Being safe around ropes

[LeighWebber]

In the Navy, I spent a summer on a sail training yacht under the supervision of some very experienced seamen. Here are some of the rules they strictly enforced:

1. Never stand (or sit) in a bight (any curved portion of a line), because if the line suddenly becomes taught, you will either trip (if it's an open bight) or be snagged and dragged (if it's a closed bight). This means you ALWAYS look where you are stepping, even if your current task has nothing to do with line handling.
2. Never wrap a line around any part of your body. E.g. don't wrap a line around your wrist or hand to get a better grip. If the line pulls suddenly, you lose your hand or arm.
3. When wrapping a line around a winch drum, keep firm tension on the free end while you wrap, and keep your hands at least two feet away from the drum. If the line gets a sudden surge, your hands won't get pulled into the drum (causing you to lose fingers).
4. If possible, when tacking, wrap the new leeward sheet around the winch while it is still slack. Put three quick turns on it before starting to take up the slack.
5. When easing a sheet or halyard that is on a cleat, remove all but the last turn on the cleat while maintaining firm pressure on the free end. Never "flip" the line off the cleat -- do it deliberately, maintaining tension. Before starting to ease the line, it should have a full turn on the cleat so that if you pull on the free end, the line will jam on the cleat and stop it from running out. Then have your hands at least two feet from the cleat and WITHOUT LETTING THE LINE SLIP BETWEEN YOUR FINGERS, hold the free end firmly and move your hands toward the cleat. As the line starts to move around the cleat, move your hands back on the free end, again without letting the line slip. You can move hand over hand, or hands together - hands apart. Just don't let the line slip between your fingers. Reason: once a line starts to slip, you may not be able to grasp it again without pulling your hands into the cleat, and leaving your fingers on the deck.
6. When easing a sheet or halyard that is on a winch drum, keep tension on the free end at all times. Keep your hands at least two feet from the drum. Never let the line slip between your fingers (see previous tip). Ease the line towards the drum until it starts to slip around the drum, then move your hands back (again as described above). Do not unwind the line from the drum until the load end is completely slack.
7. The very first thing you do after securing a line to a cleat (on the mast, cabintop, cockpit coaming -- anywhere) is coil the line and secure the coil. On the mast, coil the line, then reach through the coil and grasp the line (not the part under tension, of course) close to the cleat, and pull a loop through the coil. Twist that loop a few times, then hang the loop on the cleat. The line is now neatly coiled and hanging on the cleat, ready to be let go. The line is NOT sloshing around on the deck, washing over the side and into your propeller, etc. On the cabintop or in the cockpit, you do the same thing, unless you have nice line bags into which you can drop the coiled free end. Lines should never be lying around loose. This has to be an automatic habit.

The major danger in all cases is a sudden strain coming on a line, or a line under tremendous pressure. If your hands are anywhere near anything other than the line itself, you're going to lose body parts. If you ever allow a line to slip or run between your fingers, you may not be able to stop it, and if you try, your hands will be pulled towards danger.

BTW, the training yacht was a 92-foot ketch, with the largest spinnaker on the west coast at the time. The line tensions on sheets and halyards were enormous.

I teach these lessons to everyone who comes aboard my boat. So far, everyone has left with the limbs they came aboard with.

[Fundy Sailor]

Don't forget lines around cleats, either. While crewing on an Oyster 56, our skipper lost the tips of 2 fingers and a thumb while adjusting the gybe preventer on the mainsail. The boat rolled, the line came slack, then snapped tight with his fingers in the wrong place. Fortunately had 2 doctors on board so he got excellent treatment but was high as a kite on painkiller for the next couple days!

[jkindredpdx]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

J-
When I learned to sail, they were up front about keeping long hair secured (bandanna, watch cap, bun, whatever) not wearing necklaces, large earrings, even regular rings and watches can all be "catch" hazards. As well as never stepping inside a coil of line, never letting a loaded line give you a friction burn, staying clear of tow ropes that might snap. All pretty much basic safety when you're literally working "in" a large machine with moving parts.
I suppose the phrase "traumatic amputation" tends to discourage folks from the sport, huh?

Years ago a friend once connected me with an "excellent" rock climber. He was first up a wall where he set a top belay point. When I followed him up and fell out from the overhang, he was trapped between the climbing rope and a large boulder... said the rope was cutting him in half. I got my weight off the rope, he got free, and I got back to ground. He started rappelling down and got his shoulder length hair caught between the rope and his carabiners. Agony ensued... that experience anchored it in me to safely handle lines and survey my environment for potential threats.