The use of leash for river surfing is a personal choice hopefully made on self-education and not just a sales pitch from some shop employee selling/renting you a leash or just looking at what people are surfing with a leash or no leash. Yesterday an interview with Evan Stafford, the Communications Director for American Whitewater, was released on a podcast by the California State Parks and the California Coastal Commission about leash safety in the river.
The interesting takeaway from the interview with Evan Stafford is his discussion of when leashes should be used and as importantly not used. Evan starts by sayin “leashes are the most significant hazard for board users in the river”. Evan dives into the fact that he does not personally use a leash while SUPing rivers, then again he is does not paddle extreme rapids. Evan then describes that at most play parks for river surfing, leashes are likely not needed. Evan ends by saying that his personal choice is not to wear a leash in almost all river situations.
Take a listen for yourself, the leash discussion starts at 14:37 into the 24 minute long podcast interview with Evan. I don’t want to simplify Evan’s position on leashes for river surfing, so listen to his words and not so much mine.
Here is a link to the Dockside podcast Episode 24– Paddlesports Leash Safety on Rivers with Evan Stafford:
Dockside’s web page- https://dockside.podbean.com
Spotify- https://open.spotify.com/episode/4E4g0Dua47kzVWa4twVCfu
Can also be found on Apple Podcast (just google it and click to listen)
Educate yourself about river surfing and then make your decisions of why or why not to use a leash and the appropriate leash to use. My personal take is, I don’t use river leashes until the day the industry comes up with a legit tested and sold self-releasing quick release leash.
Stay safe and be smart about your river surfing.
LBK
The Denver Surf Report 