Back Clip Safey Harness

[thinwater]

Last night I watched Maiden Voyage, a movie about Laura Dekker sailing around the world at 15.


Except for coastal sailing (inflatable PFD), she mostly wore a simple back clip construction harness similar to this one (but without the side clips and a tether clipped to the back). I could not find a good image, but you will see it frequently in the movie.


contrast this with the iconic image of Robin Graham:


I'm not giving an opinion. Let's discuss benefits/cons of:

• Back clip. Harder to reach, not in your way, tow on your back.
• Hang time. How long can you hang without serious injury, and it's not as long as you think in either of these. Neither is useful up the mast.
• Fall rated harness vs. typical sailing harness with a crotch strap attached with nylon buckles.
• Comfort. more bulk, but a full harness does not need to be worn as tightly as a chest harness for safety.

Someone is going to say something about "reckless kids," but in most ways they were better prepared than most beginning adult cruisers I've met.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by thinwater

I'm not giving an opinion. Let's discuss benefits/cons of:

• Back clip. Harder to reach, not in your way, tow on your back.

• I'd expect that one clips on the safety lanyard, prior to donning the harness.

[Don C L]

There are pfds for rescue personnel with the d-ring in the back, but those are intended for a tether held by a support team on shore or deck. My main concern would be that I may need to detach myself in a hurry so I like the snap shackle right in front of me. Now, as for being pulled backward through the water….

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Don C L

... My main concern would be that I may need to detach myself in a hurry so I like the snap shackle right in front of me. Now, as for being pulled backward through the water….

A safety lanyard has two snap shackles [locking caribiners].
The one on the [upper back (dorsal) of the] harness remains attached to the harness' dorsal d-ring.
The one on the free working end is attached [and detached] from the structural support [Anchorage Connection Point], as needed.


In construction, there are several different types of safety harness, including restraint, and fall arrest, etc. Training is available, in their proper selection, and use.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by GordMay

[*]I'd expect that one clips on the safety lanyard, prior to donning the harness.[/LIST]

In industry, yes. But I suspect she is limber enough to reach it. Certainly, on a boat I would want to, because it is possible to get wrapped around rigging through bad planning. ISO standard requires front clip, but they don't give reasoning.



Also, if you can't reach the clipping point these is no quick release option.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by thinwater

... ISO standard requires front clip, but they don't give reasoning...

For jobs that require a ladder climbing/descent, or rescue positioning/retrieval tasks, a [chest] sternal D-Ring is recommended.

[dhenline]

I think the key to any harness is keeping the attachment short enough that any slip still keeps you on the boat. Two lanyards with locking carabiners, with one attached at all times. Likely the exact harness is almost irrelevant. The best harness is the one you wear. It it is cumbersome that you dont wear it, what good is it?

[SouthCoast]

I’ve only just seen this thread as I logged on to the forums for the first time in a while. I hope it’s okay to post a few weeks after the last message.

Our now 16 year old daughter has a back-clip harness which we had made four years ago (she also has a back-clip life jacket). This is a very interesting thread to help think about how some practices become ingrained to such an extent that people believe alternatives would be incorrect or unworkable in some way.

When we started sailing seriously just over four years ago, we had a really difficult time finding a safety harness for our (then 12 year old) daughter. I posted about it and while the replies were constructive and I was genuinely grateful for all the responses and input, it did leave us in the position of not knowing if we’d ever be able to get the sort of safety harness we needed and wanted for her.

We fortunately ended up talking to a father of twins who was a liveaboard cruiser and extremely knowledgeable with contacts in the RNLI and the USCG as well life jacket manufacturers. He had taken the time to design and have made custom safety harnesses for his twins and we pretty much ended up copying his design and had it made along with a custom tether (which he had also done).

I think a lot depends on your boat, if your soloing, etc., but we’ve found the back-clip harness (and life jacket) is the best design by far. Our daughter’s tether is never in her way, it functions as a great crew-to-crew safety check, and allows for a shorter tether to be used so there is no chance she can fall overboard (also eliminating concerns about hanging with a quick-release or help out of reach). The design is more a sailing harness than the construction harness used by Laura Dekker shown above, so it isn’t bulky or heavy, and with the buckles and adjusters at the back, there is room for large SOLAS patches on the front straps and an attached whistle (which none of the harnesses she tried four years ago had).

At first we wondered if the back-clip and buckles would be an inconvenience or annoyance, but they actually serve as a good reminder to always check all the clips and for others to check theirs too. Having it made also allowed us to customize her tether which is also safer being constructed with high-spec climbing carabiners. It took a lot of design time and was more expensive, and while I recognize the calls for certain designs for soloing, etc., with back-tow life jackets now available, and seeing the comfort and ease our daughter has when moving about the boat, I’m honestly surprised they’re aren’t more back-clip designs available.

Again, I’m not saying existing designs of harnesses are “bad” or “outdated” but having spent the time and money to get what we needed, we know it was well worth it. Our daughter has worn it for four years, and we set an expiry of five years based on the parts we bought, and she’ll probably outgrow it soon anyway and will likely spend less time with us on the boat any way. That said, it’s been the best design of harness we’ve had – and I don’t mean to blow my own trumpet as we didn’t really design it – it’s just an illustration that established designs, practices, and beliefs can be limiting if they’re not looked at carefully and shouldn’t get in the way of people thinking differently about an issue.

[AKA-None]

How does it release? I mean can she release it herself?

[SouthCoast]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

How does it release? I mean can she release it herself?

Her tether has three legs which are each length-matched to suit the jacklines and the padeyes. The tether is clipped to the back of her harness, and she then attaches one leg of the tether before unclipping the leg which is attached to move about the boat. That way she's never unclipped when above. The shortest leg of the tether is stored by attachment to a ring on one of the longer legs; that way whichever two legs aren't in use she clips to a webbing loop on the front of her harness. That way they simply run from the back-clip down around her side and clip to the front without hanging loosely but are available right in front of her when she needs to switch tether legs. It probably sounds complicated but it's actually a very neat solution to having the benefits of a three-leg tether without the problem of two always flopping around.

As the harness buckles at the back, she can put it on, but then someone else will buckle it for her. She will then check the life jacket/harness buckles and tether of whoever buckled her harness. It was designed that way to always ensure her harness and tether were checked before coming above, but it actually still works well as a way of checking each other's life jackets/harnesses/tethers are donned and adjusted properly. Again, probably sounds complicated but it isn't!

[SailRN]

I'm a certified advanced flood and advanced swift water rescuer. The PFDs we use with the clip on the back has a front quick release to detach the dorsal D-ring from the PFD.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by SailRN

I'm a certified advanced flood and advanced swift water rescuer. The PFDs we use with the clip on the back has a front quick release to detach the dorsal D-ring from the PFD.

Which brand is that? The one I know of it seems the buckle will get hung up as the strap tries to slide out, but I have never tried it.

[SouthCoast]

Originally Posted by SailRN

I'm a certified advanced flood and advanced swift water rescuer. The PFDs we use with the clip on the back has a front quick release to detach the dorsal D-ring from the PFD.

I've looked at ways to integrate a quick-release mechanism for the carabiner which clips onto her harness at the back, but given the way the harness and jacklines are setup for each other, add to the fact that she'll either outgrow her harness or it'll expire, there hasn't been any significant need.

[AKA-None]

My concern is that if need be how does one unclip an attachment on the back
That would concern me more than having a tether in front

[SouthCoast]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

My concern is that if need be how does one unclip an attachment on the back
That would concern me more than having a tether in front

99% of the time one of us will undo the tether from the back clip. If it's a situation where she'll be taking the harness on and off a few times during the day to swap it for her life jacket, we'll leave the tether attached and just unbuckle the harness. When she needs to put her harness on again, it's simply case of buckling it once she's put it on.


She could reach the attachment on the back if really absolutely necessary but because of the way the tether, jacklines, and padeyes are designed the chance she would need to release the back tether is almost zero - even in an emergency as she's always within an arm's reach of the clipped on tether leg.