Quote:
Originally Posted by sailingdog
However, IIRC, the major reason for the longer line was not the agility of the boat, but the speed. In six knots of wind, a good multihull can generally be doing 5-6 knots... without much trouble or effort. If the line isn't long enough, by the time you get the line over to the COB, the Lifesling will already have passed out of their reach. A longer line reduces the chance of this happening. |
The
LifeSling is intended to be deployed by a boat circling the COB. Speed isn't particularly relevant. In fact, towing someone through the water is hard on the tow-ee. Above a two or three knots it becomes difficult to keep ones head out of the water.
Thanks for the links to the US Sailing articles on
Lifesling. I'll read them carefully. You might want to look at this earlier case study (
http://www.vicmaui.org/2000/resource..._hist ory.htm ). My take aways from it are: 1. don't waste time messing with sails - just go back toward the COB (in accordance with Quick Stop, that also sets you up nicely to circle the COB with
Lifesling deployed) and 2. don't put the engine in gear.
You might note that if you try hard enough you can get a
Lifesling III. It's the same foam float but comes in a hard case that I find easier to get into. Besides, it looks nicer. There's room in the case to attach a water-activated strobe, a diver's inflatable pole, a whistle, and a small horn to the float.
In my practice I don't use tackle to recover COB -- I tie a bowline-in-the-bight on the recovery
line and host it on the
spinnaker halyard (I have a spare
jib halyard as well if the COB happened with the chute up). I can run the halyard tail to the
anchor windlass if needed for a particularly heavy COB.