Lifelines Required ?

[Ruf361]

How often do you wear a harness boatman? always while sailing? Only when its rough? Only when its rough single handing at night while moving about the boat? Is there a typical harness/pfd protocal most people adhere to or is it personal choice? In many sailing blogs, i rarely see people with a harness or pfd on.

[shipofools]

no lifelines on our boat. always wear pdfs with harnesses built in. offshore, @ night, rough weather, solo, etc - jacklines rigged and tethers are used.

Cheers,

[hummingway]

Many of the Morris line don't have lifelines here's a lovely M42 with heads'l sweeping the deck.

[hummingway]

How about this M52. Hold on kids ...

[Ruf361]

sexy!

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by boatman61

To me Lifelines are the wires that run along the deck either side from the cockpit to the bow... when going forward to do something you clip your Harness to one of them...

A jackline is a flat webbing, rope, or wire strung from a ship's bow to stern to which a safety harness can be clipped, allowing a crewmember to move about the deck safely when there is risk of falling or being swept overboard.

A lifeline is a wire or rope guard rail (line), mounted on stanchions.

Below: blue safety line (tether) tied off to the red Jackline (right), and Lifelines (left)

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by Ruf361

ISAF applies only to racing? [/LEFT]

International sailing federation - international governing body for sail boat racing - they publish some rules called the 'special regulations' that set out safety requirements for sail boat racing. Its a reasonably big pdf, and a bit cryptic in places, but worth getting and reading, even if you are not racing. Its at:


http://www.sailing.org/tools/documen...lete101209Web-[7979].pdf

Generally you should NOT clip your harness onto the life lines. You should clip onto jacklines or specific deck hard points. There are various problems with clipping onto the life lines. The most practical problem is that you would have to clip and up clip every few feet as you went by each stanchion. Then the life lines are right outboard, so clipping to them will not prevent you from going overboard. And, if you clipped to the top life line, ther ewould be a lot of leverage on the stanchions - they 'should' hold but much safer to clip to something closer to the deck with less leverage.

[Ruf361]

i would want to clip to something more substantial. Clipping to a lifeline would result in deck repairs if i were to go over, this i am sure of. i am not a graceful faller. I like the jackline idea, jsut not sure i am sold on the lifeline/stanchion set up.

I bet the netting is a godsend when kids/pets/tools are involved.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Ruf361

i would want to clip to something more substantial. Clipping to a lifeline would result in deck repairs if i were to go over, this i am sure of. i am not a graceful faller. I like the jackline idea, jsut not sure i am sold on the lifeline/stanchion set up.

I bet the netting is a godsend when kids/pets/tools are involved.

Where lifelines help isn't the "holy crap I just got hit by a wave and am going overboard" sort of problems but more the "i'm walking and slightly lost my balance just a bit". Sort of like hand rails on steps. Some people might put weight on them, but most people don't need them and if you're using them, it's merely to apply some light pressure to steady yourself.

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

Originally Posted by boatman61

To me Lifelines are the wires that run along the deck either side from the cockpit to the bow... when going forward to do something you clip your Harness to one of them... for security

I hope you are kidding. I would never clip a harness to anything but a jackline and even I recognize that it is a body retrieval device, not a life saver. Stanchions go overboard when hit by sufficient force, a wave, say, jacklines do not.

[Ruf361]

only the trimeran with tramps on either side answered the question of how often harness/pdf's were used. anyone else care to chime in on how often you are actually wearing your harness? only for bad conditions?

[rebel heart]

I wear a pfd with builtin harness pretty much anytime I'm underway on a recreational vessel. Jacklines come out for nighttime work and/or offshore, conditions permitting. If you have the money the auto-inflate models with a harness are very comfy.



edit:

I think everyone can get lazy though. After you've been doing it a while or especially if you need to work on something a PFD can be a real pain in the ass. Still, I try to remember that I won't know in advance when I'm going to fall in and sort of like wearing a motorcycle helmet (regardless of laws) the more often you wear it the better your odds of surviving a mishap.

[shipofools]

recently I was on a monohull where all the lifelines were replaced with solid stainless tubing, and reinforced at the stanchion bases. The previous owner was handicapped and he did this for safety.

I actually liked the look, and thought it made a lot of sense. Downside that I can see is that boarding anywhere except the stern is tough, but they also added a real big swim platform. I guess if you hit something with the new railing, it will transmit damage across the whole structure, but I guess that is offset by a stronger structure.

Cheers,

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by shipofools

recently I was on a monohull where all the lifelines were replaced with solid stainless tubing, and reinforced at the stanchion bases. The previous owner was handicapped and he did this for safety.

I actually liked the look, and thought it made a lot of sense. Downside that I can see is that boarding anywhere except the stern is tough, but they also added a real big swim platform. I guess if you hit something with the new railing, it will transmit damage across the whole structure, but I guess that is offset by a stronger structure.

Cheers,

I can see it. You could add a gate too. I wonder about windage?

[Ruf361]

i have yet touch my guardrails other than to clean them every week... i could really do without them. i understand this situation could be much different on a sailboat.

i am a bit of a minimalist, and like the look san lifelines and stanchions.