Tether or not, auto or manual, important questions for off shore sailing.
Here's a real life experiment from John Kretschmer.
Here's a real life experiment from John Kretschmer.
Tether or Not, that is a question.
- Thread starter dlochner
- Start date
This is a great video - I watched it when John first presented it on his Captains Hour. This video raises a lot questions regarding some of our fundamental understandings of tethering, harness vs life vest and self-inflating vs manual inflating vests. Clearly one has to consider if they are sailing with crew or solo sailing. This video should be required watching!
By the way - anyone that does any amount of off-shore sailing or is planning any longer legs, his Captain's Hour is fantastic! I highly recommend it! He usually has a presentation on some subject for the first part and then answers specific questions from anyone that is in attendance. You can write in your question before hand or just ask them during the meeting. But if you have a complicated question it's better to write it before hand. While the title is Captain's Hour - I don't think I've ever seen one go for an hour. Often they will be 2 to 2 1/2 hours long. Basically he runs it until all the questions have been answered.
dj
By the way - anyone that does any amount of off-shore sailing or is planning any longer legs, his Captain's Hour is fantastic! I highly recommend it! He usually has a presentation on some subject for the first part and then answers specific questions from anyone that is in attendance. You can write in your question before hand or just ask them during the meeting. But if you have a complicated question it's better to write it before hand. While the title is Captain's Hour - I don't think I've ever seen one go for an hour. Often they will be 2 to 2 1/2 hours long. Basically he runs it until all the questions have been answered.
dj
A few questions they didn't ask.
a. In cold weather or off-shore, the single-hander has to be very optimistic to believe he is better off untethered. No one is coming, in time to matter. Accept that and avoid it.
b. Design and USE the tether so that it keeps you on the boat. Crawl, keep it short, double clip, etc. I've been on the bow when it was playing submarine. No problem.
c. Teach the helmsman to heave to immediately if someone goes in. You have to stop the boat. So obvious but not mentioned and nearly always forgotten.
d. If single-handing, why on earth would you wear an automatic PFD? When they inflate, you instantly become a victim, hoping, optimistically, for rescue.
e. If you are single-handed and get knocked on the head hard enough to become unconscious, realistically, you have no chance. Accept that and avoid it.
f. Reaching the victim is a challenge. The man in the video could have put the shackle around the tether or through the jackline-end clip--he didn't think of it. Then you either unweighted the clip and take it off the jackline, or cut the jackline away.
I've done the hand-over-hand pull-up the line trick, but you have to think like a swimmer. Again, an inflated PFR makes it impossible.
There is no substitute for some fitness and good swimming skills. I find sailing non-swimmers to be ... weird. Learn to swim, and swim well. It is a basic water safety skill. Also, single-handing is a little like climbing without a rope. Some things just can't happen.
a. In cold weather or off-shore, the single-hander has to be very optimistic to believe he is better off untethered. No one is coming, in time to matter. Accept that and avoid it.
b. Design and USE the tether so that it keeps you on the boat. Crawl, keep it short, double clip, etc. I've been on the bow when it was playing submarine. No problem.
c. Teach the helmsman to heave to immediately if someone goes in. You have to stop the boat. So obvious but not mentioned and nearly always forgotten.
d. If single-handing, why on earth would you wear an automatic PFD? When they inflate, you instantly become a victim, hoping, optimistically, for rescue.
e. If you are single-handed and get knocked on the head hard enough to become unconscious, realistically, you have no chance. Accept that and avoid it.
f. Reaching the victim is a challenge. The man in the video could have put the shackle around the tether or through the jackline-end clip--he didn't think of it. Then you either unweighted the clip and take it off the jackline, or cut the jackline away.
I've done the hand-over-hand pull-up the line trick, but you have to think like a swimmer. Again, an inflated PFR makes it impossible.
There is no substitute for some fitness and good swimming skills. I find sailing non-swimmers to be ... weird. Learn to swim, and swim well. It is a basic water safety skill. Also, single-handing is a little like climbing without a rope. Some things just can't happen.
Of course no one can do a short video and cover all the questions.
The original video that he did during Captain's Hour was a bit longer and there were stated constraints and what they were focusing on. I still think this is an excellent video that deserves watching.
There are essentially three separate buckets if someone wants to do a comprehensive study:
- Solo sailors - and this one is very controversial to even talk about as there will always be the naysayers that state you shouldn't solo sail for off-shore legs and simply ignore or attack any conversation addressing this scenario. It enters into questions of legality for long legs. You certainly can't get insurance as a solo off-shore sailor - at least as far as I'm aware.
- Short handed sailors. I'm not even sure what the definition here actually is; 2 people on board? 3 people on board? More? This is also a hard one for insurance. All off-shore trips I've done, insurance companies mandate a minimum of 4 people on-board.
- Crewed boats – Again, what's the definition? Personally I feel if there are 4 people on board, or more, then I consider a boat crewed. With 4 on board, you have one person to run the helm, and 2 people to do whatever else needs doing if 1 person is overboard. However, the distinction between short handed and a crewed boat could be a significant conversation unto itself. While I feel 4 drops into the crewed realm, one could make a strong case for crews where all watches always have at a minimum 2 people on watch – that's usually more than 4 on long passages. But, insurance will cover a 4 person crewed boat....
This comment is focused on scenario 1) above. Not what the video was trying to explore. However, if you watch that video – the very first minute talks about NOT hanging off the side of the boat.
That's hard to do as a solo sailor... For sure in any kind of crewed boat, this is absolutely critical. But bare in mind, the video was not trying to show how to handle a man overboard in a complete fashion, but rather was really looking at the current mindset that having a self-inflating life vest is the current "state of the art" – Well, not if you are running tethers and staying attached to the boat.
This is totally spot on! But go find an off-shore life vest that isn't self-inflating – they are hard to find, and just a few years back – almost impossible.
If I'm not mistaken, they were actually talking about regulations making it illegal to make them - I may be remembering some off-shore race regulations - not sure...
Well I'd have to say, no matter solo, short handed, or crewed – avoid getting knocked in the head. Full stop.
I'm not fully understanding what you are saying above – try again?
In general, any clothing makes it harder to swim. Hmmm, tropics only? Clothing optional? Or perhaps, clothing prohibited? Hahahah Visions of sun damage is giving me bad images here... Plus, I like the higher latitudes - clothing becomes essential...
While I agree one should know how to swim, there are a number of famous sailors that did not know how to swim – Joshua Slocum, Captain James Cook, Dennis Conner.... There are more...
dj
Absolutely perfect advice. I've even recovered two hats in the middle of SF Bay this way. Thankfully never had to test it on a human!
Heave to also lets you manuver back to the thing in the water.
Heave to also lets you manuver back to the thing in the water.
As @Stu Jackson is fond of saying, treat the deck edge as a 500 ft cliff. Don't fall off!! 