Hey SSS,
I am in the home stretch of bringing the Crane Wife up to the Northern California Offshore Racing Council’s Minimum Equipment Requirements for the Singlehanded Farallones next month. I am replacing my old coated lifelines with dyneema and ran into an issue. Crane Wife has a gate on either side in the lifelines that uses a pelican clip to close the top lifeline and no bottom lifeline. The lack of a lower lifeline in the gate area would seem to violate rule 2.4.7 which states, "Boats 30' and over (9.14m) shall have at least two lifelines with 24" (762mm) minimum height above deck, and a maximum vertical gap of 15" (381mm)..." When I replace the lifelines, should I run the new ones (upper and lower) straight through this gate or is it legal to have it open on the bottom? I figure that I will probably go with the conservative option and just run the lines all the way from bow to stern, but I thought I would ask. Thanks for the help!

Evan