{"id":16661,"date":"2026-02-04T14:33:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T13:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepaddlesportshow.com\/?p=16661"},"modified":"2026-02-04T14:33:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T13:33:51","slug":"lodestone-leashes-automatic-leash-2026-product-of-the-year-accessories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepaddlesportshow.com\/fr\/lodestone-leashes-automatic-leash-2026-product-of-the-year-accessories\/","title":{"rendered":"Lodestone Leashes: Automatic Leash – 2026 Product of the Year (Accessories)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lodestone Leashes paddleboard leashes keep you attached to your board during normal use, but give reliable, repeatable, automatic release when you need it most\u2014when your leash gets caught on a hazard in moving water.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the highlights of last year’s Paddle Sports Show was the 2026 Product of the Year Awards, organized in partnership with KS Publishing and the Paddler’s Guide. Each year, the contest shines a spotlight on the very best in paddlesports for the upcoming season. Lodestone Leashes took home the prize in the Accessories category for their automatic leash. To learn more about the product, why leashes are essential for SUPing, and what the future holds for automatic leashes, we spoke with Keith, the founder of Lodestone Leashes, about his award-winning design.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hey Keith! Congrats on winning 2026 Product of the Year for the Lodestone Leashes automatic leash at the Paddle Sports Show. Can you introduce your product?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lodestone Leashes are innovative automatic-release SUP leashes that use magnets at the heart of the connector. They keep you attached to your board during normal paddling, falling and swimming, but give reliable, repeatable, automatic release when you need it most, in a leash entrapment situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great one! Before talking about your design, can you tell us why SUP leashes are so important?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SUP is unlike kayaking or canoeing. When SUP paddling, there is inherently less stability, and falling in is more frequent. This is particularly true on moving water. This challenge of balance and movement is one of the joys of SUP! Leashes are important as they keep you attached to your board; the single largest flotation you have. The safest place you can be when SUP paddling is on your board. A leash allows you to quickly pull your board back to you after a fall and re-mount it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The safest place you can be when SUP paddling is on your board.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We asked the paddle community how far they typically swam after a fall, and used kayakers and canoeists as a comparison group. From over 200 responses, we found that SUP paddlers using a leash on a river are in the water for an average distance of 5 meters, compared to 15 meters for canoeists or kayakers who have come out of their boats, or SUP paddlers not using leashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leashes are known to be dangerous on rivers, with some federations discouraging or prohibiting their use on moving water. Why is that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of SUP leashes on rivers or any moving water, like estuaries, does carry risks. If your leash gets caught around a rock, tree, moored boat, or buoy, the force of water on you can quickly start to submerge you. If using an ankle leash, when in a 1 mph flow, most users not wearing a buoyancy aid can\u2019t reach their ankle against the force of the water to release themselves. That is why there has been such an effort to get SUP paddlers to add a manual quick-release belt to their leash system. These belts enable the paddler to release themselves from their leash, but are not perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testing by Paddle UK shows that manual quick-release belts on SUP leashes fail to release in about 1% of cases and provide less-than-ideal release in about half of cases. In our own testing, we see similar results and also observe that decision-making to release in an entrapment situation is slow, and further delayed if it is cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are there other alternatives to manual quick-release belts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are some early indications from SUP paddlers not using leashes on whitewater of an increase in broken ankles due to falling more vertically to keep in contact with the board.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The obvious alternative is to not use a leash on rivers. This does however, produce different risks. Because, on average, you spend more time in the water, your risk of foot entrapment, impact injury or flush drowning increases. You also have an increased injury risk as there is a temptation to focus on keeping hold of your board during a fall, rather than focusing on falling safely, for example, by falling fairly flat if the water is shallow. There are some early indications from SUP paddlers not using leashes on whitewater of an increase in broken ankles due to falling more vertically to keep in contact with the board, and reports of groups being separated over several hundred metres while dealing with swimmers and loose boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that’s where an auto-release leash comes in handy!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auto-release leashes sort these issues: you get all the benefits of using a leash, but if a leash entrapment does occur a Lodestone Leash releases cleanly and instantly without you needing to do anything. What\u2019s not to like about that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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