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I do not like Lifesling
"Frogwatch" wrote in message
... I have one but when I consider how it is to be used, it makes no sense. In most cases, you will want to be able to throw something to the person and you simply cannot throw the Lifesling. After considering various throwables, I settled on a cheap JimBuoy with a poly (floating) rope attached via a ss clip. The 150' of light line goes into a canvas bag on the stern rail where it is protected from the sun. The ring buoy is detached and put below when I am not on the boat and the line is stuffed in its bag out of the sun. When I go aboard, I simply attach the line again. Of course, this is in addition to the tethers we use that attach via a carabiner to our inflatable life jackets. The tethers go to a ring bolt in the cockpit. At night, everybody wears a tether. The inflatables each have a strobe as well and mine has a new EPIRB. YES, I am paranoid. I've used the Lifesling extensively with a person in the water and it works as advertised. You claim that you can't throw it? Why's that? You don't need to get it that close to the COB on the initial throw. All you have to do is circle the person and the line eventually brings the LS to the COB. We did this in the SF bay during a sponsored event and the worst time to recovery - from the 200-pounder jumping off the boat to standing back on the boat - was about 4 minutes. This was in conditions that included a pretty strong ebb and significant chop. The results of the event concluded that it was by far the best method of recovery for a person who is conscious. Obviously nothing that requires a person to take an active part in their recovery will work if they're unable to grab. Nothing wrong with the JimBuoy but I'd reconsider the clip if that's what's holding it to the boat. You may not be able to unclip it under pressure.. e.g., the person grabs the buoy, but the boat's going too fast and you have to cut them loose. I have a JimBuoy also, but it's not attached to the boat if I deploy it. I put it and the Lifesling in a locker when I'm not using the boat. Protects both. A couple of things about the Lifesling... first, you should not tie a bowline at the bitter end around an anchor point. You won't be able to untie it under pressure. I teach (through USSailing) and on my boat using a round turn and two half hitches. You can untie that knot. You need to ensure that the Lifesling line is not in a big mess inside the bag. You want to stuff it vs. flaking it. Poly line tends to kink and get into a knotted mess if you coil it. The Lifesling is designed to work under all conditions, but it shines in the situation when you don't want to sail away from the COB for recovery, e.g., with the classic Figure 8. One other item you might consider is a COB pole. It does help to be able to see someone since it sits up fairly high - whereas a COB tends to float on their PFDs at about head level... very hard to see in adverse conditions. The pole is easy to deploy, but difficult to throw, so it's only worth doing if you can deploy it quickly. The Lifesling is much more forgiving, since all you have to do is circle the COB. I'm sure you know this, but the basic procedure after yell and point is to deploy. If you're headed up, come up higher then tack. Higher winds might require sheeting in the main a bit more, but getting the boat downwind (and back) is going to be tough if you're not fast enough. I typically tack as fast as possible, then ease the main slightly so I can sail just a small distance away before gybing (otherwise, the turn being so tight, there's a real danger of running the COB over). The small amount of easying of the main won't cause damage, and you can usually slow the gybe down by running a bit. Then, you basically keep doing the tack and gybe until the person has the line and then the horseshoe at the end of the line. My experience is that the boat is barely moving at this point, even in 20 kts, and it's pretty easy to put her into a hove-to fairly close to the COB. Last step is hauling them to the boat, then using the block/tackle set up to hoist them aboard. (We avoid using the stern, since there would be a lot of hobby-horsing.) Great show on the tether, stobes, EPIRB. Those, in my view, are essential at night/off-shore. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
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