View Single Post
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 02-27-2001
walt123 walt123 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 112
Rep Power: 8
walt123 is on a distinguished road
Safety Harnesses

When I was in Australia in 79 a Jappenese single hander fell overboard while wearing a 6'' long tether/harness. The boat was sailing along at around 5 knots. He was able to pull himself up to the transom but could not lift himself clear of the water enough to get onboard. There is some irony here since he normally used a wind vane and would have had no trouble kicking the paddle and stopping the boat, That day he was trying out his first auto pilot. He was dragged for over an hour before hitting the rocks where he was rescued but the boat was a total loss. If he had a set of rungs/stepts on the stern Kuni thought he probally could have pulled himself out. He said he quickly became tired and was only able to keep his head up after a few minutes. The water flow was just too powerful.. He did get another boat and contiune on at a later date.
Reply With Quote