THIS INVENTION relates to a connector for connecting a leash to a water sports board.

A water sports board, as referred to herein, is a floatation board which a person may use in the sea to do sports or merely for recreation. A board, as referred to herein, has the same meaning. Examples of such boards are surfboards and body boards. It is known that a person using such a board sometimes connects himself to the board via a suitable leash. The leash operatively is connected at its one end to such a board and at its other end to a strap fitted around a body part of a person, e. g. around a wrist or an ankle. Insofar as the configuration and application of such a leash is known, it will not be elaborated on herein and any reference hereinafter to a leash must be interpreted as a reference to a leash of this general type.

According to the invention there is provided a connector for connecting a leash to a water sports board, which connector includes a base body for mounting on such a board, and a swivel body connected to the base body in a configuration in which it can swivel with respect to the base body, the swivel body defining a connecting formation for connection with a matching connecting formation of a leash.

The base body may be configured for mounting on a board by location thereof within a recess defined therefor in the operative top surface of the board and fixing thereof to the surrounding portion of the board by means of a suitable resin. Such fixing may be particularly appropriate in the case where the strength of the said surrounding portion is sufficient to operatively resist pulling out of the base body from the board when so fixed to it, as will be the case with at least some surfboards.

The base body may define a generally round cylindrical outer surface for matching a recess in the form of a round cylindrical recess defined in the operative top surface of a board in which it is locatable, in the operative configuration thereof. The outer surface of the base body may define therein at least one pocket for receiving a fluent resin introduced into a recess defined in a board in which the base body is locatable, to create interlock upon setting of the resin.

With some types of water sports boards, fixing of a connector to such a board by means of a resin, as defined above, is not suitable. In a connector for use with such a board, the base body may include a body portion configured for location in a recess defined therefor in the operative top surface of a water sports board and the connector may include a securing formation for securing the said body portion in its recess by engagement thereof via a hole defined through the board between the recess and an operative bottom surface of the board, the securing formation defining a flange operatively abutting against the said operative bottom surface; in the operative securing configuration thereof. The body portion of the base body and the securing formation may operatively engage one another via complementary screw thread formations.

The swivel body and the base body may define matching ball and socket formations interconnecting them and permitting swivel of the swivel body with respect to the base body. The base body particularly may define the socket formation and the swivel body the ball formation. Also, the base body may include at least two body parts that

are operatively interconnected and together form the socket formation. As such, once the socket formation has been formed from the at least two body parts with the ball formation of the swivel body received in it, removal of the ball formation from the socket formation is prevented. The at least two body parts may include a first body part, which can be located in a matching recess defined in the operative top surface of a board and which defines a recess in which the second body part is received, the second body part defining a hole therethrough and the connecting formation of the swivel part operatively projecting through the said hole when its ball formation is received in the socket formation defined between the two body parts. The second body part may be an annular part which is operatively removably received and fixed in the recess of the first body part to permit removal and replacement of the swivel body through removal of the second body part.

The connecting formation of the swivel body may be a closed loop formation for interconnecting the swivel body with a matching connecting formation of a leash.

The invention extends also to a water sports board incorporating a connector for connecting a leash thereto, which connector includes a base body, mounted on the board, and a swivel body connected to the base body in a configuration in which it can swivel with respect to the base body, the swivel body defining a connecting formation for connection with a matching connecting formation of a leash.

The connector of the water sports board may include any or all of the features of a connector as defined above.

The invention is described below by way of example with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic operative top view of a water sports board in the form of a surfboard incorporating a first embodiment of a connector for connecting a leash to a water sports board, in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 shows a diagrammatic general view of a part of the connector of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a diagrammatic cross-section of the part of Figure 2 along the line 111-111 of Figure 2; Figure 4 shows a diagrammatic general view of another part of the connector of Figure 1; Figure 5 shows a diagrammatic cross-section of the part of Figure 4 along the line V-V of Figure 4; Figure 6 shows a diagrammatic general view of yet another part of the connector of Figure 1; Figure 7 shows a diagrammatic general view of the part of Figure 6 in the direction of arrows VII-VII of Figure 6; Figure 8 shows a diagrammatic partial cut-away view of a combination of the connector of Figure 1, a portion of the surfboard of Figure 1, and a portion of a surfing leash connected to the connector; and Figure 9 shows a diagrammatic partial cut-away view of a combination of a second embodiment of a connector, in accordance with the invention, a portion of a water sports board in the form of a body board, and a part of a surfing leash connected to the connector.

In Figure 1, a connector for connecting a leash to a water sports board, in accordance with the invention, is designated generally by the reference numeral 10. The connector 10 is mounted on a surfboard 12, as will be described in more detail hereinafter. A conventional-type surfing leash 14 is connected to the connector 10.

In Figures 2 and 3, a first body part of a base body of the connector 10 of Figure 1 is designated generally by the reference numeral 16. The body part 16 includes an injection moulded plastics material body 18 defining a generally round cylindrical outer surface 20 and three pockets 22 in the surface. The body 18 includes a hollow round cylindrical portion defining therein a recess 24 for receiving another part of the base body, as will be described hereinafter, and a part 26 of a socket formation of a ball and socket formation of the connector 10, as will become apparent from the remainder of this description.

The body part 16 includes also three brass inserts 28, each defining a female screw thread formation 30 (see Figure 3), c-axial with the surface 20, peripherally spaced about the part 26 of a socket formation and daylighting in the recess 24.

In Figures 4 and 5, a second body part of the base body of the connector 10 of Figure 1 is designated generally by the reference numeral 34. The part 34 comprises an injection moulded plastics material body 36 defining a round cylindrical outer surface 38 that provides for a snug fit of the part 34 in the recess 24 (see Figure 3) of the part 16 of Figures 2 and 3. The body 36 defines therethrough a central hole 39 and three holes 40 corresponding to the brass bodies 28 (see Figure 2) for receiving matching screws for removably interconnecting the part 34 with the part 16 of Figures 2 and 3.

With reference particularly to Figure 5, the body 36 defines a part 42 of a socket formation. As will become apparent from the remainder of this description, once the parts 16 (see Figures 2 and 3) and 34 are interconnected, the parts 26 (see Figure 3) and 42 together define a socket formation.

In Figures 6 and 7, a swivel body of the connector 10 of Figure 1 is designated generally by the reference numeral 46. The body 46 includes an injection moulded plastics material body 48 defining a ball formation 50, matching the parts 26 and 42 of a socket formation (see Figures 3 and 5, respectively). The body 46 defines also a connecting formation in the form of a closed loop formation 52 for connecting it to a matching connecting formation of a surfing leash.

In Figure 8, the connector 10 of Figure 1 is shown fully assembled and mounted on the surfboard 12 (partially shown). The surfboard 12 defines in its operative top surface 53 a recess in the form of a round cylindrical blind bore 54 in which the part 16 is located and fixed via a resin 56. The resin 56 has been partially received in the pockets 22 defined in the part 16 to interlock with the part 16.

The parts 34 and 16 are removably interconnected via three stainless steel screws 58 (only one shown here) cooperating with the brass inserts 28. The ball formation 50 of the swivel body 46 is received within a matching socket formation defined by the parts 26 and 42 of a socket formation of the parts 16 and 34, respectively. Clearance is provided between the ball formation 50 and the socket formation to permit swivel of the swivel body 46 with respect to the base body, which includes the parts 16 and 34 and the screws 58.

The body part 16 particularly was fixed in the recess 54 so that a portion 60 of its hollow round cylindrical portion projected from the operative top surface 53 of the surfboard 12. The portion 60 has been sanded down flush with the surface 53.

The closed loop formation 52 projects through the hole 39 to the outside of the surfboard 1 2. The loop formation 52 is sufficiently elastically deformable to permit it to pass through the hole 39. It has been connected to a connecting formation in the form of a length of string 64 of the leash 14.

Clearly, should the swivel body 46 ever be damaged, it may be replaced with another identical part by removing the body part 34 from the body part 16 after unscrewing the screws 58.

In Figure 9, a second embodiment of a connector for connecting a leash to a water sports board is designated generally by the reference numeral 68. The connector 68 includes many features that are identical to corresponding features of the connector 10 of Figures 1 and 8. Identical features, where designated, are thus designated again by the same reference numerals as before and a description of these features may be found in the description above of Figures 1 to 8.

The connector 68 includes a base body 70 including a body portion 72, similar to the body part 16 of Figures 2 and 3, located in a recess 74 defined therefor in the operative top surface 76 of a body board 78. The body portion 72 defines a round cylindrical outer surface 73. The base body 70 includes also a hollow round cylindrical shaft 80, integrally formed with the body portion 72, c-axial with the surface 73, and projecting from the operative bottom of the portion 72. The shaft 80 is internally screw threaded and is received within a hole 82 defined through the board 78 between the centre of the recess 74 and the operative bottom surface 84 of the board.

An operative bottom surface 86 of the body portion 72 is seated on a matching surface defined by the board 78 around the hole 82.

The base body 70 includes also a securing formation 88, which includes a flange 90 and a central shaft 92 defining a male screw thread formation complementary to the screw thread formation of the shaft 80. By screwing the shaft 92 of the securing formation 88 into the shaft 80, as shown, the body portion 72 is secured within the recess 74. This is the securing configuration of the securing formation 88, in which its flange 90 abuts against the operative bottom surface 84 of the board 78.