Theis,

Yes, the white cylindrical bundle, which has just washed over the lee (starboard) rail in the photo is the boarding ladder that we discussed last summer. Note that the ladder is attached by carabineers to through-deck-mounted eyebolts, which are tied together by a stainless steel below deck backing plate. These eye-bolts also serve as attachment points for the lifeline system. What is missing from the above photograph is the jackline that secures it in place even when the boat is heeled to 40 degrees and water is coming over the rail.

The new photo incorporated with this post shows the same ladder with the jackline in place at the dock.

The jackline runs through a set of two through-deck-mounted pad eyes at the bow and is shackled to through-deck-mounted pad eyes on either side of the cockpit. The jackline makes one continuous run forward on each side of the mast so that I do not have to unclip while going forward.

A remaining twelve or so feet of the jackline is left over. I run that line forward again from the cockpit on the outside of the lifelines and shrouds, and attach it with two Velcro straps to a lifeline terminal adjacent to the boarding step and to the base of the upper shroud. There is factory-sewn loop on each end of the jackline. It is this section of the jackline that lies across and secures the boarding step to prevent it from washing overboard quite so easily.

My harness has two safety tethers. One is three feet long, and one is six feet long. They are both connected to the harness with a single snap shackle. I would not normally clip into a conventional lifeline, but my lifelines are not stanchion mounted. They are instead attached to through-deck-mounted hardware at deck level at the bow, and at the boarding step, and also to the pin rail. The pin rail is in turn secured to both lower shrouds. It is therefore possible to safely clip onto a lifeline if so desired. Because the jacklines are inboard, however, they are safer lines to which to attach a harness than are the lifelines. Jackline use offers less chance of falling overboard before the tether stops you, in comparison with clipping onto a lifeline, and particularly so with the three foot tether attached to the windward jackline.

The jackline makes one continuous run forward so that I do not have to unclip and while going forward.

The only downside is that it takes a while to rig and unrig the jacklines before and after sails, and they do get wet, so in the autumn and winter, I bring them home to dry them out after a night sail. Likewise for my boarding ladders.

Now speaking of the boarding ladders, the reason for taking the tail end of the jackline forward again and attaching it to the shrouds with break-away Velcro loops, is that if a person were to fall over forward of the shrouds, that person's tether would not be long enough for him or her to reach the boarding ladders which are on either side adjacent to the cockpit.

I installed a second snap shackle on my harness belt loop. It can be clipped into the sewn-in end of the jackline that hangs over the gunnels at the location of the upper shroud. Once secured to this loop, the overboard sailor should be able to unclip at the harness from the single shackle that connects the harness to the three and six foot tether and drift back on the jackline tail to the emergency boarding ladder near the cockpit. By the way, the pull-down lanyard for the emergency boarding ladder is suction cupped to the hull, as shown on this photo so that it won't blow back up onto the deck in the wind. As long as the suction cup is wet, it seems to stay fixed on the hull beneath the rub rail during a sail. All of the jacklines and ladder lanyards are yellow, so the safety lines are easily identified as other than sail control lines.

Finally, the boarding ladders are made from PVC pipe and quarter inch Dacron line. The ladder rungs are made of the PVC pipe, and each rung has a length of line run through it. The material used to wrap and contain the ladder in its stowed (rolled) position is vinyl perforated self-lining material that I purchased inexpensively at a hardware store.