The Importance Of Being Tethered and Having a Boarding Ladder

[hellosailor]

"I do have a Bimini, ...to keep the sun off my head."


Funny thing about that. I've got a Tilley hat for the summer, and a Jeep cap (like Radar wore on MASH, a knitted watch cap with a sun bill on it) for the winter.


I can appreciate biminis and all, but then again, if I wanted to be on a trawler, I'd be on a trawler.(G)

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"I do have a Bimini, ...to keep the sun off my head."


Funny thing about that. I've got a Tilley hat for the summer, and a Jeep cap (like Radar wore on MASH, a knitted watch cap with a sun bill on it) for the winter.


I can appreciate biminis and all, but then again, if I wanted to be on a trawler, I'd be on a trawler.(G)

I do wear a hat too, But the bimini also keeps the cockpit a tad cooler when it's above 90 in the delta. What does a trawler have to do with it???.

Btw I see the sail and windex just fine from in front of the wheel (my standard steering position.

[Rustic Charm]

I've just watched Lavagabond's latest video and two of the guys are jumping off and grabbing a line behind the boat for fun. You hear Elana commenting they are just on 3 knotts. The boys manage to hold on, but both of them say they would not be able to do it for long as the waves seem to make it the hardest. So, clearly it is possible.

I tried it last year and at just 2 knotts I was unable to even grab the robe. I'm not convinced that tieing knotts in the rope would help as I think I would have just found they would damage my wet hands. That's probably a combination of my lack of fitness and my extra weight. Where as both these guys on Lavagabond are fairly slim. Riley wouldn't be more than 80k's I suspect.

Someone last year was claiming to be able to hold on at 5 knots AND pull themselves back to their boat personally I don't believe it no matter how fit and young they are.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

I do wear a hat too, But the bimini also keeps the cockpit a tad cooler when it's above 90 in the delta. What does a trawler have to do with it???.

Btw I see the sail and windex just fine from in front of the wheel (my standard steering position.

I've got a bimini planned for next years haul out. I have loose one that was made up by the previous owner and it clips to some of the mizzen shrouds. But in the wind it flaps around and is noisy as hell. In the rain it seems to direct rain into my entrance thingy.

[uncle stinkybob]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"I do have a Bimini, ...to keep the sun off my head."


Funny thing about that. I've got a Tilley hat for the summer, and a Jeep cap (like Radar wore on MASH, a knitted watch cap with a sun bill on it) for the winter.


I can appreciate biminis and all, but then again, if I wanted to be on a trawler, I'd be on a trawler.(G)

WOW, thats double tough, I'm assuming you live aboard an open boat with no cabin? and of course, no engine? Sculling oar perhaps? LOL

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

What a really good idea

I read that suggestion, respected the writer, and so I tried it. Fail.

a. How do you keep just the right line length (it needs to be longer as you move forward)?

b. If there is slack, how do you keep it from wrapping around the spreaders?

c. On a monohull with heel, a single hander would find himself comically suspended from the halyard 10 feet to leeward of the deck. That would suck. Eventually a shark will take off your feet, like a teaser bait. No a problem for a cat sailor.

Breast lines, on the other hand, I'm all for. Work great on many boats, depending on the rigging.

As for boom for MOB hauling, works great. You do need to lower the main. How you would use a sail to parbuckle a MOB up, in rough weather (the only time he should go over) with a short handed crew is totally beyond me.





http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/20...-climbing.html

[tankersteve]

Wasn't the original concept of a line dragged behind the boat intended to disengage the autopilot? The concept was that then the boat would round up (eventually), instead of steadily sailing off over the horizon.

I don't think anyone could hold onto a line astern for long when making any real headway.

Tankersteve

[hellosailor]

" What does a trawler have to do with it???."
In the logical progression from being outdoors (while sailing, not while sleeping) to adding a dodger and a bimini for more shade and rain stopping, if you keep going in that direction you wind up in the nicely air conditioned, climate controlled, pilothouse of a trawler, don't you?(G)
Not that I have anything against climate controlled comfort, but that's what the YC bar is for, isn't it?(G)

[Mirage35]

Originally Posted by timbenner

Moron - Someone who makes the same mistake over and over again. Also the definition of insanity!

Having been married 3 times, I guess I fit into the moron category?

Nah - that's just the triumph of optimism over experience.

[seasick]

I have always used breast lines. I cut a ten-inch soft plastic hose and thread the breast line through it. I grab this hose when running forward which slides along the line so I don't get rope burns. Works well.

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by seasick

I have always used breast lines. I cut a ten-inch soft plastic hose and thread the breast line through it. I grab this hose when running forward which slides along the line so I don't get rope burns. Works well.

Wow--you must move forward a lot faster than me! I do really like having breast lines. We were temporarily using some 1/2" braid that had been retired from service as running rigging--it was great to hold onto-- and now we have smaller 1/4" dyneema (Amsteel) breast lines. I was considering threading another smaller line inside the dyneema to make it thicker and easier to hold onto since that wouldn't reduce strength (I'd just have to change lengths of course) but your idea would work as well--I could place a plastic hose section as you did and that would make a thicker and easier to hold onto bit than the dyneema itself.

[Rustic Charm]

It was only last year in a cf discussion we were waiting for epirbs to include a MOB device or AIS to tell crew where the MOB person is and it seems sos marine is on the same track.

SOS Marine and Mobilarm announce the new sMRT inflatable Dan Buoy - MySailing.com.au

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

It was only last year in a cf discussion we were waiting for epirbs to include a MOB device or AIS to tell crew where the MOB person is and it seems sos marine is on the same track.

SOS Marine and Mobilarm announce the new sMRT inflatable Dan Buoy - MySailing.com.au

And that baby goes for AU$1500.00 + GST........OUCH!

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

And that baby goes for AU$1500.00 + GST........OUCH!

Hell got a long way to go then before it becomes useful for recreational use. And i dont mean smoking it

[sailor1924]

Originally Posted by maxingout

We started sailing around the world with a jack line going down each side of the deck, but I was not happy that it would not keep people from going overboard.

I eventually made an extra long halyard to the top of the mast and I clipped that into the safety harness of whoever went forward. That way if a person ever fell through a trampoline or went overboard, they could easily be winched back on board.

I think it's an interesting idea, but not much help for a single hander. I've gone through the lifelines twice and with great good fortune was able to grab on and get back on deck both times and both those occurences happened to a young man in good physical conditon. But I never went completely overboard loosing contact with the boat either time and didn't have to try and catch a boat moving away from me. I too have considered the trailing a line and maybe 40 years ago it might have helped, but I certainly couldn't hang on long enough to do anything but trip a windvane and/or a transmission lever now.
At 69 I'm still single handing and and have invested a lot of thought and time to trying to make my boat a safer platform for budding septuagenarian. I've added a solid three foot high railing from the cockpit to the bow, with a solid two foot high rail beneath and will add a one foot high line below. Remember I said I went through the lifelines in my youth so probably netting as well ( I have conflicting thought about netting as I got on deck beneath the lifelines went I went through them).
I've also added an inboard three foot high rail at my trunk cabin roof so that I can go forward holding on with both hands in a railed corridor and I'm currently adding a set of rails at the mast to wedge myself in and work at the mast contained. Reading here I think I'll rig a removable breast line for single handing.
Back to the idea of single handing with a halyard tether; perhaps a tripline could be rigged with a para anchor attached and pull the person overboard back up to the deck or some appropriate height with water pressure as the boat sails away.
The closest height above the resting waterline on my boat is forty inches my sleeve length is only thirty-two so I can't even grab a gunnel from the water. So I've designed a new boarding ladder that will deploy from the water. I don't know if I could back to a moving boat but I might not drown when falling out of the dinghy.