Life lines, netting !! Never had any of these things until my present and
boat previous to that. So of the 9 or so boats I have had in 44 years of
boating (mostly coastal) only the last two had life lines.. The oldest was a
45 year old SeaBird yawl that, not only never had life lines, but also had
5' X 4" dia. bowsprit..

On almost all of these boats there was only one head sail, so no need to
change headsails. I used some form of downhaul that gathered the sail in and
kept it under control until you could put a gasket or two on it.. I just
never went on the foredeck or foreward of the mast.. If I did I used a
safety line and crawled on hands and knees once foreward of the mast.

Just as a note of trivia: Flemming Day, original owner/editor of Rudder
Magazine and two friends sailed a 26' Sea Bird Yawl across then Atlantic in
about 1920 (maybe earlier) to promote the design..
When ask how they keep their clothing dry while working sails on deck, he
responded "What Clothes??" appearantly they stripped to their skivies when
on deck so the clothing would stay dry and warm for down below.
Later, Harry Pigeon built and sailed a 34' version of the Sea Bird, called
the SeaGoer and sailed twice around the world in it and never had life
lines..
Joshua Slocum had a high bullwarks as did the majority of larger off shore
boats of that period..


--
My opinion and experience. FWIW

Steve
s/v Good Intentions