What if a Locking Tether Safety Clip Doesn't Really Lock?

[Flagman101]

For jacklines I see two obvious mistakes on many boats.
The jacklines are so close to the rail that it is possible to fall off the boat.
The tethers are to long and do not prevent you from falling overboard.

Most tethers are designed as to restrict your movements so you can not get in a position where you could fall overboard. Like a dog leash. They are only designed to stop your mouvement.

In other post many stories of sailors drowning while being dragged along side the boat.
This would not happen if the set-up was such that it is impossible to fall off.

Also if you fall off, the clips are probably unable to resist the massive energy from stopping your fall. Specially if they end up with a side load.

[hellosailor]

Rather unsettling video. It seems that the clip (to me that is not a carabiner, my mind doesn't see it as quite the same thing) may have been "improved" too many times by folks who really didn't know how to test them for function. Plain spring-loaded hooks can release themselves from a taught line in pretty much the same surprising manner, so a designed familiar with the gear should have caught that.

The old big clunky Wichards still seem bullet-proof.