[Jesse_Ape]

G'day,

I would like to know if thigh straps help heaps when going through the surf zone. Also do you think you need them on a espri?

Also how are thigh straps attached to your kayak. I think a simple pop riveted fitting my not be sufficient in holding it.

Cheers

Jesse

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[troppo]

I've don't use thigh straps, I use twine. When ya buy ya whole chicken thighs, ya just put the dried apricots in the middle, roll them up and tie them with twine. Then bake them at 175 degrees for . . . Oh, not those type of thigh straps.

As an experiment, I made thigh straps out of some old webbing used for tie-down straps. I was able to tie them to some strong recessed points on my Feelfree Nomad. When testing them in the surf, I adjusted em so I could hook them over my knees. Then I 'held on' by trying to squeeze my knees together. My knees remained about 25 cm or so apart. This meant when surfing in and going sideways or whatever, I could twist and bend from the hips with no problem of being flipped out. When the yak suddenly tried to go one way and me the other, I could do a paddle brace or bend without suddenly finding myself in the water. It didn't solve all the problems but my experiments showed me that the straps can be useful. Like even one time when playing and paddling into a big wave, it smashed across the yak into my chest but I just held on with my knees in the straps. That's my experience anyway.

 

[bazzoo]

gee red , its really great to hear that the espri is a great little surfer, as i have just ordered one, and one of the reasons i wanted the espri, is to occasionally surf the bay break into port hacking :lol: :lol: :lol: ,i would rather have a seat belt than thigh straps, as i was a very keen ski rider in the surf for about 20 years, and would rather be strapped in with a seat belt than held in with thigh straps when the inevitable wipeout came :roll: :roll: :roll: , it is easy to flick a clamp and your free , rather than risk being driven forward in the thigh straps and "oh dear "

 

[troppo]

With thigh straps, they hold you in by you pushing ya knees together. In a wipeout, you relax your knees and you are free (unless you somehow get ya leg through the strap and twisted around the yak and through the other strap. If that happens, simply grab the knife you must always carry strapped to ya leg in case of shark attack or ya sandwich needs the crusts cut off, and slash the strap off. When slashing, do so in a controlled manner and warn bystanders/swimmers to keep well back.

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Russ]

Troppo ya Goose, I mean Chook. :? I dont know what I mean

fishing Russ