[Public-List] going solo

[Gordon Laco]

I've played with this - three knots is very fast for a swimmer on the end of
a tether to cope with....

The best strategy is to use your harness and jacklines in such a manner that
you are less likely to make it overboard if you fall.

That means always use the windward jackline, always use tethers that are as
short as you can cope with....and use a second quite short tether for when
you get where you are going on the boat.  Keep the longer one for moving
around.   I have a main one that is as long as from my chest to the deck,
and a shorter one about a 1/2 meter long that normally sleeps clipped back
onto it's own D ring.

Gord #426 Surprise


On 05/06/12 1:13 PM, "Kris Coward" <kris at melon.org> wrote:

> 
> Why take chances? It's not that hard to tie a bowline around the arm of
> a tiller pilot, lead it through a snatch block clipped on to the nearest
> stanchion, and tie a float to the end of it. It's only a little trickier
> to set something up that's triggered by tension on your jacklines. And
> having a handheld VHF on a good lanyard; that doesn't require any
> special rigging at all.
> 
> As for the relative perils of being tethered to a moving boat vs. being
> boatless, I think the only way to settle this is for each of us to
> tether ourselves to our boats (in warm water, with someone capable and
> trustworthy at the helm), hop off into the water, and see how fast the
> boat has to go before it becomes difficult to hold a survival position
> or keep one's mouth out of the water (or for an extra challenge, to do
> both).
> 
> We should have warm enough water up here for me to give it a try in
> about a month or so..
> 
> Cheers,
> Kris
> 
> On Tue, Jun 05, 2012 at 12:03:23PM -0400, Lawrence Morris wrote:
>> Kris
>> 
>> All good points. Even without a plan I will take my chances being attached to
>> the boat than the alternative
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> Larry Morris
>> 
>> On Jun 5, 2012, at 11:35 AM, Kris Coward <kris at melon.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> On Tue, Jun 05, 2012 at 07:46:35AM -0400, James Allocco wrote:
>>>> I agree with George that for me an auto pilot is a must when single handing
>>>> and get dock lines and fenders ready, etc. I would suggest jacklines and a
>>>> harness when single handing in heavy weather.
>>> 
>>> I'd also recommend that if you're single handing with a harness,
>>> jacklines, and an autopilot, you consider how difficult it'll be to get
>>> back aboard if you don't have some means of making the boat stop (or
>>> calling for help that can make the boat stop).
>>> 
>>> I have something of a history of dropping the boarding ladder, and tying
>>> the lifering to the pushpit with the heaving line to go for a swim when
>>> becalmed (NOT while single handing). In terms of gettign a sense that
>>> the boat is really speeding back up and the swim should end, I've
>>> already found myself considering it unwise to expect to be able to climb
>>> back up the boarding ladder at speeds higher than 3/4 of a knot. Based
>>> on that (and the fact that the original world record for men's 100m
>>> freestyle was swum at an average speed of under 3 knots), I can't really
>>> imagine pulling myself back aboard if the autopilot is holding a course
>>> where the boat's making 4 knots through the water.
>>> 
>>> Whether it's a handheld radio tethered to your harness, some line rigged
>>> up to disengage the autopilot if the jacklines are placed under enough
>>> tension, some trailing object that you can grab to kill the autopilot,
>>> or (ideally) some combination of the above, if you don't have a plan to
>>> stop the boat so you can climb back on, you're probably better off not
>>> even being tied to it in the first place.
>>> 
>>> Cheers,
>>> Kris
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> Kris Coward                    http://unripe.melon.org/
>>> GPG Fingerprint: 2BF3 957D 310A FEEC 4733  830E 21A4 05C7 1FEB 12B3
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