Short hand sailing

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by thomm225

I'm thinking a short tether might be better so you don't go in at all.

Indeed.

However a knotted rope, lanyard to kill switch and tiller, that sort of stuff, is good second level insurance. I frankly never thought about that or never seriously anyway, but I will be incorporating that into my bag of tricks. I always clip in, and I generally keep my tether short enough to enforce my continued presence onboard.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by GrowleyMonster

Indeed.

However a knotted rope, lanyard to kill switch and tiller, that sort of stuff, is good second level insurance. I frankly never thought about that or never seriously anyway, but I will be incorporating that into my bag of tricks. I always clip in, and I generally keep my tether short enough to enforce my continued presence onboard.

All good ideas, but I still don't clip in much.

I'm usually within 5-10 miles of the shoreline though but thinking about it that would be a tough swim especially in cold water.

I will clip in from time to time when the wind is 20 knots plus and if I decide to sail well offshore I'd probably stay clipped in

I'm not new to boats though and bought my first one in the 70's

[boatman61]

The guys in favour of the knotted line/tiller/kill switch..
I suggest you go out with crew and sailing around 4-5 knots topple sideways or backwards of the bow or midships in your normal sailing gear and see if you can recover quickly enough to get to the line in time to grab it..
Curious to hear the reports back...

[Arthur Garfield]

We practice MOB drills to maintain situational awareness,presence of mind and, recovery.The trailing knotted line with engine kill is another safety mechanism. Why not?
This "guy" is getting back to you Boatman61 to let you know this tool really does function well in practice.So,be curious no more.
Great fun for the young one also,from all quarters!

Certainly,I wouldn't profess to be so expert that every additional safety advantage is not needed.


All the Best

[contrail]

Originally Posted by thomm225

All good ideas, but I still don't clip in much.

I'm usually within 5-10 miles of the shoreline though but thinking about it that would be a tough swim especially in cold water.

I will clip in from time to time when the wind is 20 knots plus and if I decide to sail well offshore I'd probably stay clipped in

I'm not new to boats though and bought my first one in the 70's

Hmmm. No offence, but that's the same mistake quite a few offshore greats have made, to their eternal cost. Thinking Eric Tabarly, Rob James, Mike Plant and more.

I have always had an inflatable lifejacket with harness, comfortable enough to sleep in bare chested, which gives me no excuse not to have it on, 24/7, and permanently rigged jacklines with a pre-placed tether on either side. If out of the cockpit, for any reason, I have no excuse not to be attached. And, by the way, if I did have an excuse, I know myself well enough to know that I probably would use it....which is why I have things rigged this way.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Arthur Garfield

We practice MOB drills to maintain situational awareness,presence of mind and, recovery.The trailing knotted line with engine kill is another safety mechanism. Why not?
This "guy" is getting back to you Boatman61 to let you know this tool really does function well in practice.So,be curious no more.
Great fun for the young one also,from all quarters!

Certainly,I wouldn't profess to be so expert that every additional safety advantage is not needed.


All the Best

I don't profess to be an 'expert'.. believe me.
But having been a competitive all round swimmer in my glory days I'm prone to scepticism that combined with the shock of tumbling over, recovery time and orientation then trying to reach a line dressed in say weather gear">foul weather gear and wearing a life jacket before it sails on past.. even if its 100ft long.
Being a mainly solo sailor I've weighed up many options and came to the conclusion that if I go over it boils down to no PFD, die fast.. wearing a PFD, die slow.. with maybe the last thing you see is a gull pecking your eyes out.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by contrail

Hmmm. No offence, but that's the same mistake quite a few offshore greats have made, to their eternal cost. Thinking Eric Tabarly, Rob James, Mike Plant and more.

I have always had an inflatable lifejacket with harness, comfortable enough to sleep in bare chested, which gives me no excuse not to have it on, 24/7, and permanently rigged jacklines with a pre-placed tether on either side. If out of the cockpit, for any reason, I have no excuse not to be attached. And, by the way, if I did have an excuse, I know myself well enough to know that I probably would use it....which is why I have things rigged this way.

No offense taken. I think clipping in is the smart thing to do. (even though I did hear of one guy that was found drowned and still tethered to his boat)

I have to go forward to the mast on my boat quiet often to raise and lower the main sail, to reef, sometimes I have to go retighten the anchor lines on the bow, or work on a jammed roller furler.

My tether is very short and if I use a jack line with the tether I'm thinking I'd have too much excess line

I usually go forward on the windward side. I just now reattached my dodger so that's another obstacle to go around on the way forward.

Maybe one tether forward and one aft is the way to go while using the hand holds to come and go

But I just noticed the water temp is already up to 65 degrees here. I'm usually between 5-12 miles from shore depending and I do wear my kayaking PFD out there so my strategy would be if separated from the boat to swim/drift to land or line up on one of the tunnel islands of the bridge on the way out to the Atlantic.

I ran 2.5 miles (old man style) last week so I'm in decent shape but not the best. I also did pushups (25) and pullups (7). Doing pullups are important if you have a boat like mine with no ladder.

If I'm sailing in the ocean and the tide is going out, it might be a good time to clip in

Hypothermia Chart

[barnakiel]

I am too into clipping in. Our safety webbing is inboard (close to the center of the boat and I use a twin tether (long/short). All our safe points are at the center too. No way to dangle overboard not even on the longer leg of the leash.

Alas, after a recent adventure, I have removed the auto deploy dongle from my life vest. I am also about to downgrade from pdf/harness to harness only (pdf to be worn over when conditions suggest). I will also degrade from auto jacket to (possibly) a water skiing neoprene one.

b.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by boatman61

The guys in favour of the knotted line/tiller/kill switch..
I suggest you go out with crew and sailing around 4-5 knots topple sideways or backwards of the bow or midships in your normal sailing gear and see if you can recover quickly enough to get to the line in time to grab it..
Curious to hear the reports back...

I'm with boatman61 on this, if for no other reason than the math. Since if the boat's doing 6kts, & it takes you only 10sec to come up & start your hunt for that thin, 2/3 submerged, "floating" line, the boat will have traveled 100'.

Now add in the surprise of falling in, the cold water, wearing heavy clothes, boots, & foulies, & your swimming speed is now VERY slow, especially in anything but a flat calm. Where you're doing well just to keep the ocean out of your mouth. THEN you have to remember to go & swim for the emergency line. But wait, you've yet to directionally orient yourself, non?
And are you wearing a PFD? How well can you swim in it? This, along with all of your other kit. Especially if it's an inflatable with crotch straps, designed, pretty much, to turn you onto your back, regardless of your wishes.
Try it.

10sec. doesn't take long to transpire in MOB situations. Especially if you're the MOB

[huhns]

>i

Originally Posted by belizesailor

However, as you point out later in your post, how easy a vessel is to single hand is all about how its set up.

Many cats for example are not very well set up for single handing.

A mono with a relatively narrow cockpit...where you can easily reach the jib winches is quite easy to single hand.

Cutter rigs are great for single handing, especially once the wind picks up enough that you have struck the jib...stay sail is self tending (on most) so to tack you just turn the wheel.

Bn

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by huhns

>i

Bn

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