I never have and never will wear a tether when sailing 1-up. I dependent on the death grip on the mainsheet when the comes to that (and have done so in the past). It is also a reflex of mine to start swimming agressively towards the boat as soon as I hit the water.

Once or twice I've been pulled along halveway submerged when hanging on to the mainsheet by a boat that didn't immediately flip when I departed. I'm totally convinced that a skipper will not be able to unhook himself in such a situation when tethered by a carabine or something. With the death grip I can hang on as long as I can and then still let go if I have to.

A side effect of hanging onto the mainsheet is that you automatically pull the mainsheet tight which typically flips the boat after a few seconds if it doesn't flip immediately after I have "stepped off".


I do sail singlehanded quite often and have done so in all conditions, mostly in 12knots and higher as those are typical conditions for us over here. And I have flipped it often enough to know the drill by reflex. Personally, I don't understand when people get seperated from the boat when singlehanding. As a rare occurance maybe but not in the numbers reported in this thread (A-cats / Tiger worlds)

Wouter