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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
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    Discovery Bay, CA
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    496

    Default tethers

    I am reading Andrew Evans' "Thoughts, tips....For Singlehanded sailors". Good info and interesting book however Andrew says he tapes his tether quick release up cause if he goes over offshore he's dead if he releases (hypothermia). I use a tether offshore and I keep the quick release active. I don't want to get trapped in the damn tether either due to capsize or some other crazy bashing around that gets me into a bizzare situation where the tether is wrapped around me or something.

    Anybody have any thoughts about tethers? Sometimes I am more afraid of the tether than I am of going over.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    111

    Default Jackline Routing

    My thoughts are to clip in so that I don't go over the lifelines. I figure if I go over, somewhere between the cold water, getting bashed along the hull, and water-logged clothing, I'm dead. When I'm at the helm or up near the bow I'm clipped in using the 3' tether.

    I don't agree the the jacklines should be run port and starboard from the bow the way it's stipulated in some Race Instructions. I think it makes more sense the run them from the bow to the mast on centerline, then down each side port and starboard.

  3. #3
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    Jun 2009
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    Default quick release on tether

    A quick release is faster than a knife. There might be situations where you want to release yourself, e.g., you're being dragged/drowned in the water, it's cinched around your arm, etc. I prefer the combo 3 ft/6 ft bungee tether.

    BTW, west marine recalled this type of tether in 2010 because of a defect in the quick release mechanism. Check their website if you run into their brand.

    Joe

  4. #4
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Submarino View Post
    A quick release is faster than a knife. There might be situations where you want to release yourself, e.g., you're being dragged/drowned in the water, it's cinched around your arm, etc. I prefer the combo 3 ft/6 ft bungee tether.

    BTW, west marine recalled this type of tether in 2010 because of a defect in the quick release mechanism. Check their website if you run into their brand.

    Joe

    I was the person who instigated the recall!! I was aboard the boat one day fussing around as we all do. I happened to grab my tethers off their storage rope and put a pull to the quick release on my older tether (I have two aboard), mind you, just putzing around. Even though I has fresh water washed it, the snap shackle has a little salt in in from my last dousing outside the Gate. The pin was sticky and I pulled a little harder, imagine my chagrin when the split ring just deformed and sprung open leaving me with the quick release handle in one hand and the snap shackle nicely closed in the other.

    I dashed off a letter to Practical Sailor and started getting calls from West Marine and the editor of Practical Sailor (to their great credit). Its unfortunate West Marine got a little bad press. I bought the damn thing from an online deep discount retailer. Its a Kong elastic loaded two hook tether which is a thing of beauty except for the split ring, kind of a "for lack of a nail" thing.

    As far as my setup on the boat, I use the long six foot leg of the tether to hook onto a ring bolted to the floor of the cockpit just forward of my pedestal. I have enough stretch that I can reach my deck jackline and clip in with the short three foot leg before I release the cockpit floor connection. The jacklines come back to about a foot aft of the cockpit coaming where they are attached to folding wichard rings that would support a Sherman tank. If I went over, even with the long tether leg, I would not wind up behind the boat. I take the tether forward on the starboard side, do a few turns on my bow cleat which is amidships and bring it aft on the port side. I loop the starboard end on the witchard ring, and secure the port side with a double wrapped piece of hi strength line which I then "sew down" with whipping twine so there is no way the knot is coming out. I use a flat low stretch jackline I bought from West Marine and remove and clean it when I am not offshore. My practice is to start tethering when I leave the Bay. I realize I should probably use it in the Bay too but its just a big hassle and I am banking on being seen if I go over. Some of you will roll your eyes at this but that's what I do.

    I try to use the short leg of the tether for all on deck work except at the mast where I will wrap the long tether around the mast before I do any standing up there to deal with reef / line fouls or whatever. I am a complete wimp on deck when offshore I will always keep my CG on deck so I move on my knees or my butt.

    Having said all of the above. I agree with the person that said its a pain because you always seem to get tangled in the thing moving around the cockpit, especially when you have your foulies on and all bundled up. God knows what would happen if you went over violently, what kind of attitude you would find yourself in, etc.

    I sail a Freedom 30 so I don't do any jib changes. The little self tacker is either up or down and that is fine with me.

    I think we should get together some fine summer day down on the warm water Delta and do some research. See who can get back on their boat unaided after a simulated fall, check out various methods to get back aboard, etc.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    70

    Default

    Nice thread. Thanks to Mark, the L38 article is scanned and online (last 2 pages transposed)http://www.sfbama.org/1999/1999DHF%20Shlasky.pdf

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Santa Rosa
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    Default

    Thank God I've never fallen off, although I've slipped several times and hit the lifelines - while tethered. I want to emphasize how important it is to have the aft end of jacklines secured so that I am never dragged beyond the stern. Pulling myself "upstream" behind a boat moving 5+ knots would be nearly impossible. I end my jacklines at the cabin so if I go over I'll come up against the hull in the cockpit area. I keep a rolled up ladder on each side, on the cockpit coaming, with a trip lanyard hanging over the side. "NANCY" has an open transom, but I don't know how I'd get back there to use it if the boat's moving.
    I loop a line around the auto helm and over the lifelines so it hangs down over both sides, too. I hope to reach it and jerk the helm off the tiller so the boat will round up.
    I get kidded for my "bulk" when I'm singlehanding: PLB and VHF around my neck. Spinlock PFD (I like the "hood" & thigh straps) with tether. Strobe light hooked on, too. I also have one of those orange whistles WM sells - the one with no "ball" that's especially loud.
    Pat Broderick

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    70

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by K38Bob View Post
    Nice thread. Thanks to Mark, the L38 article is scanned and online (last 2 pages transposed)http://www.sfbama.org/1999/1999DHF%20Shlasky.pdf
    Counterpoint to a too long tether
    http://www.sfbama.org/fs/Dramatic%20...20in%20DHF.pdf
    and
    http://www.sfbama.org/fs/CYC%20Report.pdf

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    105

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ragnar View Post
    My thoughts are to clip in so that I don't go over the lifelines. I figure if I go over, somewhere between the cold water, getting bashed along the hull, and water-logged clothing, I'm dead. When I'm at the helm or up near the bow I'm clipped in using the 3' tether.

    I don't agree the the jacklines should be run port and starboard from the bow the way it's stipulated in some Race Instructions. I think it makes more sense the run them from the bow to the mast on centerline, then down each side port and starboard.
    Does that mean you have to unclip from the double jacklines and clip on to the single center line when you work your way to the bow? With jacklines running down both sides, I can run the length of the boat in about 3 seconds flat while still clipped in, it's very handy. If I had to unclip all the time I would probably risk it to the bow untethered on a regular basis...

    I fell overboard once (not off my boat), caught a lifesling that was thrown to me, and ended up being towed behind the boat at ~5 kts. It was kind of a wild ride, but I managed to pull myself up the line a little ways before they stopped. The water was maybe 45 degrees (Strait of Juan de Fuca in May), but with foulies and thermals I wasn't incapacitated. My boat has really low freeboard (an unseaworthy feature according to the people that make up rules), and I have no doubt I could pull myself over the side fully clothed if I was hanging by a tether. But I am part monkey...

    Another note, on the SHTP I used my inflatable PFD with built-in harness the first day or two, but once I got offshore I used a chest harness exclusively. It's much less bulky, feels more secure, and if I went over an inflated PFD would impede my getting back on the boat, or prolong the agony if I got separated.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    111

    Default

    Great stuff, guys. A wealth of experience coming out that we all can learn from.

    Quote Originally Posted by cafemontaigne View Post
    Does that mean you have to unclip from the double jacklines and clip on to the single center line when you work your way to the bow? With jacklines running down both sides, I can run the length of the boat in about 3 seconds flat while still clipped in, it's very handy. If I had to unclip all the time I would probably risk it to the bow untethered on a regular basis...

    I fell overboard once (not off my boat), caught a lifesling that was thrown to me, and ended up being towed behind the boat at ~5 kts. It was kind of a wild ride, but I managed to pull myself up the line a little ways before they stopped. The water was maybe 45 degrees (Strait of Juan de Fuca in May), but with foulies and thermals I wasn't incapacitated. My boat has really low freeboard (an unseaworthy feature according to the people that make up rules), and I have no doubt I could pull myself over the side fully clothed if I was hanging by a tether. But I am part monkey...

    Another note, on the SHTP I used my inflatable PFD with built-in harness the first day or two, but once I got offshore I used a chest harness exclusively. It's much less bulky, feels more secure, and if I went over an inflated PFD would impede my getting back on the boat, or prolong the agony if I got separated.
    Adrian, I have a 2 clip tether, so yes, when I get to the mast, I clip on the 3' to the center line & unclip the 6' from the windward line. So yeah, rather than 3 seconds to the bow it's more like 12 seconds.

    Down south here, when Tom Kirshbaum was lost over the side of Feral with his tether on & clipped to the boat, we did a lot of investigation and thought on harnesses, tethers and jacklines. Tom couldn't get back aboard a very low freeboard boat - for some reason that we aren't sure of. Could you have pulled yourself aboard if the boat continued on at 5 knots? I'm just saying I doubt I could. I know myself and how weak and tired I can get in snotty conditions, so I think about how to stay inside the lifelines. That said, I'm thinking about rigging up some kind of deployable rope ladder that sits on my transom so if I do end up in the water, I at least have a chance.

    Regarding the lack of PFD offshore, a snug harness is a good harness. Tom slipped out of his - whether intentionally or unintentionally, we don't know. I choose to wear a PFD with harness, but along with a PLB and VHF (in the So Cal Bight). So if I'm separated from the boat, I can still set off a PLB or hail a fellow racer if they happen to be nearby.

    There is clearly no "one best way". But for me as I near 50, I'm trying to stay inside the lifelines.

    Whitall

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Vancouver, BC
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    11

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mike cunningham View Post
    I am reading Andrew Evans' "Thoughts, tips....For Singlehanded sailors". Good info and interesting book however Andrew says he tapes his tether quick release up cause if he goes over offshore he's dead if he releases (hypothermia). I use a tether offshore and I keep the quick release active. I don't want to get trapped in the damn tether either due to capsize or some other crazy bashing around that gets me into a bizzare situation where the tether is wrapped around me or something.

    Anybody have any thoughts about tethers? Sometimes I am more afraid of the tether than I am of going over.
    Reading this thread the other day, reminded me to get a new tether, which I've been meaning to do. The ones I have are for my high freeboard heavy-displacement cruising boat and are "homemade" --rope with a spliced eye and stainless snap shackle.

    For racing my Cal 20, I realized I wanted something that has a good one-handed quick-release. So, I just bought a Spinlock two-lead tether --this one: http://www.spinlock.co.uk/en/deckwar...ip-safety-line The two tether leads are short and long, depending on need. I gotta say, my rock climbing background (which likes simple things for efficiency and safety) makes me look at the "extra" tether and wonder what it's gonna get caught on eventually...but it seems like a good way to go if you keep the "extra" one clipped well out of the way...but somehow easily accessible when needed in a hurry?! I really like the quick-release feature on the carabiners: very sturdy, but easy to release one-handed. Almost bought the West Marine one; glad I didn't.

    As far as jacklines go --I'm in the process of installing two sets of tubular webbing jacklines: port/stbd from front of cockpit to bow; and a single one for the cockpit. This is following the advice of Robert Crawford on Blackfeathers (Cal 20), to avoid long jacklines and the stretch they'd have. They'll be sewed to stainless carabiners/snap shackles so as to be easily removable when boat is not being sailed.

    Anyone have any opinions on the two-lead (long and short) tethers? Is the extra one in the way? Or is it nice to have a short and long tether, depending on need?

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