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I do not like Lifesling
"Don White" wrote in message
... "Frogwatch" wrote in message ... On Apr 8, 1:27 pm, "Capt. JG" wrote: "Wayne.B" wrote in message ... On Thu, 8 Apr 2010 08:48:02 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch wrote: 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. You misunderstand how a Lifesling is supposed to be used. The idea is to let all of the line out behind the boat and then circle the person in the water like you were bringing the tow rope to a water skiier. This is a maneuver that needs to be practiced. You should really try to find a "Safety at Sea" course in your area. They typically provide live demonstrations of all sorts of safety equipment and some very worthwhile discussions by experts. http://offshore.ussailing.org/SAS/Seminars.htm Yes, that's what I participated in... a couple of years ago. The other good point, which Wayne mentioned and I'll reinforce, is to get instruction and even more importantly get in lots of practice. It can be fun to do - if the water's warm and it's a nice day - with a volunteer. If it's not a nice day, practice one or more of the regular non-Lifesling techniques, such as the Quick Turn (aka Figure 8). You can't practice enough. -- "j" ganz I understand the circling bit until the Lifesling gets to the person but that just seems kinda slow when what you really want to do is get contact with the person ASAP. Yes, I do need more practice though. I believe, in a sailboat, the objective is to approach the victim while sailing upwind. You don't want to run him down & finish the job, eh? Yes. In fact, the object is not really to get to the person ASAP. Assuming they're wearing a PFD, they're not going to sink. The initial object of the process is to get yourself and your boat under control. Then, approach them in a sensible way... from downwind... typically a close reach, since a close haul give you no ability to point higher without stalling, and a beam reach is too fast and nearly impossible to let out the sails enough to stop. The object even after you've reached the COB is not to "get him out of the water," but rather to attach the COB to the boat, then retrieve. The Lifesling cuts the time to get back to the water vs. a more traditional approach (e.g., Figure 8) and gives the COB something to grab that's attached to the boat. Thus, in rough wind/sea state, you don't have a great of a potential to lose sight of the COB. Everyone needs more practice. I practice with my private students and even some charters if they're interested. It's really one of the essential lessons for sailing instruction. On the bay, we typically teach the Fig. 8, since we're interested in teaching sail trim and boat handling. It's too dangerous in these waters to put someone in the water. I've done that in the Carib., but not here, save the seminars previously mentioned. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
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