Safety Question - Sailing Solo

I would like to know if anyone has any great insight on this problem:

In the past week, there was a solo race across Lake Michigan. While a particular 38' boat was under control of the autohelm, one of the particpants, while tethered to the boat, was apparently flipped overboard. They found the boat and attached body washed up on shore.

When sailing alone, what has anyone come up with to do if you get flipped overboard? That is the question. What preparations can you make in advance so you can get back in the boat? Stop the boat? Get Help?

To start the discussion, the a Coast Guard person said I should wear a portable VHF on a line around my neck. In my perview, all that does is give you two alternative ways of buying the farm.

Note: There are no wrong or right answers. No one seems to have an answer to this question.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary has some advice for single handers. Don't sail alone. It isn't safe. Perhaps that is the only "great insight" onm the topic.

However, many skippers, even of they do not single hand, do sail with inexperiencd crew members, who may not be capable of rescuing the skipper if he or she falls overboard.

The 1981 book, "A Manual of Single Handed Sailing" by Tony Meisel has several suggestions for the single-hander. May of these suggestions are also helpful to skippers who never sail alone, but do sail with inexperienced crew.

Meisel's chapter 8 deals with safety. He suggests many design features to help you stay onboard, and he also suggests a few for regaining your intended place on deck after a fall overboard.

1. Wear a proper harness and use jack lines run from the cockpit to the foredeck, and as close to the centerline as possible. The jack lines should be attached to through bolted padeyes. He recommends wire jack lines attached with swaged-end fittings or Norseman terminals.

2. "Some sort of ladder" (either a permanently mounted stern ladder, a quick release emergency boarding ladder reaching below the waterline, or steps on a transom hung rudder.

3. A trailing line (he suggests floating polypropylene line of approximately 75 feet long) with a floating ring on the trailing end.

4. Some method of attaching the trailing line to the self-steering tiller lines by a snap shackle, so that if you fall overboard and grab the trailing line, or the trailing life ring at teh end of that line, the self-steering will be tripped and the boat will round up.

5. The trip line in #4 above could be doubled so that the second line will trip the horseshoe and the man overboard pole (He suggests this when sailing with crew.

Tony Meisel's book is worth reading as are most books on the subject of cruising and cruising safety.

If one did fall overboard forward of the shrouds, on a six foot tether, I am not at all sure how exactly one would get back to the stern ladder without releasing the carbiner on one's tether, unless the boat has rounded up. Even a boat that has both sails luffing can make way faster than most people can swim if the wind is up.

Somewhere I recently read a suggestion that the prudent skipper tow a small boat behind either so that a sailor who falls overboard can get to the towline and access the boat. In a crewed boat the remaining crew can release the towline so that the boat is temporarily left behind with the hopefully temporarily lost crewmember. It is much easier to locate a released dinghy with a standing and waving crewmember in it than the head of an overboard crew member in the water.

I sail in the ocean, and have on and off since 1980. I often sail alone. I was knocked unconscious on the foredeck of a 35-foot cutter (a Baba 35) in the 1980s when a wave knocked me off my feet as I was securing the jib that I had just dropped. I was saved from going overboard by the high gunnels on that boat. The Skipper was in the cockpit at the time. We had a crew of two.

On another occasion when I was sailing a Catalina 22, I was nearly swept overboard while tending to my jib after the leech had begun to rip. I was wearing a harness, but in my haste to reach he foredeck before further damage occurred to the jib, I neglected to clip in.

On that boat, I did not have jack lines. Although it was a poor alternative, I used to clip in to the single lifelines on the weather side of the boat. That day I forgot to clip in. I caught a lifeline as I was sliding under it on my way into the water.

My current boat, an Ariel, has lifelines that are not attached to stanchions, but instead to the bow and stern rails, and in addition, to a pin rail, which is through bolted with U bolts around the shrouds, and to through deck bolted pad eyes and other through deck attachment devices backed by stainless steel and or marine plywood backing plates. I currently clip onto those lines, but have to unclip at the shrouds to access the bow. I plan to add jack lines made of a suitable webbing material. I like the fact that webbing lays flat on the deck, unlike wire.

I am considering emergency boarding ladders to be located on both sides at the low spot on the rail near the forward end of the cockpit on my Ariel.

Your experiences are noteworthy and further confirm my concern.

I clip on to the lifelines for a day sail, but for long distance cruising, always have bow to end-of-cockpit jacklines. Those are good and mandatory. But the problem remains about how to avoid getting towed forever.

When cruising, I trail a dinghy, and consider that my ultimate last resource to get up - but as you point out, I need to disconnect the tether to get to it, and that involves significant risk. Maybe I should carry a 3/16" line long enough to go from the tether end to the dinghy, so that I can be always attached as I go backward towards the dinghy. Interesting idea. When considering the dinghy, I wasn't certain if the idea was realistic, but your encouragement makes me think it is and should be taken more seriously.

I carry, connected to my lifelines about midship, a bag which contains a ladder. Extending down from the bag, is a pull line. Right now this is only on the starboard side. Perhaps I should get one for the port side as well. If anyone is interested, this ladder is available commercially (but not from the major supply stores like West and Boat)

I have also removed the water activated autoinflate from my pfd, figuring that if I am dragged, the additional drag from the inflated pfd may preclude me from manoevering in the water or working my way up the ladder. I can still pull the pin for the manual autoinflate and it will inflate.

Lastly, this year, when cruising, I have connected my portable VHF to my pfd so I can radio a mayday. However, the pfd's don't have a way to have them connected to the pfd. The pfd belt is too big for the VHF bracket and it keeps falling off. I will need to get an additional strap sewn on to my West pfd this winter.

But if the boat continues at 5-7 mph, and perhaps the motor is still going, and the autohelm keeps it right on course across the ocean, perhaps there is no way I could get up or even move around in the water. But there must be.

I returned from a solo night sail last night to find your original post on this topic. The story about the sailor in Lake Michigan was pretty disturbing, and your post made me rethink things a bit.

Your idea of a mid-ship drop down ladder is a good one, and I would be interested in knowing your source and a little more about how it works. As I said earlier, I have been giving some thought to drop down ladders on the port and starboard sides at the low spot on the rail just behind the cabin, and I am also now thinking about a similar arrangement at the shrouds. I was thinking about a simple Dacron rope device with PVC rungs, but have not figured out how to rig a reliable lanyard to release the ladder.

It seems that if one was on the foredeck when one fell over, one could more easily reach a lanyard connected to a ladder in the area of the shrouds than one could get to the aft end of the boat.

The combination of a manually inflatable PFD in combination with a harness for single-handing sounds like a very good one.

I don't plan to tow a dinghy, and I am sure that the wear and tear on an inflatable would be terrific, but it would be an interesting idea to have a canister of some sort mounted at the stern with a very small and inexpensive one man raft with CO2 for automatic inflation attached to a quick release device. That way, crew or no crew, a person in the water would have a better chance of survival, especially with a hand held VHF radio in his/her pfd, jacket, float coat or whatever. I am not thinking about an expensive survival raft, but just something to crawl into out of the water, and help you stay alive longer, or perhaps if it remained attached to the sailboat to assist you in regaining your place on deck.

Your idea of carrying a 3/16" line long enough to go from the tether end to the dinghy or raft, or even the emergency boarding ladder at the stern sounds like a neat trick also. Thanks for the inspiration and the interesting survival idea.

By the way, the bioluminescence on Monterey Bay was gorgeous last night. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Actually, it may be the most incredible. Luminescent clouds flowing below the sea as schools of fish raced by, undulating forms illuminated by glowing light, and luminescent seals chasing schools of equally luminescent sardines in a ballet of light. I stayed out till 10:00 PM to watch it all. There was just enough wind to sail silently over the sea of swirling light as I trailed a blue-green wake behind me.

About the ladder, I will look for the information. It has metal steps which, being weighted, cause it to sink so your feet can grab on to it. Clips attach to the lifeline. As for placement, this last summer I tested it to see how difficult it was to climb aboard using the ladder. It does need to be amidship, more or less alongside the aft cabin window because of the shape of the boat bottom. When placed too far aft, as I had it originally next to the cockpit, the ladder, with me on it, went under the boat and I had too much trouble getting vertical lift. That is also why I detached the water activated for the pfd because I found the expanded pfd made it difficult to crawl back on board (I am 6'2" and approx, very approx. 200 lbs.- or I have been in this general area for the past few years, more or less, if you know what I mean). It might be different for a smaller or lighter individual.

Your idea of an inflatable floatation boat, or whatever sounds neat. How about using one of these lightweight inflatable air mattresses as a blow up inflatable device, if there is such a thing, to carry with you along with the pfd in a pouch. Perhpaps they are too big. The extra gear could also be contained in the ladder bag and attached to the ladder.

Perhaps the answer is to have, along with the pfd, a small pack/pouch/container that has what you need in distress - line, VHF, something inflatable that could be crawled up on to stay out of the water and give a boost to get back on deck - the concept being like those inflatable throw rings, but the design being to get you completely out of the water.

As for dragging an inflatable, they give too much drag. You don't get anywhere dragging them with a boat the size of and Ariel. However, I didn't lose much speed with the Walker Bay plastic dinghy. For cruising (where a dinghy is mandatory to get to shore) dragging a dinghy is a now brainer. For day sailing, no one has a dinghy, so always dragging one is not practical.

Since last night, and with your additional information, I too have been thinking more about this. What I am considering is to run a light nylon line on the inside edge of the gunwale - going through the "butresses" on the stanchion bases. On the port side of the boat one end of the line would be connected to the fitting for the aft end of the lifeline. Going then around the bow along the gunwale to the starboard side, it would lead at the aft end to the outboard motor well (This assumes you have an OB, but something like this could be rigged for an inboard as well). Inside the well it would be attached to a spring to keep the line taut. Continuing with the line, it would then go to the dead man plug for the outboard. So if I fell overboard, and could reach to the inside edge of the gunwale , I could grab that line, yank hard, and the motor would stop.

Going further, that line would be attached to the pull line of the ladder on either side, so if there was a yank on either ladder pull line, it would stop the engine.

Going further, I was thinking I could rig a line from the string attached to the gunwale line branching towards the aft end on the starboard side, over the coaming, and wrapped around the loose end of the plunger. If the line was pulled sharply, so as to stop the motor, the string would also pull the autohelm plunger off the pivot pin on the tiller, and the tiller would be free. If you were sailing, the boat should come into the wind. Otherwise, in a worse case scenario, perhaps you could use your feet on the rudder itself to turn and stop the boat.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Is this a pie in the sky idea?

Peter

P.S. Your story about the lumineset sea is fascinating. Up here, the spectacle, if you are lucky, is bright, flashing northern lights extending all above you, sending showers of colorful beams down towards the horizon - ( the northern lights that you sort of see, maybe, "I think those are the lights or perhaps that is just a town in the distance", etc. are not to be compared) . Both of our spectacles make the Ariel seem pretty small, keeping in mind that you and I are both smaller than our respective Ariels.

The Single Handed Sailing Association has a lot to say about safety. You might want to continue the discussion with them: http://63.67.53.238/cgi-bin/forum/default.cfm

Bill,

Thanks you for the great link to the Single Handed Sailing Association.

I do hope that this discussion is appropriate for the Ariel forum, since we were discussing the specifics of re-boarding an Ariel should one fall overboard. If this topic is not appropriate for the Ariel Forum, please so advise. Assuming that this topic is appropriate for this forum, I will keep my comments specific to the Ariel.


---------

Scott


Theis,


I think that I followed your trip-line idea, but it is hard for me to visualize the interplay of the various mechanism you describe. The question remains, can a solo sailor in the water reach the deck forward of the shrouds, where he or she may be dragging from his or her harness line?

i do like the idea of the line that you describe being activated by pressure on a drop-down ladder.

I did build a couple of emergency boarding ladders today from 1/4 inch line (about eighteen feet per ladder), three pieces of half inch white PVC pipe, and two carbiners.

The attached photo shows the location on my Ariel where I will attach the ladder each time that I sail. I envision some sort of sack to secure the ladder and a quick release mechanism to release it by pulling on a lanyard that will be hanging overboard.

In the photo, you will see a boarding step with two sets of lifelines converging at the forward and aft end of the step. The lifelines are connected to eyebolts, which are through bolted through the deck and through a one-inch teak backing block and #10 gauge stainless steel backing plate beneath the deck.

There are no lifelines and no gate above the boarding step. That area is, more or less a permanently open gate in the system. There are no stanchions on my boat, and I am not planning to add any.

My lifelines begin at through-deck-bolted pad eyes at the bow, and are then routed to the bow pulpit, and from there back to a pin rail that is securely attached by U bolts around the lower shrouds. The upper lifelines attach at two points on those pin rails, and then run aft and down to the pictured boarding step fforward eyebolt. The lifelines begin again at the aft end of the boarding step and run to the stern rail. There are both upper and lower lifelines, with the lower lifelines being attached to the upper shrouds directly at the tabernacle pivot points to double I as a bridle for raising and lowering the mast. A bridge separates my slip from the ocean, ansometimes there is only about 16 to 20 feet of clearance under that bridge.

I can clip onto the lifelines with my harness with the assurance that the lifelines are securely fastened to the boat.

In any case, the space between the two deck-step eyebolts is 11 inches, and the PVC rungs on my new emergency boarding ladders are eleven inches long. There are three rungs per ladder. The length of the ladder is approximately 36 inches, which places the bottom of three PVC rungs about six inches below water, at a location where the hull is fairly vertical.

Total cost per ladder is about $20.00, including the cost of two carbiners per ladder. However, I haven't tested it yet. The ladders also work when attached between either the upper and aft shroud, or between the upper and forward lower shroud, although it would probably be a good idea to add another twelve inches and another rung if used at that location. Once on the ladder, the shrouds will make convenient handholds.

For single-handing it might be advisable to have ladders at four locations, two at the shrouds and two as shown in the photo. I bought enough material for four ladders. Provided that I can figure out how to rig a storage sack with a quick release mechanism, I would like to use all four ladders when single-handing. Keep in mind that all that will be hanging down for a wet sailor to grab onto would be the trailing lanyards, and therefore it would be inadvisable to unclip from your harness line to attempt to swim back to the aft lanyard if you fell over while on the foredeck whiel theboat was moving. In that case the shroud-mounted ladder would be a better solution.

By the way, I have seen commercially available mechanisms that connect you directly to your outboard, such that if you fall overboard the motor is shut down.

Thanks for all the inspiration. I intended to build these boarding ladders some time ago, but I seem to find other projects to do instead. Now at last two of the ladders are completed.

The ladder I have is the Emergency Ladder #6007 available from Best Marine Imports www.bestmarineimports.com, phone 888 784-8611 or 954 665-8782, bemarine@bellsouth.net[/email]

Their catalog has a full page on the boarding ladder with pictures (perhaps their website does too).

As for the "dead man" shut down on the outboard, they all have a lanyard that when it is pulled the motor stops. The problem is that a) I dont want to wander around the deck with a line attached to me from the motor, and b) it could be perhaps worse if the motor was either accidentally turned off, or, because of the dead man being activated without my knowledge, the motor wouldn't start.

Were you talking about the standard issue dead man line, or something else?

Theis,

Thanks for the information on the ladder. I will check out that web site.

I was probably referring to the standard "dead man" unit. I recall that my father's OB had one, and it was the lanyard type that you had to attach to your clothing. However, with your concept of the perimeter trip-line at the rail, I was thinking that the lanyard could be tied to that line, and therefore only activated when the line is pulled.

With the exception of whipping and seizing a few lines, I have completed construction and testing of two emergency boarding ladders from schedule 40 PVC pipe, three strand 1/4 inch Dacron line, a couple of carbiners, some perforated twelve inch wide plastic that was designed by its manufacturer as shelf lining material, some Velcro, and about six feet of nylon webbing of the type used for sail ties.

My three stepped ladders mount by attaching them with the two carbiners to the through-deck mounted eye-bolts at the location of the boarding step shown in the photo above. The tree steps are rolled inside of the perforated plastic sheet, in a manner that prevents the lines from fouling. A webbing strap holds the rolled unit together. The webbing strap is attached to the top of the plastic sheet through a grommet by a line that also attached to the two carbiners. That line has two loops that secure the webbing strap and serve as rail level hand holds. A loop hangs below the rail about one foot, so that it can be reached by an overboard sailor. Pulling on the loop will release the strap, causing the plastic sheet and its enclosed ladder to unroll, presenting the overboard sailor with three eleven inch wide rungs, the first of which is approximately six inches under water in a level sea. The plastic sheet extends downward more or less the distance to the second step, and is on the hull side of the ladder. It should to some degree cushion the portions of ones fingers that are on the hull side of the rungs. All lines are secured by bowlines and or sheet bends, and the tails will be seized to the lines so that the knots will not come free. It all works slick at the dock, and it even looks neat and tidy.

If the above ladders test out under sea conditions, I will build two additional ladders to install between two of the shrouds on each side. They will attach to the bottom of th shrouds with carbiners, however, since the rail at the shrouds takes on more water, I will probably secure the ladders (in stowed position) with a release mechanism to the pin rails that span my lower shrouds in some way to reduce the abuse to the unit when heeled over at 30+ degrees. Standard lifelines could be used instead of the pin rails as securement points. At that location, a fourth step may be in order.

This second set of ladders would be used only when single handing.

A couple ideas. I would suggest that, on the trials and testing the ladder, a) you put 5 steps on the ladders, and b) the last step should have a reasonable weight attached.

The problem with a light ladder, obviously, is that it doesn't go down, but tends to drag on the surface, particularly if there is some boat motion.

The problem with a limited number of steps, is that you need to get your feet under yourself. If, for example, your feet are at or near the surface, and assuming you are strong and have a really good handhold, the principal force against the step of the ladder will be away from you, not vertical, which makes it very hard to get up. On the other hand, if the ladder step were two feet down, for example, you can be in a crouch position, and lifting yourself out of the water is much easier.

Building a longer test ladder gives you the option to test this theory and figure the right weight and length.

Peter

Theis,

I finished my boarding ladders today, so they are complete, however, I need to improve on the lanyard so that it remains in position hanging over the rail. At present they blow up onto the deck in fifteen plus knots of wind. I am experimenting with everything from weighting them to clever little devices like suction cups etc.

Rather than a set of additional ladders forward at the shrouds, I am experimenting with using my jack line tails.

I bought a single 55-foot West Marine jack line made of polyester webbing with sewn loops on both ends. I have two pad eyes about a foot apart on the bow. They are located on either side of the centerline mooring cleat. So I center the jack line at that cleat and lead the two ends through the pad eyes and back along the edge of the cabin to two pad eyes on either side of the boat just forward of the jib sheet winches. It lies flat to the deck.

I tie a bowline there, and lead the remaining ten feet of both ends of the jack lines forward again on the outside of the lifelines and shrouds, being careful to attach some West Marine Velcro straps made for securing cable. The straps are made of webbing with Velcro. I set the straps up so that they secure the tails of my jack line to the forward lower shroud and a lifeline attachment point so that they won't wash overboard, but so that if someone were to pull hard from the water below on one of the lines, it would break free of th Velcro.

The last eighteen inches of either end of the jack line including the sewn loop at the terminus of the jack line hang over the rail, so that an overboard sailor would have a chance of reaching it. If such a sailor did reach the loop and pull, the ten foot jack line tail would come loose all the way back to the rear pad eye. This would allow the overboard sailor to get back to the emergency ladder while remaining attached to the boat.

Now the ladders are on either side by the boarding step that appeared in the photo that I posted earlier. They are deployed by pulling on another looped webbing strap (lanyard).

I originally thought that I would build a second set of ladders to place at the shrouds, but this jackline tail idea may be a better idea, since the rail is quite high at the location of the shrouds. The idea is that if a sailor fell over on a harness forward of the shrouds, the shrouds would prevent him from traveling back to the ladder without unclipping from his harness safety strap. However, with the addition of overboard jack line tail, the sailor can conceivably clip into the loop on the end of the tail and then unclip from his six foot harness line, and then move back along the rail or drift back in the sea, while tethered to the jack line to the location of the emergency ladder. (This would take a second carbiner however, and since there is but room for one carbiner to clip onto my harness, and the current carbiner holds the harness closed and is attached at the other end to the main section of the jackline. I have to think a little longer about solutions to that problem). A harness with two safety lines would solve the problem.

I have also attached the emergency ladder release strap around the jack line tail so that if it works as planned, the release of the tail from its Velcro strap will also release the ladder. The jack line also helps stabilize the ladder so that it won't wash overboard when under sail with the rail in the sea.

I tested it yesterday day at up to 30+ degrees of heel, and it stayed on deck. Even before this modification, it just flopped over the rail and hung there. Inelegant, but not a system failure. Thenagain, who knws what woudl happen with a running sea in extrme conditions.

Tthere s too much wind out there yesterday to run a simulation of jack ine or ladder deployment. I needed to be close to the tiller most of the time, since the wind was fifteen to twenty knots, I was fully rigged (no reef in the main). There were no hidey-holes to duck out of the wind, and there was a good-sized running swell, and I was alone. Even after dark, I had spray coming over the bow when I was a mile or so off shore.

Great night sail though. White caps illuminated by the blue bioluminescence in the sea, a trailing blue wake behind me, and the Milky Way squarely on the bow as I headed south west.

You have some good ideas there, and write clearly - I probably understood you better than you were able to understand my presentation.

In particular, the idea of using velcro to hold a line (the jack line or whatever) outside the shrouds is magnificent. Of course, velcro works better on webing than line, so webing is the way to go. I like the idea.

As for your use of a caribiner, a word of caution, which you may have already considered, is appropriate. When under substantial stress, they are almost impossible to unhook. The swing gate can be activated, but detaching them with the force required, and the arms being close in and having minimum leverage, is a known limitation. You might consider using a snap shackle such as are found on commercial tether. The West tethers, for example, have a caribiner on one end to attach to the jack line, and a snap shackle that attaches to your harness. The snap shackle will release and free itself under pressure.

One of the other ideas I have pondered is to make a tether that is actually a 6:1 block and tackle, with a jam cleat. That way, if overboard, a 40 or 50 pound pull down could lift the manoverboard out of the water. The question I haven't resolved is how to get that much gear into a tether and still have the tether compact.

As for sailing, you are fortunate. We have had rain, wind, everything. Friday 10 foot seas are forecast and gale force winds. The hurricanes that hit New Orleans, I believe, impact our weather, and unsettle it. The moist low comes right up the Mississippi valley, and somewhere around Wisconsin hits the northern high and that ruins what would otherwise be nice fall sailing. Greetings, looking out from shore.

Peter

Theis,

Well, I do have a couple of older model harnesses in good shape from my first boat, which I originally purchased them at West Marine in the 1980s I suppose. They came with two carbiners at either end of the safety line (tether). The end of the safety line that attaches to a jack line etc. is a simple carbiner. The end that attaches to the harness, passes through two stainless steel flanges (the buckle) on the harness, and holds the harness on the wearer. It is also a carbiner, but has a safety release that must be pulled down away from the jaw before the jaw can be opened. There is only sufficient room where the carbiner is inserted through the harness buckle for a single carbiner, snap shackle etc. These two carbiners are sewn into my harness tethers.

I have looked at the new harnesses for sale, and noted that you can buy a new "basic harness for about $44.99, but that the elastic double tethers (six foot and three foot) are selling for $129.99. I think that you could buy an inflatable harness with tether for about the same price as one of the basic setups with a double tether.

I consulted the West Marine catalog, and the single tether models with snap shackles (chest end) and Wichard safety hooks or Gibb Safety hooks (boat end) run between $89.00 and $109.00. West Marine still does sell snap-hook-equipped tethers (I call them carbiners) for $29.99 although one end of he tether has a sewn eye. A note in the catalog model is not ORC approved because it cannot be released at the chest end.

I suppose that one solution to transferring in the water from a harness forward of the shrouds to my jackline tail would be to purchase a new single tether with a snap shackle and attach it to the current safety-release carbiner on my harness. That way if I need to get around the shrouds once in the water, I could attach the carbiner through the sewn loop on the jackline tail. I could then release the snap shackle on the tether once I was safely hooked onto the jackline tail so that I could get around the shrouds to the emergency ladder. I think that it would be a better idea, however, just to stay on deck.

Now when you start talking about a 6:1 purchase on a safety line, maybe what we should do is attach ourselves to the masthead by bungee cords, and then if we fell overboard, it would be a variation on the sport of bungee jumping.

By the way, I rigged my new jacklines and emergency ladders yesterday and went for a sail in 15 to 20 knot winds with a small swell, a full main and a 110 jib. I decided to reef and change out the jib for a smaller sail because I was sailing on my ear, but in the course of the day, I sailed on all points of sail, but beat most of the time heeling from 20 to 25 degrees with gusts taking me to 35 and even 40 degrees. The ladders stayed on deck, and the lanyards for the ladders and the jackline tails stayed over the rail where they are supposed to be. I attached suction cups to the ladder lanyards and stuck them to the hull about a foot below the hull deck seam. Amazingly they stayed attached to the hull. I moistened the suction cups before attaching them.

A friend told me the whole set-up is very ingenious, but then again he also likes my geothermal coffee pot.

You are making faster progress on this issue than I am. Anyway you have the idea on the snap shackles. If you read about the capsizing in the Mac race, and how that one sailor was trapped underneath, you get some idea of how important a quick release can be (although that was a catamaran, which presents other problems)

I like your idea of a bungee cord, perhaps connected to a sky hook rather than the masthead.

Theis,

Well, you convinced me. I kept trying to come up with an adaptation to my 20 year carabiner-based harness that would allow it to be used safely and effectively with my new jackline system. Today I went another route.

My old harness is probably fine for crewed sails, but for single handing, a sailor needs to be able to clip and unclip under tension if he or she is going to transfer from the tether to an alternative point, such as my jackline tails.

So I picked up a double (3 ft and 6 ft) elastic tether and a harness today with Gibb hooks on the boat end and a snap shackle on the harness end. It all seems to work well, and was probably a good investment for single-handed sailing.

The problem with the skyhook is that most sailboats do not maintain a reliably constant relative bearing in relation to the sky. One could get wrapped around the mast, but then again, perhaps a skyhook bungee with a quick release pin would work.
:p

Golly Scott. I am surprised you are not up to date on the skyhook technology. The skyhook is oriented with a differential GPS and powered by a solar reflector in a low stationary orbit. One of the disadvantages, I would assume, is that being in a low orbit, it doesn't last that long - probably 10 years at the most- so it can be expensive, although that generally doesn't stop spend thrift sailors. The way they work is the GPS keeps track of your boat and keeps the skyhook a fixed distance away. I would have thought you would have figured that one out. I'll bet you can find the entire assembly in the West Catalog. You can also find them in bridal supply catalogs. They are used to whisk the bride or groom away when he/she is just a few feet from the altar (but only if it is an outside wedding, obviously) in case one or the other changes his/her mind at the last minute.

As for the 3'- 6'ft tether, that is the cat's meow. I had the regular 6' one that caught on everything. This summer I splurged and bought the stretch one that I think you have (it was on sale), and found it a greater blessing than I ever could have imagined. With the old one, I was always concerned about getting it caught on something and being flipped where I didn't want to be as I was hustling forward.

Hi Scott, please take a look at my posts under the "boarding ladder" thread. It works. Note the comments about the lifeline in the cockpit. The system is dependent upon being able to slide along the side of the boat to the transom...so you've got to fall overboard behind the shrouds! (and I don't have lifelines or pulpits...too low and too flimsy to be anything but false security). If you're using jacklines, THEY MUST BE RUN OUTSIDE OF THE SHROUDS or you won't live to tell the tale if you're alone...your body will be waterlogged when they find you. If they're outside and you fall over...with some effort you can get to the transom...where the ladder is.

Since you're interested in solo sailing..... If you're close to the wind, say from 45 degrees back to 60 or so, it's pretty easy to balance C-295 by adjusting sail trim and traveler position. But, you'll have to hold off the weather helm to varying degrees depending on wind velocity.

In this pic, note (if you can) the tiller control lines...like your boy scout tent line tensioners...that will give you infinite positioning of the tiller. They also disappear when not in use, and you don't have an ugly piece of plastic screwed into your nice mahogany tiller.

Note that the transom ladder is down...and my wife and her girlfriend are wet..proof that the ladder works on nice, flat, days on a swim call. It was chilly that day so they were wearing suits. (I always smile a lot when they swim.)

Screwing around with fouled lazy jacks...standing on the cockpit seat, I fell overboard to leeward single handing in gusty 12 knot breeze. My harness was tethered to the cockpit lifeline and I got back aboard ..up the ladder...with a little effort, it seemed...maybe it was the adrenaline, though. The boat was sailing along with the tiller held by these lines, pretty close to the wind.

I didn't notice much pitching of the boat when I went up the ladder..perhaps because the boat, sailing an easy heading to windward, was quartering the wave pattern and doing pretty good on her own at smoothing things out.

Motoring into a headsea, her action would have been quite different...but that's bad form when you pick someone up anyway. You should approach the surprised swimmer quartering the seas and shoot for stopping the boat with the swimmer 10 or 15 feet off the leeward quarter of the boat. If you approach directly upwind, you have an increased risk of bashing their melon with the bow or stern overhangs.