How to guide : McConks connect leash and Panda QR waist belt
We’re passionate about your safety on the water. As a sign of this commitment, we are only shipping boards with our connect leash (which doesn’t have an ankle strap), and with a free Panda QR Waist belt in every new paddleboard order (unless you have upgraded to a premium Whetman or Synergy(1) waist belt).
HOWEVER (there’s always a but), due to supply issues with our original belt provider (Brexit induced), we have to change our belt supplier. And that means that the original connection mechanism we were going to use, is not suitable for these belts. The good news is we have the new bits in production, and we’ll be shipping these direct to you in the next couple of weeks. The bad news, is that there is a little (perfectly safe) workaround until we can ship those bits to you. Read on for advice on this fix.
The temporary workaround
- Undo the velcro and remove the cord as shown below
2. Push the cord through the hole in the metal connector as shown below
3. Making sure that the leash is coming out of the bottom of the belt, push the thread through the belt loop and tie it off. See image below.
Now you need to cut off the loose ends of the thread, and cut the belt to size. The best way to do this is to heat up a sharp knife with a flame.
And then finally, you need to cut the waist belt to size, again using a heated knife. You should have no more than 6 inches of excess belt outside the cam buckle. This is to prevent the excess belt twisting and snagging if you ever need to release it.
You can find out more about different types of belts and why they are so important for your safety here.
(1) We are still waiting on synergy backorders to arrive from Paddle People, so if you’ve ordered a synergy belt as an upgrade to your package, then we will send you a free Panda belt whilst waiting for the new Batch of HF Synergy to arrive.
