Cloud 9 Anchorman Wing Leash Review

Shop Anchorman Wing Leash.

Welcome back to Wing Wednesdays with Tucker. Today I have an exciting new product I want to tell you about, the Cloud 9 Anchorman leash system. At first glance, it looks like your basic wing waist leash, but it's more than that.

A Quick Release for Your Wing

It has a quick release that works just like a kiteboarding safety leash where you just grab it and push away from your body, and it pops loose. To re-engage it, you put the finger back through the loop and push it back together, and you're ready to go again. The idea here is, number one, to have a safety release system on your wing so if you're in a situation where you need to detach from your wing quickly, you can do that, and it does that wonderfully.

A Sea Anchor for Your Wing

The second idea is to make sure your wing doesn't get blown down to where you're probably not going to recover it, it could get damaged, or could even hurt somebody. This quick release stops the wing from blowing downwind and causing harm or getting lost or damaged. When you blow your safety release, that's going to pull a parachute-looking thing out of your waist belt, and when that hits the water it fills up with water and stops the wing. It's called a sea anchor. It's about one foot square, so it's not huge, but it's just enough to stop your wing from blowing downwind.

How Well Does It Actually Work?

It works amazingly well. A lot of the times I've tested it, it almost works too well. A lot of times I'm doing it on purpose while I'm riding a wave just to leave the wing behind, and then I end up way downwind and have to paddle my way back to it. We've tested it in higher winds, we've tested it in breaking waves; I've put this thing through the wringer in five-foot swell, and I was amazed at how well it hung in there and kept the wing where it was supposed to be until I came back, so two big thumbs up for functionality. I haven't yet had a situation where it didn't work; I've tried to throw it off awkwardly, I've done it with the wing in flying position, I've done it with the wing upside-down, and it always seems to work. It's been 100 percent functional for me thus far with no damage and no repairs needed, so this thing works as advertised.

The belt buckle is really nice. You just slide it through and then it locks in, almost a ratchet to tighten it. If you want to pull it off, you just pull it back, so that's like a secondary safety release. It is reliable as a waist leash; it isn't something that you're going to easily snag and release by accident. I've had zero issues with this and 100 percent functionality on our testing, so we're really amped on the Anchorman.

How Do I Repack the Anchor?

Practice repacking the sea anchor, because that is something you will have to do eventually. I would suggest practicing it on dry land first. When you get into the water, it's a little bit more difficult, especially in high winds where your wing's pulling on your leash. Of course, if you do drop it while repacking, it's going to stop the wing again so it's not really a big problem, but no one wants to sit on the water for 10 minutes packing this up when they could be out riding.

The way I've found that has worked best for me is to find the middle of the cloth square and grab it. Slide your hand down the anchor toward the lines to make it into a long, thin tube and then fold it in half. Now you can cram this into one of the neoprene sleeves on your belt, and that holds it until it needs to be released. Re-engage the quick release and you're ready to go again.

Who Is This For?

I think the people that are going to be most stoked about this are going to be, number one, people that are concerned with the safety of their wing and might want to release their leash. If you're in a situation where you need to release your wing and get away from it for whatever reason, whether you're in big waves, a heavy current, strong winds, or any situation where the wing could drag you into danger or become an issue, or even just where the wing might be in danger, it's better to release your wing than to try to drag it through a 20-foot macking swell that's just gonna obliterate your wing. Release it and let it do its thing. It's not going to blow downwind and hurt anybody. It's not going to blow downwind and get lost or damaged, so this is awesome for that.

It's also good for anybody that wants to get into surf foiling but doesn't want to deal with paddling into waves and sitting in the lineup. If you're a winger, you go out there, you find whatever wave you like, release your wing, go surf your wave, then paddle or pump back, hook back in, and do it again. It's a blast. It's a great way to go out, get your wave count up and get longer rides, especially on a smaller day where it's knee-high and you can't even paddle in until you hit a sandbar.

If you're getting into downwinding, the Anchorman is the perfect companion for that. You can go out and practice without getting stranded, and if the conditions aren't quite right, you can still have fun and learn because it is such a fickle sport. Additionally, you can share your wing with a buddy. If you both know what you're doing, you can get the wing, get yourself up, and then hand it off to a buddy who can then get the wing and get themselves up. If you fall or mess up downwinding, they can pass the wing off to you and vice versa, so it's a really awesome way to get out there and have a lot of fun. You can get into riding swell and downwinding without the worry of getting stranded or having to paddle or walk miles on end without any way to get back on foil. It's really great for safety and peace of mind in a situation like that.

If you have any questions, give us a call at the shop, send an email, or hop on chat. If you have any additional suggestions on the ways we can use this, we'd love to hear it and try it out ourselves. This has been Tucker with MACkiteboarding, and we'll see you next time.

MACkite Subscription Links:

YouTube  |   Instagram  |   Spotify Oddcasts

Contact MACkite Below:

800.622.4655  |   Kiteboarder@MACkite.com  |   LIVE Chat Messenger