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[quote=mattson][quote=texastuma][quote=mattson]And if you wear a seatbelt you could be trapped in your car if you go into a river.

More an issue for solo sailing, but my tether has never caused me an entanglement issue, and has saved my bacon twice in keeping me with the boat. And if there ever was an entanglement, I've got a quick release shackle with an extended line with a rubber tubing as a grip to release it.

But it supplements my PFD, rather than replacing it.  Not sure I am sold on a wetsuit over a PFD.  My PDF is where I attach my light and whistle, and it is an angler's model with pockets where I store my radio, flares, and ePirb.

Waterwings.  Now, you're talkin!

Btw, we had one of the guys in our local group go overboard solo and was dragged by a tether. He was out by himself with no other boats and could not get back on the boat (long story with a spinnaker involved).   It kept him with the boat and he was dragged 5 miles for over an hour until his boat hit a beach.  His radio?   On the boat.

Lessons learned:  He is going to get his radio on him.   Lesson for me:  My plans to try and fly a spinnaker while solo are in the trash bin.[/quote]

A couple of us that singlehand most of the time offshore have discussed a tether system. I have it designed and yet (luckily) to test it. My thought; use about 100' of 3-strand that is secured to the bow. If I do go over, I can have time to get my head up before getting yanked. To the bow, I can act as a sea anchor to stop the boat. This came to light during an offshore race with my son a couple of years ago when we had 2-4' swells. There were several times I felt I was going to get slung off the boat. I told him that if I disappear off the boat, sheet in and flip it over. But, the times I sail singlehanded in 20-25 knots of wind, stopping a cat with no one on it isn't very easy. And, I'm usually out when no one else is. I've had a couple of times where a trap line failed and I managed to maintain a death grip on the mainsheet. There are definitely pros and cons with each. You cannot rely on the crew if you get separated from the boat either. We had an instance one year where a skipper got separated from the boat at the beach, the boat headed back out through the surf and was headed for jetties. Short story, we rescued the inexperienced crew before the boat went up on the jetties.

don't give up on flying a spin solo, just have a plan and consider the worst possible.[/quote]

My setup is a jack line tied to the trampoline lacing at each side of the boat.  Bowlines covered in rigging tape.  The tether is three strand rope as it's just easy for me to make loops out of.  A quick release shackle on the sailor end with a line attached to the release with a rubber hose on it that can be found quickly by feel.  The side connecting to the jackline is a carbiner with "keylock" latch.  This latch is an important feature. It allows you to unclip without a conventional latch snagging on the jackline.  It's a redundant release point, if there are any issues with the quick release.  The jackline setup allows you to tack the boat without unhooking. The whole setup is best viewed in this video:

[url=https://youtu.be/ICjJNvMhzvE]https://youtu.be/ICjJNvMhzvE[/url]

I also had an incident with a broken trap wire, with the boat staying on it's hulls.  The "sea anchor" effect is definitely an issue, as if you are attached to the boat at the stern the bows are going to start blowing downwind.  In my case, I grabbed one rudder blade and steered the boat upwind.

The line to the bow is an interesting concept.  I think I will stay with the jackline setup, but am considering a line tied to each bow for island trips.  But we have played around with the concept of trailing lines behind the boat as another overboard scenario safeguard. (Again.... These are not performance trips.)  But these lines could be tied to the bows, instead of the stern.  If the boat cannot be steered to weather in an overboard scenario, you put a couple of wraps on your hand, release the safety tether, and boat eventually heads up. Maybe a loop in the line to transfer the tether to.   Gotta think about this.[/quote]

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