[quote=mattson]On the same subject, I was about 3 miles out on the Hobie 18 by myself a couple years back on a beautiful sunny day in moderate wind and flat seas. Trapped out and just enjoying the day. All is good.
*Snap*
Trapeze wire fails at the lower swage, and I'm in the water. I ALWAYS wear a safety tether when solo and it really saved my bacon this time. I had been going to weather, and as I went off the boat I let go of the main sheet which was not cleated. The boat stayed upright, and with the jib still cleated started weathervaning downwind. I'm being dragged by the tether, and could not get a good puchase on what I could reach of the tiller casting. So I grabbed the rudder blade underwater and steered the boat upwind.
The tether system includes a simple jack line run across the the rear of the trampoline, tied to the lacing on each end. The tether itself is a 5/8 inch line with a carabiner on the jackline end and a double d quick release shackle on the sailor end, with a small control line covered in plastic hose, for quick release if I need to cut myself loose.[/quote]
No HTML tags allowed (except inside [code][/code] tags)
