I've used that adhesive velcro before on the yak and its not really suitable for a wet enviroment for to long. There may be different types of adhesive velcro but I know for sure the stuff I used was arse once wet.
I'd also rather have something with a bit of stretch in the cord. There can be a fair bit of force on a paddle and leash in the surf and without any dampening it can easily damage your kayak or paddle. I've bent one and broken another paddle in rapids because the paddle leash was to stout.

my 2 cents

Yea that sounds beter.

I've made all my own paddle/rod leashes
I use 5mm (I think) shock cord, 4mm spectra loops at both ends, brass clips (because a lot of the stainless ones didn't move freely in the saddles on the yak) and just some heat shrink to tidy up the knots.

The velcro I ended up using for the paddle leash was 12mm stuff I found at a sewing shop.
I backed it with some 20mm webbing and just did the sewing by hand with 3.5kg mono that I use for making my own sabikis.

Finished up looking pretty nice if I may say so myself

Hi Shooshee

You can get shock cord from most chandlery shops like burnsco etc. You can also sometimes find shockcord trailor nets for cheap, like $4 or so. I got a small net and un-did the knots which gave me over 9m of cord for $4, not to bad.

Cookes has the hollow straping too, its great for making heavier duty leashes like tether lines for you and your yak (for good or bad) and rod leashes for when trolling for kingies etc.
On my SP rods etc I like the shock cord leash because its a bit lighter and allows the rod to move more freely without any influence for the extra weight of a bigger leash.

Hi Skip, like Badfish I make up my own leashes with bungy cord, nylon rope and heat shrink from Burnsco. I bought the stainless steel clips for attaching to saddles from Viking Kayaks, these can be ordered through their website and are $19 for 5 clips. I did discover recently that holding on to the paddle whilst being rolled in the surf will not stop the kayak however, the bungy broke. Given the mass of a kayak being propelled by a wave this is not suprising. I don't worry about a velcro strap around the paddle, just use a loop of cord. I have also started unclipping the paddle leash when landing on a surf beach as the last thing you need for a quick dismount is getting the paddle leash caught around your feet. It happened to my wife recently and she ended up arsing up over the kayak. Pretty hilarious to watch and she only sustained a small bruise on her leg, but it could have been quite nasty.

Tah Daaaa

Heres one i made earlier

First attempt at a rod leash and im quite pleased not as flash as some but should work fine and only $9