The comfort of the harness goes beyond physical relief—it also frees up your feet by allowing you to connect your board leash to your harness. This significantly reduces the risk of getting your feet tangled with the leash.
Advantages
Additionally, in case of a fall, it’s easier to find your leash and pull the board back to you—a real advantage to get going again in just a couple of seconds. No need to reach for your foot to unclip your leash in an emergency in the shorebreak either. For easy disconnection, we recommend a quick-release system like the GONG Leash Quick Release.
A series of small benefits, combined with physical relief, convince many riders to use a harness. The comfort gain is significant. The energy savings are the main benefit, which really matters at the end of a session—to stay consistent in your maneuvers and keep pumping if the wind dies down.
Choosing to use a harness is mainly about long-term comfort. You quickly get used to being careful not to lean on your harness hook when getting on the board. To avoid tangling your leash with your harness line, we recommend using a semi-rigid line, such as the GONG harness line.
Taking the leap
Riding without a harness is very cool for sessions with short tacks, especially with recovery phases in free fly mode. A harness isn’t essential. You can be for or against it—everyone has their own preference, and all are valid. The key is finding what works best for you. Here’s the testimonial of François, GONG ambassador, who went from being somewhat against it to fully onboard:
“I was very skeptical at first, and now I never go without it… the harness hook is a no-brainer for me, with lots of advantages and very few downsides… I tried lots of setups, but in the end, I stick with my belt and its solid sliding hook.
My leashes are attached to my back. It’s great for transitions with the wing and my slim 6' surf leash. My sessions last longer, I can go upwind strongly if needed, I rest my arms, and I reach the peak fresh and ready to surf the wave—it’s all good…
The only downside is launching… and even then, with the sliding hook, you just move it to the side during launch so you can get on the board without damaging it, and that’s it!
The Neutra 6m is super stable in this weak 12-knot wind, held with one hand and the other connected to the harness handle… My left supraspinatus thanks me, and my recovery after long sessions is much better! The GONG harness line is absolutely top-notch—you’d be missing out not to use it.”
