A knife to hand at all times?

jlavery said:
My favourite "Always carry a knife" is from PBO or similar in the 90s.

The author was sailing singlehanded in the Solent. Went forward, with the autohelm on, to stow the anchor (or fiddle with the anchor locker). Locker lid slammed - trapping the hood toggle from his jacket under the lid. Couldn't reach the anchor locker catch. Looked up - boat heading for large navigation buoy. Luckily had a knife in his pocket. Got knife out and cut hood toggle cord, freed himself and dashed aft to switch autohelm off and just avoid the buoy.

I have a leatherman on my salopettes, and a knife on the pedestal. Haven't needed them urgently. Yet.
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Taking the coat off comes to mind. Possibly even faster, depending on what is caught and where the knife is.

And shorten the toggles. Long toggles are a known safety hazard on boats and in industry.
 
On a trimaran that I once delivered across the Atlantic, the owner informed me that an axe kept in an open pouch by the helm was the emergency go-to tool.
 
jlavery said:
My favourite "Always carry a knife" is from PBO or similar in the 90s.

The author was sailing singlehanded in the Solent. Went forward, with the autohelm on, to stow the anchor (or fiddle with the anchor locker). Locker lid slammed - trapping the hood toggle from his jacket under the lid. Couldn't reach the anchor locker catch. Looked up - boat heading for large navigation buoy. Luckily had a knife in his pocket. Got knife out and cut hood toggle cord, freed himself and dashed aft to switch autohelm off and just avoid the buoy.

I have a leatherman on my salopettes, and a knife on the pedestal. Haven't needed them urgently. Yet.
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My favourite was the one about the bowman on an offshore. Went on his off watch when it was quite light winds. Was woken up about 2 hours later as a front came through and the skipper decided they needed to change headsails. Throws his smock jacket over his lifejacket (that he hadn't taken off) and goes forward to deal with it.
Big wave comes over the front, washes bowman down the deck a bit. Lifejacket inflates.

What the cockpit crew then see, in the dim light of the deck light is the bowman pick himself up, grab his knife out of his belt and start stabbing himself in the chest with it, whilst staggering back down the boat.

As there was not room in his smock for him and an inflated auto lifejacket, and the lifejacket was in danger of winning!
 
john_morris_uk said:
I can understand all that because once upon a time we went racing. As we only cruise nowadays I’ll keep to my current practice. Lots of sharp knives on board but not usually in my pocket or by the helm or mast.

I gave up racing because of all the gear breakages and couldn’t afford the new suits of sails one had to regularly buy to be competitive.

We also carry an oil stone for sharpening things along with a guide for maintaining the angle. (And a little whetstone in the galley drawer.) Anyone else carry sharpening kit?
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Yep, I keep a small diamond sharpening tool on board. Works well on galley knives too.
 
The screwdriver comment up thread gave me thought.

Ask me for a screwdriver, and the obvious reply is "what kind?" Size and type.

Ask me for a knife and I will ask "what kind" or what for". If you are cutting a line, a sharp sheep's foot or possibly a hot knife. Stripping wire, you get the stripper. Pealing a sticker I will give you a scraper or razor. For something else, scisors or shears or angle cutters are what you actually need. Heaven forbid, you want to pry on something. Most likely, my pocket knife is the wrong (or not best) tool for every job. Instead, I have a lot of small tool kits, most containing several cutting tools.

"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." So far, for every example, there was a better solution.
 
flaming said:
My favourite was the one about the bowman on an offshore. Went on his off watch when it was quite light winds. Was woken up about 2 hours later as a front came through and the skipper decided they needed to change headsails. Throws his smock jacket over his lifejacket (that he hadn't taken off) and goes forward to deal with it.
Big wave comes over the front, washes bowman down the deck a bit. Lifejacket inflates.

What the cockpit crew then see, in the dim light of the deck light is the bowman pick himself up, grab his knife out of his belt and start stabbing himself in the chest with it, whilst staggering back down the boat.

As there was not room in his smock for him and an inflated auto lifejacket, and the lifejacket was in danger of winning!
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Very funny, and not the only time (I have heard such stories).

Other than not wearing the smock over the PFD, not issuing auto-inflate if working on the bow (also dumb), and changing down earlier (racers do this to themselves), there is a relief valve he could have reached through the neck, most likely. It is usually right on the shoulder.
Cerebus said:
Sailing with friends this weekend and we pulled into the marina.

Skipper wanted a piece of rope cutting and asked who had a knife.

I was the only one out of 5 of us. A brightly coloured, stainless blade, half serrated. Always on me when I sail.

I was surprised.

Thinking about it, I don’t know where else on board except galley (not exactly tool knives) any knife could have been found. Don’t know where skipper keeps tool box; I should know and will find out for future reference.
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For example, the skipper did not have a knife handy near the cockpit? Sounds like a skipper problem..
 
michael_w said:
I've carried a leatherman daily for years. The only time I've been asked to take it off and leave it with the office was in a botanical gardens. They were worried about me pinching cuttings, :)
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I won’t (and can’t by law) carry my leatherman wave away from the house because the blades lock.

Goes into luggage and boot of car to get to boat.

I have owned it for over 20 years and think it is the best multitool I have ever owned. When on my hip in house or garden or boat it can be used for something almost once a day; scissors, pliers (comes with lots of screw bits including torx).
 
Interesting about the locking blade restrictions.

In the US, for better or worse, there are practically no restrictions for what you carry in a scabbard. Carry a long sword if you want. There are restrictions for many concealed weapons, but not a knife of less that 3 inches, and no restriction on a locking blade.

Of course, you can open carry an arm cannon (Desert Eagle) with a modest permit and concealed carry with a different permit that is not hard to get. You can open carry a riffle over your back, except in national forests and certain security zones. Schools, courts, and airports, of course, are very, very restricted.

But certainly, a locking multitool is nothing. Many or most of the guys working in plants carry them. Just handy. I have a Leatherman that I was given 30 years ago. I doubt I've used it 3 times. It sits in the boat tool bag, sharp and well-oiled.

I'm not sayin' all of that is good. I don't have or want a sword or firearm. Just conversing.
 
thinwater said:
Interesting about the locking blade restrictions.

In the US, for better or worse, there are practically no restrictions for what you carry in a scabbard. Carry a long sword if you want. There are restrictions for many concealed weapons, but not a knife of less that 3 inches, and no restriction on a locking blade.

Of course, you can open carry an arm cannon (Desert Eagle) with a modest permit and concealed carry with a different permit that is not hard to get. You can open carry a riffle over your back, except in national forests and certain security zones. Schools, courts, and airports, of course, are very, very restricted.

But certainly, a locking multitool is nothing. Many or most of the guys working in plants carry them. Just handy. I have a Leatherman that I was given 30 years ago. I doubt I've used it 3 times. It sits in the boat tool bag, sharp and well-oiled.

I'm not sayin' all of that is good. I don't have or want a sword or firearm. Just conversing.
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it is worth pointing out that a blade over 3” or a locking blade is not always illegal; you can demonstrate on the balance of probabilities that you had a genuine reason for carrying it and it will be fine (although if it’s a marginal case that might involve a scary court experience and legal costs!). But eg, a rigger walking down the pontoon carrying a locking multitool on the way to look at a boat is not committing an offence. If he puts it in his pocket at the end of the job and heads into town he might be (I don’t think there has been any case law for “I was using it a few hours before and forgot to put it away properly”). If he just always carried it as a habit then when he’s out for dinner or playing with his kids on the park at the weekend he is committing an offence. Obviously the way that’s dealt with if it’s sitting at the bottom of a bag v’s in his pocket v’s in his hand may well be different, just as the approach to a locking multitool with a 2” blade might be different from a 6” hunting knife!
 
Of course if you wear a kilt you can carry a 3.5 inch fixed blade ( sgian dubh) in any part of the UK, normally carried in the sock there's no requirement to do so.
If you are a male Sikh, it's a religious requirement to carry a sword type implement ( Kirpan), the recommended is 14cm for a child, 35cm for an adult, but there's no actual legal limit to size.

It doesn't have to be a blade, it's any sharp instrument, if you carry chisels, without a reasonable excuse, like going to the boat to make a modification, they too could get you arrested. Your sail repair kit with long needles and awls, left with you in the car, not locked in the boot, could get you arrested..

I carry all sorts of sharp implements for modelling as well as sailing, the tool boxes are definitely kept in the back of the landrover ( van )
 
The Q said:
Of course if you wear a kilt you can carry a 3.5 inch fixed blade ( sgian dubh) in any part of the UK, normally carried in the sock there's no requirement to do so.
If you are a male Sikh, it's a religious requirement to carry a sword type implement ( Kirpan), the recommended is 14cm for a child, 35cm for an adult, but there's no actual legal limit to size.....
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It's a mystery why these exemptions still apply in the 21st Century. A bit of consistency might be helpful.
 
The Q said:
Of course if you wear a kilt you can carry a 3.5 inch fixed blade ( sgian dubh) in any part of the UK, normally carried in the sock there's no requirement to do so.
If you are a male Sikh, it's a religious requirement to carry a sword type implement ( Kirpan), the recommended is 14cm for a child, 35cm for an adult, but there's no actual legal limit to size.

It doesn't have to be a blade, it's any sharp instrument, if you carry chisels, without a reasonable excuse, like going to the boat to make a modification, they too could get you arrested. Your sail repair kit with long needles and awls, left with you in the car, not locked in the boot, could get you arrested..

I carry all sorts of sharp implements for modelling as well as sailing, the tool boxes are definitely kept in the back of the landrover ( van )
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Do you have a link to show your first paragraph is legal, please?
 
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