Because all beginners should be wearing a leash, going leashless gives a surfer more credibility in the line-up. It is a statement that says, “I am a good surfer, so don’t drop in on me.”
It is more difficult to hang ten with a leash dangling off your ankle. A leash also causes drag in the water, and sometimes it gets caught up in your feet. But not wearing a leash means that you can lose your board and have to swim for it.
Jason M., 43, who lives in Pacific Beach and is a regular surfer at Tourmaline Surfing Park, gives this advice: “If it is high tide and there is a wind on the water, wear a leash.” If you lose your board on a wave it is more likely that a board will surf itself all the way back to the shore. Epoxy boards are more likely to make it all the way to the shore before a surfer can catch it. They are light, and when there is no one on them, they are likely to catch the first wave in.
On big days almost everyone wears a leash. There are a few that will never wear a leash. I have never seen Skip Frye wear a leash. But if his board ends up on the rocks he can make himself a new board.
Joe Enge, also a regular surfer at Tourmaline, cautions, “Too often surfers rely on the leash to not hit another surfer, but they misjudge the length of the leash and still hit someone.”
Because all beginners should be wearing a leash, going leashless gives a surfer more credibility in the line-up. It is a statement that says, “I am a good surfer, so don’t drop in on me.”
It is more difficult to hang ten with a leash dangling off your ankle. A leash also causes drag in the water, and sometimes it gets caught up in your feet. But not wearing a leash means that you can lose your board and have to swim for it.
Jason M., 43, who lives in Pacific Beach and is a regular surfer at Tourmaline Surfing Park, gives this advice: “If it is high tide and there is a wind on the water, wear a leash.” If you lose your board on a wave it is more likely that a board will surf itself all the way back to the shore. Epoxy boards are more likely to make it all the way to the shore before a surfer can catch it. They are light, and when there is no one on them, they are likely to catch the first wave in.
On big days almost everyone wears a leash. There are a few that will never wear a leash. I have never seen Skip Frye wear a leash. But if his board ends up on the rocks he can make himself a new board.
Joe Enge, also a regular surfer at Tourmaline, cautions, “Too often surfers rely on the leash to not hit another surfer, but they misjudge the length of the leash and still hit someone.”
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