Outfitting a little bare boat

Jan 7, 2011
5,306
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
Drag line saved me once. I couldn't pull myself up it but I held on until my inexperienced crew heard me yelling to free the mainsheet and the tiller tether. And I'm an old curmudgeon. Don't drink and hat the idea of AM, FM, tapes, CDs, discs, or live Mariachi bands while I'm sailing. All that racket blocks out nature's song. But your point about a tether is well taken.
Remind me not to go out with you :cool:

I could not pull myself up either (I was testing my idea…with my boys at the helm). I single-hand a lot and thought it was a good idea for self-rescue. Not so easy though.

I do like to turn the music off sometimes, but I like listening to some Jimmy Buffet on the water!

Have fun with her.


Greg
 

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,927
Belliure 41 Back in the Chesapeake
Remind me not to go out with you :cool:

I could not pull myself up either (I was testing my idea…with my boys at the helm). I single-hand a lot and thought it was a good idea for self-rescue. Not so easy though.

I do like to turn the music off sometimes, but I like listening to some Jimmy Buffet on the water!

Have fun with her.


Greg
I read somewhere about someone having looked at pulling yourself back on-board at various speeds. I don't recall now but it seems to me at about 4 knots, you aren't making it without help. But I don't recall exactly... It might have been 6 knots... I do know at 4 knots you are going to have a real hard time of it...

dj
 
Jan 8, 2025
90
Compac 16 Pensacola, FL
I read somewhere about someone having looked at pulling yourself back on-board at various speeds. I don't recall now but it seems to me at about 4 knots, you aren't making it without help. But I don't recall exactly... It might have been 6 knots... I do know at 4 knots you are going to have a real hard time of it...

dj
At my age I'll do well to get to the line and hang on. But here's a thought: suppose the line was rigged so that it would release a cleated mainsheet and/or tethered tiller? Maybe if it were looped around the mainsheet between a lower block (couldn't be a fiddle) and a jam cleat, so that if the drag of an old fool got on to it, it would pull the sheet out of the cleat. Hmm. I don't suppose any mainsheets are rigged without a fiddle block, though.
 

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,927
Belliure 41 Back in the Chesapeake
At my age I'll do well to get to the line and hang on. But here's a thought: suppose the line was rigged so that it would release a cleated mainsheet and/or tethered tiller? Maybe if it were looped around the mainsheet between a lower block (couldn't be a fiddle) and a jam cleat, so that if the drag of an old fool got on to it, it would pull the sheet out of the cleat. Hmm. I don't suppose any mainsheets are rigged without a fiddle block, though.
There has recently been a long discussion on Cruisers and Sailors forum about single handing and getting back on board.

Essentially if you fall overboard while single handing, you aren't getting back on board without some serious good luck.

Far better to direct your preparation efforts to staying on board.

The five main tenants of preparing for off shore:

1) keep the water out
2) keep the people on
3) keep the mast up
4) keep the keel down
5) keep the rudder on

Once those five are well covered, the rest is gravy.

dj
 
May 1, 2011
4,766
Pearson 37 Lusby MD
The five main tenants of preparing for off shore:

1) keep the water out
2) keep the people on
3) keep the mast up
4) keep the keel down
5) keep the rudder on

Once those five are well covered, the rest is gravy.
And don't forget about treating the deck edge as a 500' cliff - don't fall off!