"Gary" wrote in message
news:5UxDf.375770$2k.201451@pd7tw1no...
Dave wrote:
On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 18:35:40 -0000, in rec.boats.cruising you wrote:


A quick exit from cold water is the most important criterion. The colder,
the quicker the exit must be. For most marina and harbour dunks, stern
boarding is safe, and they're the most common events. As many people have
discovered, it's very difficult to board a hard dinghy from the water.


I always carry a rope ladder with plastic rungs stored in a canvas bag
with
the ladder fastened to the pushpit and a poly pull rope trailing with
about
6' in the water from the stern. If push comes to shove I can pull on the
rope and get the ladder down for boarding. I also always wear a harness
when
going forward. My one concern (other than being knocked unconscious) is
that
if I go in the drink the harness could keep me so far forward that I
wouldn't be able to reach the pull rope.

My wife boat me one of those rope ladders with plastic rungs last year
because she was worried about me getting into the boat if I fell off. I
jumped over and tried it and it was extremely difficult to climb when the
boat was anchored and stable and I was just wearing a bathing suit. We
regard the ladder as junk. We are still trying to figure out a better
way. We do have a proper boarding ladder that extends a couple feet into
the water but it is heavy and sits in a locker when we are sailing. I
would like one of those custom jobs that flips down from the pushpit ad
drops deep into the water and doesn't push away when you step on it. I am
even thinking of having a step put in the trailing edge of the rudder to
facilitate reboarding.

Gaz

While sailing off the coast a few years ago on a CT 48 ketch. Lots of
freeboard. We had a rope ladder, but it was a huge pain to use... kept
getting fingers and toes squashed. The easiest way to get back aboard was to
wait for the boat to heel in your direction while it was drifting along and
rocking back and forth. You would just wait until the toerail was within
reach, then hold on and you would be vaulted on to the deck.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com