A knife to hand at all times?

Cerebus said:
Do you have a link to show your first paragraph is legal, please?
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He’s slightly paraphrased it but there is an exemption when the knife is part of national dress.

penberth3 said:
It's a mystery why these exemptions still apply in the 21st Century. A bit of consistency might be helpful.
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Is there any evidence that people in national or religious dress are associated with knife crimes? The law has been the same for decades and I don’t recall a single publicised case where the police said, “if only we’d been able to arrest the man in the kilt”. Whilst it provides an exemption to the posession in public problem it doesn’t mean it’s ok to use it or threaten someone with it etc.
 
Late to this thread, but to add in my short sailing experience I use to carry a safety knife when dinghy sailing but after moving up to something less prone to capsize I no longer carry a knife or have one nearby. But on a 10m boat the galley isn’t far away. But recently when I made a mess of furling the headsail away on a lee shore (3-4 boat lengths) in a fair bit of swell and wind and, well, really just making a dogs dinner of it, the leach tension line whipped itself around a shroud. I could probably have unravelled it but it seemed quicker to go back to the cockpit, grab a knife from the galley and go back up and cut it. Probably an ideal example of why I should get a knife.
 
We have a dyneema cutter within reach. Only ever used it for splicing. Ropes round the prop are not such a terror when you’re outboard powered, and very rarely motor except in and out of harbour. I have never ‘needed’ a knife sailing in 60 years on the water. Only conventional wisdom makes me keep one within reach.
 
I have one in my jacket pocket all the time, never really used one in anger, had to go over the side with the bread knife (somehow felt that as it was longer i would have to go less far underneath - pysological thing for me that) a few times to clear prop of lobster pot line but nowt serious.

A mate on the other hand was rafted up to a boat in a full lock in belgium and saw that the guy next to him had tied his boat to a bollard at the top and the lines pressure was growing as the water level dropped, friend jumped aboard and cut the line pronto just as the stern was being held out of the water, scary stuff in a packed lock , the owner was very grateful.
 
I don't have a strong opinion on this either way, but how long would you need to go sailing without the need for a fire extinguisher to decide that was unnecessary?
 
chris-s said:
Late to this thread, but to add in my short sailing experience I use to carry a safety knife when dinghy sailing but after moving up to something less prone to capsize I no longer carry a knife or have one nearby. But on a 10m boat the galley isn’t far away. But recently when I made a mess of furling the headsail away on a lee shore (3-4 boat lengths) in a fair bit of swell and wind and, well, really just making a dogs dinner of it, the leach tension line whipped itself around a shroud. I could probably have unravelled it but it seemed quicker to go back to the cockpit, grab a knife from the galley and go back up and cut it. Probably an ideal example of why I should get a knife.
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Or don't do manoeuvres 3-4 boats length off a lee shore:-)
Starting sailing in days when the only motor was a rusty outboard, that often wouldn't start and rarely did any good in waves, we were MUCH more wary of lee shores.
 
finestgreen said:
I don't have a strong opinion on this either way, but how long would you need to go sailing without the need for a fire extinguisher to decide that was unnecessary?
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The comparison is more like- do you carry a fire extinguisher on your person, or do you have to walk a few metres to get one?
I seriously doubt anybody sails on anything bigger than a dinghy without having some sort of knife onboard.
 
I have been following this thread with interest and I can agree with many of the contributors’ views. However, I have just bought a new sailing knife, the old, similar, one lost in the mists of time. My shiny new purchase, important for me, has single handed opening for the main blade. By way of explanation, like many here, I’ve sailed quite a lot, only wearing a life jacket when it gets ‘serious’ and relying on a bulkhead mounted knife for emergencies although I reality it’s main use was for gutting fish.

I have now downsized to a smaller boat, I’m fast approaching 80 and I sail single handed. In view of this and the handicaps to mobility that come with age, I’ve now taken to wearing a LJ and I have a PLB as going overboard without these is probably terminal, as is going overboard, still attached by my lifeline and unable to cut myself free. Hence a knife on my belt is an important safety item for me but probably not everyone.
 
I don’t store a knife in the cockpit as many do and I think it’s quite a good idea. I hate the thought of a boarder finding it at night and arming themselves, so I have one hidden very near at hand in a locker for an emergency. I often also carry a Leatherman.
 
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