape or form. Most likely well over a hundred times but I haven't ever been injured from it however I have caught a lot of waves over the years. That is much more common to me than pearling.

[Big H]

I've been bound completely on wipepots and had to relax and do a Houdini to escape....have tried to pop up on a few occasions and been tripped or pulled back by the tangulations....never try to hold the board following a wipeout by the rail saver; good way to get a finger pinched off....part of the setup to catch a wave includes shaking the leash well free and a few paddles in any direction to get the leash free and trailing in the water so less likely to tangle....that is if you have time.

[jaffa1949]

A scary leash happening is when a long leash hooks around something on the bottom between waves.
As the next wave comes instead of floating up with the swell you begin to be pulled under like something and strong is pulling you down
A scarier leash happening is what happening is what appears to have happened to Mick Fanning, a passing great white snags on your trail leash

[IanCaio]

Now a never do this prompted by your finger injury.
On a wipe out never be tempted to grab at the rail saver on the board end of the leash get your finger caught up there , not only can you dislocate, you can de-glove your finger/s.
The webbing there can strip off the entire skin of a finger easily.

I completely agree with you, but I assume I've the bad habit of holding the rail saver when I need to ditch my board (like when I don't have time to get back on it before the next wave) to avoid letting it loose. I usually hold it in the very tip, after the tail, in a way my fingers don't get pressed against the board, but if it gets between the board and the rail saver I can imagine it can be nasty on big waves. So for now on I'll watch myself not to do it..
Maybe holding the very beginning of the leash would be better then?

About leash injuries, don't recall ever having any, besides being tangled on it a couple of times (rarely though). I think choosing the right size of leash is important though, too short and you might not have enough safe space between you and the board, too long and you might get tangled more often.

But I wouldn't worry about it, from what you've said you have the most important safety measures nailed on wipe outs

[waikikikichan]

A lot of leash injuries can be prevented if you don't INJURE your Leash. Don't kink up your leash by wrapping it around the tail around the fin(s).

[RobSF]

One thing that occurs to me is the kinkiness you can have in a new leash, or even an old one that's been kept wrapped around the board for a long time. My new leash was wrapping around me much more when it was new and unrelaxed.

[IanCaio]

A lot of leash injuries can be prevented if you don't INJURE your Leash. Don't kink up your leash by wrapping it around the tail around the fin(s).

Agreed, though it's another one to the "do as I say, don't do as I do"! I wrap my leash around my board to transport it on my bicycle, but I try to let it rest straight on my house though (usually ). And before going to the water I try to stretch it a bit to see if It can get less kinked, not sure it is really effective.

[waikikikichan]

As a service to our customers, we would always pre-stretch out the leashes when customers buy a board from our shop. But I wouldn't trust some of the workers to hold one end, I would wrap the cuff around a meter pole outside.

[Big H]

I learned about stretching new leashes here from WKK...really makes a difference.

Ian, grab the board instead of the leash....problem solved.

[kookRachelle]

Guys, thank you SO much! #1 the rail saver is exactly what I grabbed to drag my board out with me as I got out of the water. I really thought I was in the clear but yeah, not doing that again! I don't care how tired I am - I will CARRY (not drag) my board out from now on. #2 EXCELLENT point on new leashes because guess what? This was never a problem with rentals. I bought my first board with a brand new leash last weekend before the last two injuries I mentioned! Oh and the shop "showed" me how to wrap my leash around the fins. But I always see that? How should I store the leash? I usually wrap it around my fins and put the board in a bag and stand upright in my NYC apartment - no garage here.

Lastly, a finger update for anyone who cares... I was a little worried about being able to paddle but I surfed this weekend - all day Saturday and half day Sunday. I taped it up to keep it straight and popped a few Aleve each day and was totally fine. It should be noted that I have a high tolerance for pain.

Today, however, my finger is a little more tender, still swollen a bit and STILL crooked. This is 5 days after the initial accident and I actually had a little break at work today so I had a colleague order an X-ray (I'm a RN).

Yep. It's fractured and still displaced so I'm probably looking at a couple of pins and being out of the water for 6 weeks. If it does come to that, I'd love to push it off to November and just have them break it again to reset it.

[oldmansurfer]

Sounds like you tore the ligaments off with part of the bone. Ouchie! One other thing I do on occasions is when I can't get untangled by the next wave I point the tangled appendage to the beach be it leg, arm or fingers. Then there is a chance the wave will pull off the tangle or at least it won't pull sideways on anything and so far that has worked for me.