'Back-tow' lifejackets?

[Ohlin Karcher]

These look interesting. You clip on at the front, as usual with a lifejacket with integrated harness.

If you fall in and are being towed alongside the yacht, face forward (which is supposed to drown you) there is a handle to be pulled.

This releases the normal front attachment point, and the tether will now pull you through the water from a secondary strong point behind your back, quite high up between the shoulder blades. ( Not much chance of the wearer being able to reach this to release it)

If you are being towed alongside through the water, face down with sea being forced into your face, then pulling that handle, being spun 180 and towed backwards would probably save your life.

Of course that exact scenario is probably occurring in a minority of lifejacket actications..but it might be a large enough proportion to make choosing a back-tow type the only sensible option.

I wonder if anyone here has chosen this new development, or even been towed by one?

 

[Seajet]

I appreciate the dangers of being dragged face down, but I'd be very uneasy about rendering myself unable to reach the harness line - this seems only suited to boats with large crews handy to recover the casualty.

I usually sail alone or with novice crew, my only chance if over the side would be to pull tension off the line to release the clip, then hope my patent boat stopping & MOB recovery systems work, ditto any crew ( who I do try to brief on MOB etc ).

If I'd gone over the side with my ex and used a back tow she'd have happily towed me into harbour as a ready rigged fender

 

[Adonnante]

We have been using the Backtow lifejacket for nearly two years. It was chosen because we sail a light multihull which is very difficult to stop moving in a MOB situation. It requires that the user is able and not panicking, as a conscious action is needed to activate. I've no practical experience of the system, something I hope can continue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSC8EasVhfg

 

[rogerthebodger]

We have been using the Backtow lifejacket for nearly two years. It was chosen because we sail a light multihull which is very difficult to stop moving in a MOB situation. It requires that the user is able and not panicking, as a conscious action is needed to activate. I've no practical experience of the system, something I hope can continue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSC8EasVhfg

I can see and agree that back towing is much better but why does the release a cord why not just attach the harness line to the back of the life jacket or the safety harness.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

I can see and agree that back towing is much better but why does the release a cord why not just attach the harness line to the back of the life jacket or the safety harness.

I was thinking of that.. I reckon it would be a nuisance moving around on deck, clipping yourself onto various hard points, jacklines or wrapping your tether round the mast as I often do, with the tether attached high up on your back.
I often lean on my tether, almost hanging off it, as an aid to balance and moving around, sometimes. So that would be tricky as well.
I would definitely like to try one of these back tow contraptions if someone else was paying, to see if I could break it.

As far as I can tell from the ads, you can't change from front to rear attachment, either accidentally or on purpose, unless the L/j has inflated which gives access to the D-ring for that purpose. It sounds to me elaborate, bulky, and capable of a range of possible malfunctions down the line in the real world.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

We have been using the Backtow lifejacket for nearly two years. It was chosen because we sail a light multihull which is very difficult to stop moving in a MOB situation. It requires that the user is able and not panicking, as a conscious action is needed to activate. I've no practical experience of the system, something I hope can continue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSC8EasVhfg

Thanks for that Adonnante, I hope you never use it in anger..
I wonder, would you be even happier with the concept it it flipped you over to rear tow automatically, when it inflated?

 

[RupertW]

I think it would make more sense for the clipping to remain at the front but with an easy to break cord so any real force would transfer to the back.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

I think it would make more sense for the clipping to remain at the front but with an easy to break cord so any real force would transfer to the back.

I put more force on my tether when I'm using it, than the force needed to tow me face down, so not in my case..

 

[Kukri]

I have converted to them.

They are very nicely made ... in darkest Southampton. I don’t find them bulky or awkward but I was converting from Crewsaver not Spinlock.

Two crotch straps, a workable hood, choice of inflation system.

The idea makes sense, to me. A point not covered so far I think is that there is an easy and strong lifting point.

 

[Seajet]

You get easy, strong lifting points on normal lifejacket / harnesses, and they don't require lifting one arse up and deposited on deck that way !

I think your big ship / big boat and crew experience is to the fore here, may well be a good idea for you but not for a small boat with husband and wife, IMO.

 

[RupertW]

I put more force on my tether when I'm using it, than the force needed to tow me face down, so not in my case..

Really - I never put any force on mine - do you lean against it or??

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

Really - I never put any force on mine - do you lean against it or??

Yes that's right, I often brace myself against it.
Or just have it tight, while I'm doing something, then I feel safer as I can feel it's stopping me moving, which lets me get more use out of my hands, thus freeing them up a bit, as it were, for dealing with whatever.
Doing it like that feels much better than knowing it's probably there, and probably clipped on, but not exactly how far and which way I would fall, if a wave knocked me, or I just lost my grip.
It somehow keeps me locked into the boat's movement and I use less energy avoiding getting my body flung about.
I've never been in a fast rally car flying over jumps, but it would be impossible to use your hands to drive..you would just be holding grimly on.
The same goes for gliders which you can't realistically fly not strapped in, and many other things I guess. So a tight tether is similar.
I never have been forced to explain that in words, so thanks!

 

[rogerthebodger]

May be a strap attached to the back that is clipped to you jack line so when moving on deck it grags behind. A second strap attached to the front to attach at your working position that you can use when you need bracing.

I have a strap on my bosun's chair to wrap around the mast at the working point to free up both hands and as a safety connection if anything fails.

I do have folding steps for when I and ascending or descending.

 

[ShinyShoe]

You get easy, strong lifting points on normal lifejacket / harnesses, and they don't require lifting one arse up and deposited on deck that way !

I think your big ship / big boat and crew experience is to the fore here, may well be a good idea for you but not for a small boat with husband and wife, IMO.

I'm not convinced it isn't suitable for husband and wife team. Clearly it has no advantage single handed (in which case going over and being towed - you are screwed!)

front tow husband in water. Wife needs to spot that, not panick, do something with the boat to stop you being dragged face down. Presumably 60 seconds max? Then "help" you back in if you aren't already dead. Even if you are witnessed to fall, for wife to get to helm, take control, start to slow the boat... 60 seconds is not a huge amount of time.

back tow husband in water. Wife doesn't spot it, husband flips to back. Now able to shout. Wife does same slowing the boat down. But if she can't remember what to do it something doesn't work you can shout to each other. Video shows retrieval using a halyard and winch. So provided there is a winch in the boat it should be possible?

I'm with others - is quite like to be automatically flipped to back... Dunno how!

 

[dunedin]

Clearly not many on here subscribe to our hosts’ magazine, as there was a comprehensive test of lifejackets in the Aug 2019 issue. They included a back row lifejacket, and tested it in practice off a boat. Worth a read, but I am certainly actively considering getting one.

Actually I disagree that the back tow lifejacket is unsuitable for solo sailing. I rarely use a harness on deck when solo as the few times I ever go on deck the boat will be on autopilot, and probably doing 6 knots or so. In most places (during summer with warmer water) better ensuring have VHF and PLB and seeking assistance than being dragged front first at 6 knots.
However, a back tow might give the benefits of primary safety (slightly less risk of going o/b) without the risk of accelerated drowning if go over the side.
And definite benefits if short handed and only wife left on board.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

My first thought when clipping on is, can I go over the side with the tether arranged like this?
If so I tend to rearrange it.
But there is one scenario ( tying the after 2 reefs round the foot of the main) when I can't avoid exposing myself like that, when a back tow could be a lifesaver if I went in. So I am actively considering one as well.
As a digression, I will choose not a Hammar type (despite the advantage of a diaphragm over a salt capsule) but an auto with an accessible CO2 bottle I can quickly change myself on deck.
My local chandlers no longer stocks hammar type rearm kit (for my Spinlock) and refuses to change them anyway, saying he has to send them away to have a bottle changed! I'm going to get one mail order and have a go myself, there are some videos on Youtube which make it look easy...

 

[lw395]

I think back tow is particularly aprropriate on big fast boats. Multihulls or offshore sleds which are often going to be doing double digit speeds. These are boats where the crew often need to move around a fair bit, and often need to be on a longer tether.
It's a different game to a retired couple sailing a 34ft displacement yacht.
If I were to fall on my tether, most likely outcome is I'm going to slide down the deck until the tether stops me. Not sure how that's going to play with a back tow? I might end up like an inverted beetle unable to move, or bent backwards over the leeward toerail?

I suspect most of us would be better off investing the time in making sure SWMBO can heave to?

OTOH, if i get offered a go on Wild Oats XI, then I'd need all the help I can get.

 

[dunedin]

I think back tow is particularly aprropriate on big fast boats. Multihulls or offshore sleds which are often going to be doing double digit speeds. These are boats where the crew often need to move around a fair bit, and often need to be on a longer tether.
It's a different game to a retired couple sailing a 34ft displacement yacht.
If I were to fall on my tether, most likely outcome is I'm going to slide down the deck until the tether stops me. Not sure how that's going to play with a back tow? I might end up like an inverted beetle unable to move, or bent backwards over the leeward toerail?

I suspect most of us would be better off investing the time in making sure SWMBO can heave to?

OTOH, if i get offered a go on Wild Oats XI, then I'd need all the help I can get.

I think if you read the YM article where they tested in practice you might have different views.
For any boat doing 30 knots or so I don’t think being tethered on is going to work.
But the tester found being front towed in the conventional way at just 2 knots was risking drowning. Hence the deaths whilst clipped on to conventional cruisers that led to the development of back tow lifejacket.
When flipped round the tester found much more comfortable and could then survive whilst boat slowed and recovery started.

The change from front to back is currently a manual release - apparently partly due to current lifejacket standards.

 

[Kukri]

If you slide down the deck and don’t go OB there is no difference - the tether is at your chest.

If you DO go OB then you pull the release and flip round.

 

[Adonnante]

Yes I would providing the automatic function worked well without failure, I assume that the designer has looked at the option and preferred the manual solution. I don't understand references to recovery being problematic, the video I linked to indicates a good solution, albeit vertical instead of the preferred horizontal. Recovery should be swift enough to avoid excessive cooling.