A knife to hand at all times?

[Iliade]

The one time I really needed my bridle knife, it was two thousand miles away! That was a very close call, involving being dragged into a very fast flowing river. Never again!

The recent fatality involving an electric winch also comes to mind.

 

[Muddy32]

I have a serrated kitchen knife for use there, but other foldable knives in various places, which also serve as a variety of uses. No open knives out in the way for "emergency " use. None carried on my person, they always seem to restrict movement!

 

[Gixer]

I've got a small serrated folding knife which is on a lanyard and I attach it to my person. What I like most about it is I can open it with one hand easily!

 

[RunAgroundHard]

The only knife I have that isn't in the galley is tucked into the cover of the liferaft that I keep on the deck when on a long passage. My fear is of a fire in the boat and I have no option but to throw the tethered liferaft over the side, give it a tug to inflate it and jump in. I'm then tethered to a mass of burning fibreglass. There's probably an easy way to detach the line from the liferaft and its probably in the instructions that I haven't read, hence the sharp knife. Pssst. Oops!

As previously mentioned there is likely a knife secured to the flotation tube at the door of the life raft, attached with a lanyard. Its purpose is to cut the tether and is designed not to puncture the tube. However, read your life rafts instruction book. Burning to death or drowning as you wish you hadn’t punctured the tube and in the panic didn’t know what to do is not pretty dumb. Your life raft may not have a knife, so best to check. From what I can tell, having asked the manufacturer about my life raft, there is no weak point built into the painter, some specialist rafts for helicopters do have that feature. I recommend a hydrostatic release as well, they only cost about £50 for three years validity.

Read the manual, it will only take about 20 minutes tops, do yourself a favour, increase your chances of survival, no matter how improbable the likelihood of using the life raft is. You have obviously thought about it by having a knife for the fire risk.

 

[William_H]

I have always wondered why kitchn knives always have a very sharp point making then ideal as a weapon. I notice some TV chefshave a knife with elliptical end. Seems so much safer in terms of someone taking it as a weapon. So yes I would advocate grinding off points although I have not done it. I can not imagine the need to stab something on a boat occurring often. I do like the carpet cutter type knives with inside curve cutting edge. Safe in a life raft. I do have a diving knife which I have ground the point off to make a sharp chisel . Great for barnacles. Just waiting for someone to accuse me of carrying a weapon until they see no point. ol'will

 

[Puffin10032]

My sailing knife, which I've had since the late 1960s, has a straight cutting edge so no point. When sailing I wear it on a lanyard around my neck but have never needed to use it on (or in!) the water. The most used thing on it is the shackle tool.

 

[Zing]

I have always wondered why kitchn knives always have a very sharp point making then ideal as a weapon. …

Knives don’t stab and kill, people do. I don’t appreciate the thought of dumbing down my kitchen equipment to reduce the negligible risk of it being used as a weapon.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I have always wondered why kitchn knives always have a very sharp point making then ideal as a weapon. I notice some TV chefshave a knife with elliptical end. Seems so much safer in terms of someone taking it as a weapon. So yes I would advocate grinding off points although I have not done it. I can not imagine the need to stab something on a boat occurring often. I do like the carpet cutter type knives with inside curve cutting edge. Safe in a life raft. I do have a diving knife which I have ground the point off to make a sharp chisel . Great for barnacles. Just waiting for someone to accuse me of carrying a weapon until they see no point. ol'will

When cutting something with a tough skin, the point is often useful to make the initial penetrative. E.g. tomatoes, sausages etc.

 

[nevis768]

Chuck Norris never carried one, sometimes he had a spoon because using knives to kill people was too easy.

 

[Sea Change]

Chuck Norris never carried one, sometimes he had a spoon because using knives to kill people was too easy.

It's not safe for Chuck Norris to carry a knife because Chuck Norris can cut a knife with his bare hands.

 

[Beelzebub]

On a transatlantic trimaran delivery several years ago, we carried an axe at the helm position; there were no mutineers on that boat!

 

[Roberto]

On a transatlantic trimaran delivery several years ago, we carried an axe at the helm position; there were no mutineers on that boat!

During the rainy seasons in tropical rivers we developed this arsenal, there were very huge chunks of weed, branches, foliages (some double decker bus size) coming downstream and accumulating against the anchor chain, these were barely enough to split them in two.