Watercraft leash construction
A watercraft leash assembly has a leash cord construction comprising an elongate, elastomeric cord body having a reinforcing element embedded therein. The reinforcing element may comprise a co-extruded filament which is helical or other non-linear shape when the leash cord is in a non-extended condition, and which straightens as the leash cord extends.
1 . A watercraft leash, comprising:
a first end having a first end connector portion for securing to a watercraft;
a second end having a second end connector portion for securing to a watercraft user; and
a leash cord extending generally from the first end to the second end of the leash, the leash cord comprising an elongate, elastomeric cord body having a non-linear filament embedded therein, the filament being non-linear when the leash cord is in a non-extended condition, and straightening as the leash cord extends,
wherein the non-linear filament has a helical shape when the leash cord is in its non-extended condition.
2 . A watercraft leash according to claim 1 , wherein the non-linear filament acts as a reinforcing element for the leash cord.
3 . A watercraft leash according to claim 1 , wherein the non-linear filament straightens with extension of the cord body under tensile force.
4 . A watercraft leash according to claim 1 , wherein the leash cord has a first stress-strain characteristic during initial stretching from the non-extended condition when the non-linear filament is substantially non-linear, and a second stress-strain characteristic when the leash cord is in an extended condition whereby the non-linear filament approaches the linear.
5 . A watercraft leash according to claim 4 , wherein the first stress-strain characteristic is predominantly determined by the stress-strain properties of the cord body up to approximately breaking point of the cord body.
6 . A watercraft leash according to claim 1 , wherein the helical shape has a helix diameter greater than 50% of an outer diameter of the cord body.
7 . A watercraft leash according to claim 1 , wherein the helical shape has a pitch selected from one of: the range of 6-30 mm, 6-20 mm, 8-16 mm, 10-14 mm, or 11-13 mm, or about 10, 11, 12, 13, or 14 mm.
8 . A watercraft leash according to claim 7 , wherein the pitch is from 11 to 13 mm.
9 . A watercraft leash according to claim 1 , wherein the cord body has an outer diameter selected from one of: the range of 4-11 mm or 5-10 mm, or about 5, 5.5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 mm.
10 . A watercraft leash according to claim 1 , wherein the non-linear filament is a single strand filament, which is co-extruded with the elastomeric cord body.
11 . A watercraft leash according to claim 10 , wherein the single strand filament has a filament diameter of 1 to 2 mm.
12 . A watercraft leash according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the non-linear filament has a higher elastic modulus than the cord body material.