Jacklines for Safety Harness
I have a 1988 Cat 22 which I bought new, and do a lot of coastal cruising off the So. California and Northern Baja coast. My approach to jacklines is simple: I use two 25' half-inch dock lines, one on the starboard and one on the port side. I attach one end of each to the bow cleat and the other end to the stern cleat. With this setup, I can move on either side of the boat while harnessed. No need to add any hardware to the boat. The main drawback is sometimes forgetting to remove the jacklines before docking or picking up a mooring, when I need the cleats free. Then I have to scramble to untie them. Another possible drawback is that if I did fall overboard, I would be in the water attached to the boat. But, the 22 has a low enough freeboard that I'm sure I could climb back on board, given the adrenaline that situation would produce.
