Leashing kayak to yourself? pros/cons?

The only thing leashed to my kayak is my stringer.  If I lose my paddle I can lay on my kayak and paddle it like a surf board.  If conditions are such that you fear losing your kayak maybe it's not the best day to be OTW.

By taking the advice of all those with experience we can accelerate our own learning curve.

Josh

The best way to accelerate ones learning curve is to go out in conditions

Last time I took a swim was in steep waves 2-3 miles out from rocky pt/slide ranch, yak was upside down and every time it went over the next swell my head went back and underwater, the leash on my net was hooked over the back of my PFD and hanging down like an anchor

Next season will do away with that leash and put floatation on the net

Also started leashing my paddle to PFD instead of kayak and keep it leashed even for raunchier landings

I leash the rods and my paddle, have never had a problem. Net I can live with floating off. But, for gnarly stuff, rods get stowed, the beauty of the fish hatch on the stealth.

...the beauty of the fish hatch on the stealth.

One of Stealth's selling points

I kept a pretty clean deck on the tarpon but it's a heavy item to deal with in hydro-chaos

At Dux I got launched off of faces in mavericks-style break twice in probably an hour's time, with the tarpon on the end of 18' of line I thought my arm was going to pull out of my shoulder. I can remember thinking I'd add a shock cord as soon as I got home but never got around to it

One surprise with the 575 is that it doesn't try to blow away even in 30+ wind. First time last year at bodega and a few times now off the Marin coast, come up to breathe and boat was right there and easy to handle, very lightweight but when it's bottom up has a low profile to the wind

Any kind of line on a heavy complicated setup is probably a bad idea On the stealth the only thing to get hung up on is the rudder and I keep the line just short of being able to reach it

Well said. Clean well organized deck. Your right about the benefit of both the light weight and profile of the hull. I got dumped in a nasty mix swell last year and it took very little effort to right the yak. I've started carrying a fin per one of your posts a while back, seems like a good idea.

I will add that having a good pfd knife attached to your pfd is a crucial overlooked safety item. If tangling ensues, you have a quick way to free yourself.

I've started carrying a fin per one of your posts a while back, seems like a good idea.

What kind of fin? I still have 3 vintage 1972 DuckFeet but they're on the heavy side, would like to find something as simple to put on but lighter

maybe attach it to the bow line and keep it on deck

Until I got the tarpon swimming through the break zone was standard mo

It's a full length dive fin from the outdoor store. It's what I had, works great with booties. A shorter one would be more covenant but sometimes it's just rolling with what you got. Currently store under webbing on back deck, was thinking of adding a breakdown paddle as well, but I've had my werner fiberglass for 12 years ww boating and it's withstood. Doubt my new one would be an issue unless I decided to start rock gardening so probably won't do the breakdown unless multiday or miles offshore if at all.

I like to travel light so it's always a matter of finding the line between essentials and too much, as it's in addition to all the fishing crap.

I go out with one rod, enough tackle for the day, some water, and intend on losing all of it, and a cheap net that I will never use, because they say I have to. No electronis, just me fishin. Im ok if I lose it all, I am out maybe $50.

Being we are talking about guns, I do tether that to my pfd!

Since I got my X-Factor and have the room I carry a pair of fins that fit my booties in the tank well.  I eliminated all leashes except the paddle leash and use sections of pool noodle for flotation on my rods and net.