Lin Pard Pardey - try it without a lifejacket

I don't 'always' wear a harness/lifejacket, just tend to sooner rather than later.

My approach to all safety kit and relevant boat design is that once one has taken care of the safety stuff, one can efficiently get on with sailing, be it for fun or survival.

I completed my boat in 1978 and have put every deck fitting on her in ensuing refits, and sailed tens of thousands of miles with her inc' 24 cross -Channels; I'm quite familiar with how she behaves and where everything is !

I've also owned a Carter 30 for a few years and sailed things like Gib Sea 42's, where my attitude was the same.

I suspect you're thinking of early harnesses, there's nothing restrictive about modern kit, with decent harness points intelligently sited.

Going around without a harness is fine most of the time, but the laws of averages - not to mention Sod's - will start stacking up against one if doing it often.

Having taken part in a couple of searches for people knocked overboard, I know which way I'll continue to go, even in the Solent with dozens of boats searching, they weren't found until a few weeks later...
 
i.e. a distraction. In other words, I tend to do my job better without one.

I'm with you on this one. After too many years in the entertainments rigging business wearing a harness is perfectly natural., but I've stopped clipping off on the way to the mast as I thought it was creating more of a risk, all my attention was on keeping the caribiner free and not so much on hand holds. Bear in mind this is a view on what *did* happen and not on what *should* happen. I'll still clip off to the the mast for reefing, very useful, both hands free.

Grigri's are great!!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigri_(climbing)
 
I wear one whenever falling over the side could be fatal (pretty well always if singlehanded). It doesn't have to be instead of holding on.

She's not saying you should or shouldn't wear one. She's saying if you can walk round the boat without one, in 25 kts, while holding a bucket of rope, then you're ready to go cruising offshore. Bizarre test if you ask me.

Interestingly their boat didn't seem to have handholds in the usual place, along the side of the coachroof; where are they?
 
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