How to Use Your Ankle Leash

Ankle leashes are one of the most important paddleboard accessories you could possibly have, especially for safety. They’re not required by law, but definitely should be. They are an important accessory to have and they help keep you safe. They’re gonna keep your board from floating down the river without you. Also, it’s gonna bring this ginormous flotation device right back to you if you do fall off of it.

So, we have a coiled leash here. Coiled leashes are great for flat water like the Columbia River and other rivers in the Tri-Cities. Straight leashes are for surf, where you don’t want the board to come right back and hit you in the noggin. So we use a coiled leash.

So every board should come with a leash plug that looks something like this.

This is a leash tie that comes on your leash.

We’re going to attach it to the board by threading the leash tie underneath and then we’re going to tie it on nice and tight. This leash tie is always going to stay on our board. We’re never going to take it off again.

To attach your leash, you’re just going to open the velcro and then we’re going to thread it through and then tighten it up and velcro it back on.

When you want to take it off you can just unvelcro it leaving the leash tie on.

On an inflatable board, you’re not going to have a leash plug that goes into the board, but we do have a D-ring located at the back of the board that we’re going to use instead.

So, do the same thing with the leash tie. Just tie it on and then again leave it attached at all times. Make it nice and tight and then just attach your ankle leash the same way we do on a hardboard.

Now that we have it attached to the back of the board we’re gonna attach it around our ankles. So, you undo the velcro, put it around your ankle, or around your calf. If you do fall off your board, you’ll want to make sure that you pull the cord back up onto the board so that it doesn’t get trapped underneath the fin or stuck on something else.

Check Out Our Ankle Leashes!