News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 12:56:12 -0500, rhys wrote:

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 10:17:42 -0500, Matt Colie
wrote:

I am not saying that the young man involved might have done better, but
I think the group should know what the situation is really like.

I am never without a knife (except on an airplane recently), and have
had one all my life. It is an essential working tool for a waterman.

I have both a multi-tool and a rigging knife.

This thread got me to thinking about tethers.

I remember Practical Sailor testing both knives and tethers by
recording how quickly a tether could slashed.

Also, I believe that when one of tall ships went down a crew member
could not get free of his tether and was dragged down.

Since then, snap shackles seem to be the favoured attachment method at
the harness.

Does anyone have any experience with or knowledge of the efficacy of
the snap shackles? Can they be released under load?

From my own experience I will only use Gibb or Wichard clips for
attaching to u bolts or jacklines. I had a tether come off while I
was on a foredeck at night. It managed to attach itself to the jib
sheet.

Jack

__________________________________________________
Jack Dale
Swiftsure Sailing Academy
Director/ISPA and CYA Instructor
http://www.swiftsuresailing.com
Phone: 1 (877) 470-SAIL (toll free)
__________________________________________________

News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

"Jack Dale" wrote in message
...
[ about tethers and quick-release ]
Does anyone have any experience with or knowledge of the efficacy of
the snap shackles? Can they be released under load?

From my own experience I will only use Gibb or Wichard clips for
attaching to u bolts or jacklines. I had a tether come off while I
was on a foredeck at night. It managed to attach itself to the jib
sheet.

Whenever VALIS sails beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, everyone puts on a
tether (and sometimes in the bay, if conditions warrant). The ones I have
on board use a "Wichard Safety Hook" at the boat end, and a quick-release
snap shackle at the harness end. The quick-release shackle has a nice
lanyard on the release pin and it works smoothly. I have never had one of
these (or the Wichard hooks) open accidentally. I used to have some tethers
with a caribeener-style snap hook for the boat end, and it was scary how
easily these would accidentally release when hooked onto a pad-eye.

-Paul
s/v VALIS

News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

"Jack Dale" wrote in message
...
[ about tethers and quick-release ]
Does anyone have any experience with or knowledge of the efficacy of
the snap shackles? Can they be released under load?

From my own experience I will only use Gibb or Wichard clips for
attaching to u bolts or jacklines. I had a tether come off while I
was on a foredeck at night. It managed to attach itself to the jib
sheet.

Whenever VALIS sails beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, everyone puts on a
tether (and sometimes in the bay, if conditions warrant). The ones I have
on board use a "Wichard Safety Hook" at the boat end, and a quick-release
snap shackle at the harness end. The quick-release shackle has a nice
lanyard on the release pin and it works smoothly. I have never had one of
these (or the Wichard hooks) open accidentally. I used to have some tethers
with a caribeener-style snap hook for the boat end, and it was scary how
easily these would accidentally release when hooked onto a pad-eye.

-Paul
s/v VALIS

News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

The quick-release shackle has a nice
lanyard on the release pin and it works smoothly. I have never had one of
these ... open accidentally.

maybe *you* haven't, but most of the sailing world has.

snap shackles are thoroughly considered to be no-no's on tethers because they
so often come open when the lanyard gets snagged on something.

News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

The quick-release shackle has a nice
lanyard on the release pin and it works smoothly. I have never had one of
these ... open accidentally.

maybe *you* haven't, but most of the sailing world has.

snap shackles are thoroughly considered to be no-no's on tethers because they
so often come open when the lanyard gets snagged on something.

News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

"JAXAshby" wrote in message
...
The quick-release shackle has a nice
lanyard on the release pin and it works smoothly. I have never had one
of
these ... open accidentally.

maybe *you* haven't, but most of the sailing world has.

snap shackles are thoroughly considered to be no-no's on tethers because
they
so often come open when the lanyard gets snagged on something.

Same thing with the aforementioned snap-carabiners. I'm a (not very
accomplished) rock climber of sorts, and a snap gate crab is NEVER used as a
primary means of hooking into a line, and the use of a locking (screw gate)
crab is frowned on as well- knots are the only safe way, in rock climbing.
Of course, it's a bit of a different situation; if the rock sinks you've had
it anyway :)

News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

"JAXAshby" wrote in message
...
The quick-release shackle has a nice
lanyard on the release pin and it works smoothly. I have never had one
of
these ... open accidentally.

maybe *you* haven't, but most of the sailing world has.

snap shackles are thoroughly considered to be no-no's on tethers because
they
so often come open when the lanyard gets snagged on something.

Same thing with the aforementioned snap-carabiners. I'm a (not very
accomplished) rock climber of sorts, and a snap gate crab is NEVER used as a
primary means of hooking into a line, and the use of a locking (screw gate)
crab is frowned on as well- knots are the only safe way, in rock climbing.
Of course, it's a bit of a different situation; if the rock sinks you've had
it anyway :)

News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

"JAXAshby" wrote in message
...
The quick-release shackle has a nice
lanyard on the release pin and it works smoothly. I have never had one
of
these ... open accidentally.

maybe *you* haven't, but most of the sailing world has.

snap shackles are thoroughly considered to be no-no's on tethers because
they
so often come open when the lanyard gets snagged on something.

I'm not saying it can't happen -- it just hasn't happened to me or my crew
during many thousands of miles of blue-water and coastal sailing. The short
release lanyard is close to the chest and not easily snagged. Of course it
*could* release accidentally, but I feel that the ability to manually
quick-release the tether more than compensates for the slight (as I see it)
risk of accidental release. If anyone know of a better solution, I would
love to hear of it.

I thoroughly agree that snap shakles at the boat-end of the tether are
unacceptable.

-Paul
s/v VALIS

News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

"JAXAshby" wrote in message
...
The quick-release shackle has a nice
lanyard on the release pin and it works smoothly. I have never had one
of
these ... open accidentally.

maybe *you* haven't, but most of the sailing world has.

snap shackles are thoroughly considered to be no-no's on tethers because
they
so often come open when the lanyard gets snagged on something.

I'm not saying it can't happen -- it just hasn't happened to me or my crew
during many thousands of miles of blue-water and coastal sailing. The short
release lanyard is close to the chest and not easily snagged. Of course it
*could* release accidentally, but I feel that the ability to manually
quick-release the tether more than compensates for the slight (as I see it)
risk of accidental release. If anyone know of a better solution, I would
love to hear of it.

I thoroughly agree that snap shakles at the boat-end of the tether are
unacceptable.

-Paul
s/v VALIS

News of sailing tragedy off San Francisco? (tethers and attachment methods)
 

"Paul" wrote in message ...
"JAXAshby" wrote in message
...
The quick-release shackle has a nice
lanyard on the release pin and it works smoothly. I have never had one
of
these ... open accidentally.

maybe *you* haven't, but most of the sailing world has.

snap shackles are thoroughly considered to be no-no's on tethers because
they
so often come open when the lanyard gets snagged on something.

I'm not saying it can't happen -- it just hasn't happened to me or my crew
during many thousands of miles of blue-water and coastal sailing. The short
release lanyard is close to the chest and not easily snagged. Of course it
*could* release accidentally, but I feel that the ability to manually
quick-release the tether more than compensates for the slight (as I see it)
risk of accidental release. If anyone know of a better solution, I would
love to hear of it.

I thoroughly agree that snap shakles at the boat-end of the tether are
unacceptable.

-Paul
s/v VALIS
I fully agree with Paul. In over 10 000 miles oif offshore sailing, my
Lewmar bronze snapshackle has never opened accidentally. As a matter
of fact, it tales a bit of effort to open it deliberately. The
"lanyard" (actually a shor "tail") would find it very difficult to
snag anywhere.
john