Safety Harnesses--What Would You Actually Wear?

[penberth3]

Coming late to this thread, but I don't buy the idea that a deck harness has much in common with a fall-arrest harness. Someone going over the side of a yacht is not falling vertically in free space, feet-first, jerking to a clean stop, and then hanging suspended in the leg-loops...

Go back a bit, why is anyone going over the side of a yacht in the first place?

 

[afterpegassus]

Mention was made much earlier about an adjustable lanyard. Consider using a Grillon (Petzl). These are extensively used in work positioning and are light and very easy to adjust one handed. Maintain this at the appropriate length and you should have few worries about going overboard.

 

[Neeves]

Go back a bit, why is anyone going over the side of a yacht in the first place?

It happens,

Sufficiently regularly and people die.

Its been happening for years, there have been many enquiries - and people continues to go over the side - it happens.

Hence this and related threads.

Better recommendations on jackstays is part of the solution

Better recommendations on tethers is part of the solution

Better recommendations on harnesses is part of the solution

Better clips/hooks are part of the solution

Accepting there is no one size fits all is part of the solution

Looking at the issues as whole, instead of piecemeal, is part of the solution.

Thinwater has looked and tested to destruction some hooks and found them wanting. I don't think he is a hook/clip maker. He has made comment on tethers, underlining elasticity. He has opened the discussion to look at harnesses. I have a suspicion he has ideas on jackstays as he makes some comment on them, see a current thread http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?493467-Jack-Stay-Webbing.

Hopefully when he has gone through the gamut - he will make a summary - though we might need to read Practical Sailor to get the full story

Also, hopefully PBO will get the bit between their teeth and produce some definitive work - it seems a topical and appropriate series of articles.

Jonathan

 

[thinwater]

Go back a bit, why is anyone going over the side of a yacht in the first place?

I havn't.

The accident that started this series of threads involved a carabiner that failed at 300-400 pounds. That is well within the strength requirements of a good positioning system, no more than the thump a big man would give a non-stretch tether if he stumbled against it.

I am disinclined to believe any system is going to keep all crew members from flying through the air if the boat is knocked down by a rouge wave. That is what happened to the Sword of Orion in the 1998 Sydney Hobart, breaking Gynn Charles' tether.

I know of at least two cases where the overload indicator on a tether popped (1200 pounds), and both were on-deck. A big wave over the deck.

I've been thrown against tethers dozens of times. Many were during testing of drogues for a series of articles. It was in near gale to gale conditions with the lifelines open. I tested 6 drogues, deploying and recovering multiple times. Mostly I was singlehanded. It's not like you can always work slowly and get anything done, and you can't hold on with one hand when you are gathering these things in. Although the forces where not very great, it was important that they did not hurt. Thus, I used bespoke tethers made of climbing rope instead of webbing, for shock absorption. And now that I think about it, a 3-inch chest belt would have been nice too.

The only time I was thrown far was about 12 feet off the cabin top. We were going ~ 14 knots and stuffed a wave, cause the boat to slow dramatically in just a few seconds. However, since the tether was on a jackline, it just slid along and I skidded to a stop on the tramp before fetching up against the tether. I actually allowed myself to do a flip in mid-air to avoid landing on my knees on fiberglass from a height. Fun stuff. I was quite happy to know I was tethered.

---

Back to our regular discussion, although I am not certain that it has not run it's course.
* Very few would wear a full body harness, other than specific circumstances (rescue).
* A lightweight body harness is difficult to build because the leg loops want to slide down. This requires a waist belt and elastic bands, which getting too complicated to be practical.
* The existing stye leg loops almost certainly help, even if not load rated or built in the optimum fashion for this purpose.
* You can't assume anything is going to work once you go over the side.

----

 

[GHA]

Safety Harnesses--What Would You Actually Wear?




What does get worn is a lightweight climbing sit harness with main lanyard being a short length of abseil line and a grigri.

Works well for me, though the line can sometimes slowly slip through the grigri if you haven't developed the unconscious habit of giving it a good tug each time to set the lock.
Great having the lanyard nearly always being as short as possible. Though possibly better than that is the cutter rig - if it gets bit blowy then ditch the yankee, throw in a reef or 3 and retire down below with a kindle (offshore where it's empty of course)

So often in chats like these, the mass of things which happen on a boat get can get pushed into pigeon holed isolation , as well as harness selection is zooming out to do whatever can possibly help with never having to leave the cockpit. Does happen of course, but IMHO it's important to look at the big picture as well. Time/money spent on safety kit should be looked at only after you've realistically spent the time/money into trying to ensure they won't be needed in the first place.
We're not clipper racers - it seems prudent to put emphasis on not needing the harness in the first places as well as which one to buy.

 

[afterpegassus]

Safety Harnesses--What Would You Actually Wear?




a short length of abseil line and a grigri.

Effectively a Grillon, but the Grillon is a bit less clunky about the nuts than a Grigri