Te t h e r i n g HEIGHTS

Of the at-sea emergencies most feared by cruising couples, man overboard is probably top of the list. Does tethering offer any security?

There has been much discussion relating to the use of tethers while working on deck. Some say they should be worn at all times and some say not at all (and in fact in the wrong circumstances they can be dangerous). I offer my views here. Some are deliberately inflammatory to get you thinking and illicit your response.

My vote is YES to tethering. Not to tether you to the boat, but rather to stop you going over the side in the first place. A MOB should begin and end at the lifelines. My first rule – Don’t Go Over the Side – treats the lifelines like the top of a 500-foot cliff. Staying aboard, or in the worst case surviving a MOB, starts well before anyone goes on deck.

Unlike a fully-crewed race yacht the average cruiser is usually a couple and as we’re cruising-orientated we’ll be concentrating on short-handed sailing – for both extended coastal and offshore passages.

Some cruising couples may have crew for the longer passages, probably younger and fitter who can be sent forward to do the mast and foredeck work. But when it’s just two-up the risks need to be thought through, carefully analysed and mitigated. There is no ambulance at the bottom of that cliff; there are just too many factors that make recovery problematic.

It’s also become clear from recent studies, trials and anecdotal evidence that if you do find yourself over the side with a tether connecting you to the boat, it’s no longer your best friend.

Trials show that regardless of how the tether is connected to the harness, either front or back, if the vessel is doing more than three knots the MOB will struggle to breath, get injured from wave and hull strike and will quickly tire. A recent Practical Boat Owner trial concluded that it was necessary to reduce the boat speed to as little as two knots within one minute of going over the side to give the MOB any chance of survival!

STRATEGY

You’re two-up and most likely doing three hours on and three off and that’s hard work! So, before you even leave the dock you should put systems in place to make life as easy as possible while on passage, and definitely to limit the number of times you’ll need to leave the cockpit.

Every time you leave the safety of the cockpit you’re increasing the risk factor. Many boats are set up for hoisting and reefing sails at the mast. If possible, run these lines back to the cockpit – halyards, reefing lines etc.

Genoa cars should be on pulleys so they can be adjusted from the cockpit. If you don’t have a rollaway main then a stack pack to “tame the main” and boom preventers to immobilize the boom are useful.

A powerful autopilot or windvane is vital to do all the hard work steering the boat without depleting the crew’s energy levels. Lack of sleep causes even an experienced sailor to make incomprehensible decisions.

We’re sufficiently pragmatic to realize there will be times when one has to leave the cockpit, so before leaving the dock we run jack-lines to allow us to tether on while moving around and working on deck.

Traditionally these lines have been run along the side decks, using webbing so they don’t roll under your feet. I’m not a fan of jack-lines on the deck for a number of reasons: I prefer using a three-point tether with the short tether, less than a metre in length, clipped to the jack-line.

With the jack-line at your feet the tether angle is too steep and the clip doesn’t slide easily and there are lots of other lines and gear to get tangled up on. The longer the tether and the closer to the gunwale of the vessel the further you can potentially fall.

I prefer to run the jack-line further inboard and if possible at or about waist height. This can be problematic on some boats but the idea is to be able to lean back while tethered and stop before you reach the lifelines.

In this position flat webbing, which stretches when wet or under load, may be replaced with braid or wire. Why a three-point tether? Simple – if for any reason you need to unclip to move about, it’s a simple matter to use the second clip so you’re always connected. Also the longer tether is good in the cockpit where you can clip on and still have some freedom of movement.

SAFETY GEAR

When it comes to racing, ALL entrants are required to meet certain safety standards. The same can’t be said with cruisers heading over the horizon. For offshore racing, Cat 1 is the standard. Ask your local yacht club for a copy of the rules or visit this link for a copy of the Freemantle Sailing Club’s “Green Book”. http://www. islandcruising.co.nz/?p=3547

Many countries don’t require the same (or in fact any) level of compliance for cruising yachts (New Zealand is the exception). For extended coastal and offshore cruising the “Green Book” should be regarded as the minimum standard.

Positioning of the safety gear is also a consideration and this will be influenced by your watch rules. The primary focus should be keeping everything close to hand and easy to deploy. On a centre cockpit boat, for example, there’s no point in having your Dan buoy or life sling on the aft deck where the crew needs to leave the safety of the cockpit in order to deploy it, let alone the time it will take.

A boat doing six knots will travel three metres every

second – 10 seconds and you’re 30m away, one minute and your 180m from the MOB. Try it with a cockpit cushion or a fender and see how close you can get your dan buoy or life sling to what you throw over from the mast to simulate an MOB.

WATCH RULES

Setting up your watch rules and making sure they’re adhered to is perhaps the most important method of mitigating risks. For us it’s simple: if there’s a need to go on deck, first, a quick assessment is needed.

If it’s dark, is it necessary to do it now? A quick tuck in the main before dusk for example, will do little to your speed and if the wind does get up partly furling the jib, which can be done from the cockpit, should be enough. For something that’s broken, can it wait till it’s light? Working on the foredeck is much easier in daylight, for example, particularly in heavy conditions. If necessary, heave to until dawn.

Once the decision to go forward has been made we adhere to the following:

conditions

you’ll need

tethering a pain. At the very least wear your harness. Why? Your chances of being found and recovered are much higher.

There have also been some advances in safety gear recently: auto inflation of harnesses and many recovery devices; the advent of AIS and personal location devices using this technology; torches and strobes that are small enough to fit into your harness and self activate – all will improve your chances of being located.

AIS, in particular, has seen many changes made to how we locate a MOB. Previous satellite technology in PLBS (Personal Locater Beacons) communicated your distress to the closest SAR coordination centre, not much use to those on the boat.

A personal AIS beacon fitted to self-activate with your harness lifejacket deployment will, upon getting a position fix, transmit your MOB status and exact position to any AIS device that’s close enough to receive the signal.

We trialled one of these units at sea in a recent rally and had six boats close enough to receive the alert and assist in search and recovery if needed. Your chances have just gone up exponentially – unless of course your harness is still in the cockpit locker! B