Rule 1: keep the crew on the boat. Rule 2: keep the water out of the boat.
Joel On Thursday, January 2, 2014, OldSteveH wrote: > On my recent trip aboard Spirit of Adventure (1,700 nm from Nova Scotia to > Antigua) we generally followed Antoine's rule about being tethered except > to > say we were always tethered, even in the cockpit. > At the start it seemed a bit of a nuisance but after a few days we just got > used to it. Several waves which came over the side of the boat were > reminders of the power of a wall of water. > The notion of grabbing onto something while one is being washed overboard > is > unlikely. The trailing line seems even less likely to work. > The skipper advised us that if you go over do not count on being rescued. > You may be rescued but do not count on it especially at night. > That's with a crew of 12 on board. And I don't think he was being > overdramatic. > > I think the theme to focus on is prevention rather than remedy. > > I like the idea of running the lifelines down the center of the boat. The > low side doesn't seem that appealing when you're only a couple of feet from > the rail and your tether is 4 feet long. > On Spirit of Adventure there were also attachment points in the middle of > the cockpit floor, as well as on the steering wheels. Very handy. > > Cheers, > > Steve Hood > S/V Diamond Girl > C&C 34 > Lions Head ON > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Thu, 02 Jan 2014 11:59:22 -0500 > From: Antoine Rose <antoine.r...@videotron.ca <javascript:;>> > To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com <javascript:;> > Subject: Re: Stus-List methods of self-rescue? > Message-ID: <86551b26-fb4d-4a6b-97f3-aa66e6cf9...@videotron.ca<javascript:;> > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > At sea, you never go out on the deck without your harness attached to a > lifeline, period. > When the weather gets rough, you have to be attached in the cockpit too. > The idea that someone would rely on a 100 feet line to grab is, sorry, > wishful thinking. At six knots, the boat is doing 10 feet per second. The > 100 feet line is gone in ten second max. Picture this, go overboard, get > back to the surface and get oriented a bit. Better start swimming damn > fast, > you got only one try, if any, even in daytime in calm sea. I wouldn't rely > on this even with a 300 feet line. > Actually, when single handled, not only are you attached, but most of your > thinking goes into insuring that you don't even get thrown overboard. > Because, even when attached to the boat, the prospect to get back on board > is far, far from being granted. Your mind goes into finding ways to ensure > that, in the case you loose your balance and fall, you wouldn't fall > overboard: shorter tether line, attaching the tether on windward side, > installing a lifeline that run in the center of the boat rather than on the > sides... > In all due respect, please forget the idea of trying to grab a line. If you > have any doubt please do the following: next summer, fully clothed with all > the weather gear and the inflatable vest, through yourself over board at > anchor and try to swim just ten feet in ten seconds. > > Personally, I prefer to rethink the lifeline system such as lines running > over the cabin top. runways on the side are nice in fair weather. In my > view, runways are not the only places where lifelines should be installed. > Ensure that your inflatable vest is really comfortable and adjusted, easy > to > put over your weather cloths. > Happy New Year. > > Antoine (C&C 30 Cousin) > > Le 2014-01-01 ? 21:28, Eric Frank a ?crit : > > > With the recent interest on this list-serve about inflatable vests and > tethers, and the comments that going overboard when single-handed is > unlikely to have a good outcome, I have been thinking about possible ways > to > improve the chances of self-rescue. My father always trailed a 100 foot > polypropylene line (so it would float) off the stern, with a knot at the > end. He hoped to be able to grab that and then haul himself back to the > stern transom. Of course a ladder off the stern would be crucial, which he > did not have. But as this list-serve has noted, it is very unlikely that > one would be strong enough to pull along the line back to the boat unless > the boat were nearly stationary. > > > > Would it be possible to rig a drogue (sea anchor?) in a bag on the stern > so that when you pull the line trailing off the stern, the drogue would > deploy? I have no experience using drogues or sea anchors, but are they > capable of slowing the boat, with sails full, to a knot or two? That might > be slow enough to enable one to pull oneself back to the boat. The stern > ladder would also need a cord to pull so that it would fold down, and be > deep enough so that 1 or 2 steps would be underwater. The larger drogues > are 6 ? 8 feet in diameter, so that might be sufficient. One could also > rig > a trip line to the engine so if it were running, it would stop. > > > > This idea must have occurred to many others, but I have never seen it > proposed. Obviously one would rig the drogue bag and stern line only when > single handing ? not racing. But the bags I have seen for full-sized sea > anchars are not huge, so it would not take up a lot of space behind the > helmsman. Has this been tried? Do any of you have experience with > deploying large drogues and seeing how slowly the boat moves? If I had > one, > it would be interesting to try it out on a warm day and with plenty of help > around. > > > > Eric Frank > > Cat's Paw > > C&C 35 Mk II > > Mattapoisett, MA > > > > _______________________________________________ > > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > > CnC-List@cnc-list.com <javascript:;> > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > < > http://cnc-list.com/pipermail/cnc-list_cnc-list.com/attachments/20140102/86 > d4467b/attachment-0001.html> > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > CnC-List mailing list > CnC-List@cnc-list.com <javascript:;> > http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com > > > ------------------------------ > > End of CnC-List Digest, Vol 96, Issue 6 > *************************************** > > > _______________________________________________ > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > CnC-List@cnc-list.com <javascript:;> > -- Joel 301 541 8551
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