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Harness and Tether Recommendations?

24K views 173 replies 29 participants last post by  MedSailor 
#1 · (Edited)
I do entirely river/bay sailing (no offshore), but may be singlehanding some this season, so I'm thinking of getting a harness during Defender's sale. I like my current PFD which has no D-rings, and I'm shocked at the prices of PFDs with D-rings (and also reluctant to buy one without trying it on). So I plan to buy a harness that I can put on under my favorite PFD when needed, and I'll wear the PFD without harness when I have crew (which will be 90% of the time).

What do you guys know about this harness (click pic for link to Defender listing):


If you have it, are you satisfied with its comfort? It looks like the D-rings would ride pretty high on the chest, which I prefer because it would fit above my PFD's waist belt.

I have not been able to find any size info, like what measurements correspond to medium vs. large. I assume that I would wear a medium in warm weather, but would need large to go over top of any heavy foulies that I would wear in cold weather. Does that mean the I need to buy one of each size? (Would also give me a spare for crew.)

I'm also thinking of this tether, which seems to have some nice features. Comments on this?:


I know anchors and fenders can start a huge debate here, so I can only imagine what kind of debate life-saving equipment will generate. I plan to place my order Thursday night, so please give me your input ASAP if you have something helpful to offer.

Thanks!
 
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#2 ·
I do wear an inflatable pfd with a harness, at all times.

I use that tether, I like a quick release. I had one fail and WM replaced it for free.

The Spinlock Deckvest is very popular, but not approved. It uses a cow hitch to attach the tether, but the vest has a built-in cutter. It has thigh straps. I have added a crotch strap to my pfd.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I do wear an inflatable pfd with a harness, at all times.

I use that tether, I like a quick release. I had one fail and WM replaced it for free.

The Spinlock Deckvest is very popular, but not approved. It uses a cow hitch to attach the tether, but the vest has a built-in cutter. It has thigh straps. I have added a crotch strap to my pfd.
I have the same setup. When off shore as part of a crew or alone I wear the spinlock integrated PFD, with harness with a plb attached. The crotch straps are never in the way and a great addition. To me wearing a pfd with integrated harness is the way to go and you dont even know the harness is there. I never pay retail for any of this stuff and have accumulated them over the years, At the boat show last year Annapolis performance sailing was 40% of their pfd, teathers, and harnesses.

I do a lot of single handing also, If it is to become part of your routine, I would invest in some quality stuff and accumulate it over the years as it can be expensive and you can wait till they have deep sales on them. The harness you are looking at is adequate, but could really cut into you you if you really had to use it, Also the quick releases are important that they are qualoity and will work when called upon, not just to move from jackline to jackline, but in an emergency under adverse situatuions and pressure on the clip.

Staying on the boat is the first priority of course and your safety equipment/ system should be first rate to save you, not an afterthough or just sale priced.

Here is my single harness- very lightweight and great construction
Spinlock Deckware - Deck Pro Harness: Mauri Pro Sailing

It doesnt cut into you when you wear it for long times like the webbing harnesses will.

Spinlock Deckvest 5D 170N Pro Sensor Inflatable PFD & Harness
ACR 2881 ResQLink+ PLB Personal Locator Beacon

In the bay I usually wear an integrated Mustang with harness when single handing.

Mustang MD3184 PFD Auto Hydrostatic Inflatable-MD3184 Mustang

Check out the teathers on here. I have this one
Annapolis Performance Sailing (APS) - Race Safety Line: Cow Hitch + 2 Clips

Generally I run a jackline from the cockpit to the mast and a second one to the bow.
Inflatable PFDs | Hydrostatic, Manual, Automatic | Spinlock, Mustang - Annapolis Performance Sailing (APS)
 
#3 · (Edited)
I agree with TakeFive's approach. I wear a harness and/or a PFD, and I like the flexibility of being able to wear a harness without a PFD in extremely warm weather or a PFD without a harness in certain conditions, or both when necessary.

I have the cheapo Jim Buoy variety with the supplied rope tether. Here is a photo of me off Delmarva during last summer's heat wave, with my Petzl red headlight for reading charts: https://plus.google.com/photos/101935788163929897438/albums/5785879717707663537/5785879784085399138?banner=pwa&authkey=CPq64djL942rzQE

Incidentally, you can see my aqua colored beanbag to the left of the photo, for sleeping in the cockpit. High temps were in the 90s during the day with high humidity and lows in the 70s or 80s at night.

My harness clips to a dynamic (stretchy) climbing rope that I use as a jackline, to lessen the impact stress on all points. In the unfortunate event I fall overboard, I want to be able to fall clear of the boat relatively gently, slide quickly aft behind the stern, and climb aboard. Hopefully, I will never test the system in real life.
 
#4 ·
I used WM harness and Double tether, no pdf when in a harness. I use 1" hollow webbing for jacklines. There we be many opinions on here about whats right and whats wrong but in the end you need to go with what you ultimately feel safe with. The reality is there is no right or wrong answers. Best advice I have heard is one hand for the boat and one hand for you. One of the things that help me stay safe is to think situations through before attacking them, even in emergencies. Good luck and have a great sailing season.
 
#9 · (Edited)
If you go with a combo unit (which we have) blow the extra bucks and get one using a hydrostatic trigger. The others use a variation of a salt tablet. Given you will be out in weather taking seas on your chest from time to time last thing you need is to have the pfd deploy at just the wrong moment. Also worth not buying on internet sight unseen. Something you should really try on with your foulie top on at least and move around and sit a spell. Also with just a tee shirt ( some chafe your neck). Needs to be comfy.
Big fan of the double tether with elastic cover. Don't trip on it. Also make sure all three attachments can be released with one hand under load.

p.s.- have the mustangs and some small ones for kids Bought different colors so can tell the admiral's from mine.
 
#16 ·
p.s.- have the mustangs and some small ones for kids Bought different colors so can tell the admiral's from mine.
Check the regulations for inflatables and children. In Canada

Inflatable PFDs are NOT approved for:

anyone under 16 years old;
anyone who weighs less than 36.3 kg (80 lbs);
on a personal watercraft; or
for white-water paddling activities.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I'll consider a combo unit, but only if the PFD is comfortable/light enough that I wear it all the time, even without the tether. I like the idea of always having the D-clips available on a moment's notice, but not if there's a large penalty in comfort. Previous comments were that combo units were heavier than non-harness auto inflate PFDs, but I suspect there are exceptions.

In my boat I will wear a PFD all the time - I'm not willing to compromise that level of safety. I just won't need a harness 95% of the time, since I have crew with me and am in a very protected area. But a PFD that's as comfortable as my current one, but has D clips, would be the best of both worlds.

I've had my eyes on the Mustang MD3184 for awhile (have had a price watch on it at Amazon, waiting for it to come down some), and I think I tried one on at a boat show awhile ago, and recall it was fairly comfortable. I went with a WM non-harness PFD because it was equally comfortable and much lower cost, and at that time 3 years ago I envisioned absolutely no need to clip in. But that WM one has gotten to the point where the bobbin needs replacement, so it might be a good time to upgrade to the Mustang, with its D-clips and superior auto-inflate technology.

Can you guys with the Mustang vouch for its comfort and light weight? If so, that would probably be my selection.

Defender has it on sale for $231, which is 10% below their normal price. I've seen it go for a bit less on ebay, but always concerned about expiration dates when buying through unauthorized sources. I have about 6 weeks before I might need this, so I can afford to wait for an attractive price. Whati s a good price for the MD3184? Should I go ahead an pull the trigger at Defender? I'll be placing an order for some other accessories, so I'd add this in with them.

Also, are there add-on leg straps available for the MD3184? Keep in mind that I will not be sailing in areas where USCG certification is required. I'll be using the harness on inland waters out of an abundance of caution when singlehanding.

FYI, I checked the exhibitors list for the Annapolis Spring sailboat show, and Annapolis Performance Sailing is not on the list.
 
#13 ·
Can you guys with the Mustang vouch for its comfort and light weight? If so, that would probably be my selection.
I can. The new ones with the neoprene at the neck are much better than the old ones.

I wear it at all times. A pdf does no good if it is in a locker.
Also, are there add-on leg straps available for the MD3184? Keep in mind that I will not be sailing in areas where USCG certification is required. I'll be using the harness on inland waters out of an abundance of caution when singlehanding.
I have this. It is comfortable.

Mustang Leg Strap Assembly
 
#23 ·
The article claims "he just wasn't clipped on." But it's unclear whether it should also say "he just wasn't wearing a PFD." That's a critical omission, since flotation is even more important than a tether, IMO.
 
#19 ·
Tragic tale. There is another lesson here - one of situational awareness. "One hand for yourself, one for the ship" at all times. No matter how engrossed you may be in the task at hand, you better know what is going on around you and have a hand on the boat. How could he not be aware of the approach of a freak wave large enough to wash him off the boat?
 
#20 ·
I find all this interesting as I climb for living. My main niche as a stage electrician is the "climb and focus" as in I climb up onto the truss overhanging the state and point the lights where they are supposed to go.

As such I am not unfamilier with harnesses and lanyards. The double hooked lanyards are common, it allows you to clip out of a safety line and onto another without unhooking completely.. a very good idea in any book. I just wonder how much "give" that elasticized one has. I would not want to get knocked off of my feet and find myself partially over the side wedged against the hull and the rushing water going by.

The main trick with harnesses is to find one that is comfortible and does not impede your movement. If something is a pain to wear, you won't use it
 
#21 ·
I just wonder how much "give" that elasticized one has.
The elastic really does not absorb any shock. It just keeps the unused end out of the way, sort of. I have an old tether in which the elastic is shot. I use it in non-critical locations.
 
#22 ·
I kind of gathered that. A shock tether would have an "absorber" built of several folded over layers sewed together with a weak thread that is designed to break and allow the layers to unfold and slow your descent.

I was more wondering what the ultimate length of that elasticized tether is. As I will be mostly single handing (at least at first) This is very much on my list of things to buy before going out on the water
 
#24 ·
I was more wondering what the ultimate length of that elasticized tether is. As I will be mostly single handing (at least at first) This is very much on my list of things to buy before going out on the water
3 feet and 6 feet for the doubles. 6 feet for the singles.
 
#25 ·
up here and when offshore the harness is much more important in MHO. You will die of hypothermia before you drown. If single with the vane or Autopilot set ( which it will be when you go on deck) may be preferable to go to sleep from hypothermia after the boat sail's away. Harness is more important for sailor's.
Can get groin set up for virtually all combo units from what I've seen.

Have four folding D rigs in cockpit. Have webbing between them. can hook in before leaving companionway. everyone hooks in at night regardless of weather and going forward except in light air.
safety first
 
#26 ·
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#28 ·
I got a WM harness and single tether from the clearance isle at West marine a few years ago. On my 20ft boat a single truck bed anchor at the companionway allows me to reach the outboard and the mast on the single tether.

I may add a second anchor point near the mast to go forward of the mast but that will require another tether, a jack line does not make a lot of sense on a 20ft boat but I am willing to be proved wrong.

I would rather have a PFD with "D" ring than the harness, just because I tend to forget to but the harness on and have to go below to find it.
 
#29 · (Edited)
For hot weather and where one prefers not to wear the combination inflatable PFD/harness, another possibility is to use a harness in combination with a belt pack inflatable PFD. The belt pack inflatable requires a slight deflation once you are in the water to finish putting it on....over your head, tighten straps, re-inflate fully. So, it's definitely not as safe/fool proof as the combined PFD/harness, but in sheltered waters and hot days, it can be cooler.

Of course, the idea of a harness is not to allow you to go overboard in the first place, so the PFD part is really a back-up in case the harness/tether/jackline don't do their job.

I always wear a belt pack inflatable when on the boat, whether I am using a harness or not. However, if it is getting a bit rough, then I switch to combination PFD/harness.
 
#30 · (Edited)
#32 ·
It seems that a good fall against a u-bolt without a shock-absorbing tether has caused failure. They simply cannot handle the impact and neither can the human body. The "impact flags" are a rather stupid adaptation when real impact absorption could be provided.

Agree with Delmarva
As stated earlier have four d rings in cockpit with jackline between them. Jackline absorbs force. Also allows you to wander forward in cockpit on the 3' and be attached at all times when leaving cockpit to go forward on jackline. Only place I tether to a hard point is at mast pulpit on rare occasion you have to climb up the mast a bit to mess with mainsail. Very good post- Tx.
 
#33 ·
Good reading material, and it seems to really question the wisdom of clipping onto a fixed point.

...As stated earlier have four d rings in cockpit with jackline between them. Jackline absorbs force...
Not sure this is a full or appropriate solution to the problem. You need a certain length of jackline to get enough stretch for shock absorption. They seemed to suggest that a 30' length was optimal. Maybe if you ran a single jackline around all four D-rings. Otherwise, you need to take care to get a stretchy material. That's how I read it, but others have far more experience than I do with this.
 
#34 ·
OK, one more quick question for your owners of the Mustang MD3184.

When I look at the pictures, it seems to me like the D-rings are awfully low on your abdomen. From trying on harnesses, I always thought that the best place for the D-rings would be right under your rib cage, roughly equal height with your armpits. If I try to imagine myself getting dragged along by the boat (something that I hope stays in my imagination!) I would think this attachment point would be much better than the lower point where the Mustang's D-rings appear to be.

Are the pictures just an optical illusion, and the rings are actually higher? Or is there some reason why it is better for the D-rings to be lower.

Pardon the noob question, but this is the kind of stuff that has to be asked for a first harness purchase, and something that I don't trust a store clerk to answer for me.
 
#36 ·
I only use one all the time when sailing at night or with demanding weather.

I rarely use a PFD, normally when I think conditions demands it I use an harness.

I would point out that if you go out of the boat and stay clipped to it, the PDF is not going to help you (it has been cases where it is the opposite) and unless you have luck and a very strong crew you are done (or at least it is what has been happening).

Regarding the options, the right one is to have the jack line well inside the boat (and not normally were they are used, between cleats) and having a short double tether. On the last years, after several accidents with people dying going overboard connected to tethers, their length diminished drastically on the European market. From 1.5m average they have now about 1m, maybe just a little bit more. More difficult to use but certainly safer.
 
#39 · (Edited)
...Regarding the options, the right one is to have the jack line well inside the boat (and not normally were they are used, between cleats) and having a short double tether. On the last years, after several accidents with people dying going overboard connected to tethers, their length diminished drastically on the European market. From 1.5m average they have now about 1m, maybe just a little bit more. More difficult to use but certainly safer.
Let's talk about my specific boat for a few seconds:
There are a few challenges:
  1. The beam of the whole boat is only 8.5'. Your argument about 6' tether being too long almost certainly applies to my boat, and I raised this issue on the Catalina 250 website.
  2. There are no side decks.
  3. The anchor locker is easily obstructed by jacklines at the bow.
  4. It's a small boat, so not a lot of good spaces to put D-rings. And based on the Sail Delmarva links, I don't want to clamp directly to D-rings - I just want places to attach jacklines.
  5. The contour of the front cabin is not a gradual slope - more of a "windshield" type front window - so a jackline will not lie flat and will be a trip hazard.
Because of the fact that I will not take this boat offshore, and will singlehand maybe 5% of the time, I am not going to install permanent jacklines. If I did, item #5 above would make them hazardous. You must realize that everything is a compromise, and on this boat jacklines can create more hazards than they solve if you are sailing in a situation where you don't need them. So I will install temporary jacklines only if I am singlehanding.

Per the advice of people on the Catalina website, I will install the temporary jacklines from the bow cleats to the stern cleats (which you can see in the above pic). I will do one on each side. I briefly thought about wrapping each one around the mast to keep them near the centerline on the bow (and gradually sloping to the corner stern cleats), so I'd invite your suggestions about that, but that would definitely interfere with the anchor locker and the companionway. It may be better to run one down each side, where they will avoid the anchor locker and stay above the coamings in the cockpit.

I am very concerned about a 6' tether being too long, so I am faced with the dilemma of making a custom tether or buying a double 3'-6' one and using the short end wherever possible. I could also hedge my bets by clamping onto the windward jackline whenever possible, under the hypothesis that the most likely scenario of me going overboard is a wave carrying me over the leeward edge. That way I will probably be clamped to the most distant jackline before I go over. If I'm lucky I get stopped on the leeward side of the deck before I even make it over the side. In a strange way, this actually makes my boat's narrow beam and lack of side decks into an advantage, since it enables me to clamp onto the far side with an ordinary 6' jackline. I can even try clamping both the 3' and 6' ends on the high side of the boat, and only release the short one if I need the full 6' length to reach something further away.

As for the actual jackline, someone at the Catalina site suggested the below webbing (click the pic for a link), that matches the specs of West Marine's $75 jacklines. It does not have a sewn loop on one end like the WM lines, but I really don't understand the benefit of having one loop. If you need to tie the other end (which causes some loss of strength), you might as well tie both ends. And since I will cleat both off, the strength loss will only be about 15% (according to one of the Sail Delmarva links posted above). I'll also have 300' of webbing, so I can avoid UV damage by replacing it every time I sail if I want to. :laugher


By the way, if I go for this webbing, I will be selling off the excess to anyone who wants it. I really don't need to replace it every time I go sailing.
 
#37 ·
If some one goes overboard when tethered. Stop the boat: heave-to (if they go off to leeward), go into irons, luff the sails.
 
#40 · (Edited)
Sure, that seems easy. But the fact is that several people have died that way, with the PFD inflating and preventing them to bread and some in boats with large race crews with lots of experienced guys on board.

At the light of the information of what has been happening, besides stooping the boat (and that is not easy going downwind with some wind), I will cut the tether off and send the guy away attached to a long line. Later I will recover him on the transom by the stair. Everybody is informed that this will be the procedure for not panic trying to old on to the boat.

Regards

Paulo
 
#38 · (Edited)
Jack lines at base of house inside the shrouds. Top of pulpits/safety lines 30" up from deck .Combining up and down safety lines and distant from jacklines more then the 3' of short arm of tender even with stretch of jackline. . If go over head and shoulders would be well above toe rail. Try to always go forward on windward side. If go over in front of shrouds use spin halyard to lift crew back on board. If go over behind shrouds climb back on through sugar scoop or use outboard hoist on starboard or topping lift/secondary main halyard on port side. Also carry a spare block and tackle as well as a Life Sling . Admiral only weighs 100lbs. so we both have thought about this drill. For her - fear is a wonderful thing. Figure I'll just bend down and pick her up. It's me that's the problem as usual.
Use nylon for jackline in cockpit.
 
#41 ·
It is an interesting case he makes for softer tethers.

As a professional climber, I am all about safety and have taken more than a few classes in it. I know on a man or scissors lift, the idea of the tether is not to stop your fall, but to stop you from falling in the first place. It seems to me this would be the same aboard a boat. It is not that you want to slow your fall, but that you do not want to get washed overboard in the first place.

I can tell you that in theatre, we use rope as our jack lines. He mentions that using rope can confuse it with running rigging. I think the short sightedness in that thinking is that you can get rope in many different colours. If all your lines are natural or white.. choose a red or a blue as your jack line. You want something that stands out so you can't miss it.

By all means, install a screamer, I would use a tether that lets you have the jackline along the center of the boat and lets you reach the toerail, but no further and use locking beeners. I prefer the ones where you have to squeeze a trigger before you can pull back the clip. Easier to use than twist and safer
 
#42 ·
think you got it pegged. webbing looks great. like the seats in the stern pulpit maybe just loop the 6' one around jackline and attach back on yourself if youre worried about length. hope you never fall off your boat so this is just a precaution.
 
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