From the mid-1950s clear through to the mid-1980s, Hawaiian-born surfer Joey Cabell was revered as one of the best surfer/watermen in the world. His competitive accomplishments alone put him in a class with only a handful of others.
He may not have quite been my generation’s Kelly Slater (nobody in the surfing world has come close to winning 11 world titles), but his accomplishments could stand proudly near Tom Curren’s and Joel Tudor’s.
In the areas of business, adventure and big wave surfing, he is unrivaled among world-class surfers: A big-wave legend, a world record holding sailor, a highly successful restaurateur (he began the Chart House chain in 1961).
Always on the cutting edge of surf culture, Cabell witnessed many innovations including that of the first surf leash. While the leash is commonplace now, when Joey saw one while surfing in Tahiti in 1970, nobody to his or my knowledge was even thinking about it.
The leash described below may not have been the first one in existence, but what makes it unusual is that it was not of human origin.
Except from the book, ‘Good Things Love Water’:
Officially, the surf leash was invented in 1971 by O’Neill Wetsuits CEO Pat O’Neill. Unofficially, however, it may have had other origins. Regardless, O’Neill’s invention began as a piece of surgical tubing attached to the wrist on one end and the surfboard on the other.
What could possibly go wrong? Well, the first of several casualties was Pat’s famous father, Jack, who lost an eye when the board rocketed back at him.
While O’Neill gets the credit, others claim to have made the connection sooner. Con Surfboards owner, the late Con Coburn, and New Zealander Peter Wright make claims to its authorship. From Cabell’s POV, the leash may have begun with an animal with no ability to defend itself in court, should the topic ever go to trial.
The year was 1970, and Joey was ranked highly among the world’s best surfers. After a brilliant competitive career, his adrenaline addiction brought him to Tahiti. Joey paddled out alone as an early pioneer of those now legendary island barrels. The only downside was that a lost board could mean an introduction to the razor sharp reef.
According to Cabell: “I had never seen a leash on a surfboard until a local Tahitian surfer paddled out with one attached to his ankle. When I asked him about it, he said it came from a pig he had. The pig was attached to a stake in the ground by the leash. After detaching the cuff from the pig’s ankle, he untied the cord from the stake, and fastened the cuff to his own ankle. He then tied the cord around his fin. That was the first surf leash I ever saw.”
To hear the rest of the story, and learn more about “Good Things Love Water,” please visit our website: perelandrapublishing.com.
