Jon, I have an M15 and use a flat web jack line on each side of the boat. It runs from the bow cleat to each stern cleat and is inside the shrouds. I tried regular round line but I stepped on in frequently and it rolls underfoot causing you to fall off the boat. - This is not good :) I chose to run the jack line inside the shrouds to keep the harness line short enough to allow good fordeck movement without it's forward movement being stopped by the person going inside the shroud and the jack line going outside. To get around the problem of having falling off the boat forwad of the shroud and not being able to reach the stern I use two harness lines. both harness lines have caribine clips but one is is in a 3 inch loop with a rubber band around it so it is out of the way. The assumtion is that the user in the water would be alert enough to loosen the second harness line and reach up and connect it to the jack line. He would then release the firs harness line and continue on to the stern. This jack line has proven usefull to tie bumpers to anywhere along the hull and for this reason alone I never sail without it. The this jack line is also about 6 ft longer than it needs to be and the extra line is at both sides of the stern so I always have a ready line to tie off the tiller with. This mentally works for me but I have never actually had to use it nor have I tested it with the boat in motion in waves. Doug Kelch M15 #310 "Seas the Day" --- Jon Martin <jonmartin666@msn.com> wrote:
All of this talk about safety has got me to thinking about using a harness and tether on my M15, since I sail alone a lot of the time. It appears that the tethers I've looked at are around six feet long. I'm thinking that the attachment point should be on the stern,so that in the event that one did go overboard one could end up behind the boat and use the stern ladder to get back in. My initial thought was on the teak strip that the cb pennant comes through...but, with only six feet of tether, one would end up being dragged along the side of the boat, and trying to board over the side , most likely in rough weather. I haven't tried boarding over the side by myself, as I doubt I'd make it!! The first thing I did when I got my boat was to install a transom mounted ladder - it does work! What are people's thoughts? Jon in Walla Walla
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