"40.2 A trapeze or hiking harness shall have a device capable of quickly releasing the competitor from the boat at all times while in use. "

Although the rule is well-worded, it may be too open to interpretation and will be difficult to prove which harnesses or systems do or don`t qualify. What determines "quickly ?" Some competitors may be able to hold their breath longer than others .
The rule is well written since it only requires that the competitor be released from the boat, which is the desired goal.
Under this rule, any harness with a pocket qualifies, as long as you have a pair of wire-cutters in the pocket.

I believe they have worded it as such so that you can develop a harness that has the hook, but has a quick-release buckle which enables the sailor to disengage his body from the harness should the harness become tangled,or disengage the hook from the harness, as this would satisfy the requirement of the rule.

I don`t think the ball & keyhole system is any better than the hook in this regard, assuming the sailor is trapped under the boat and the trapeze wire is under load, both require the same effort to undo. The keyhole system`s only advantage is that you are unlikely to get it snagged on a sidestay or something else underwater, which is possible with the hook.



I think it`s a good rule, and probably highly necessary. However, as someone else posted, the only way of making it enforceable is to have a list of approved harnesses, otherwise you leave it up to the discretion of the Race Officer or protest committee to decide, can you imagine the implications of that ? If a competitor drowns due to his harness becoming trapped after it has been approved for use in the competition, his family could take legal action against the Race Officer, sadly we live in an age where you can sue someone else for allowing you to do something that you should be aware of the dangers of, and where people demand to be able to do a potentially dangerous pastime without accepting the responsibility of that risk.

No, here ISAF has to take the lead : If they make the rule, THEY have to enforce it, the only way I can see is to send harnesses for tests, and then have a list of approved models. This will make all our old harnesses obsolete, but it`s the only way to do it properly. This is how all paragliding equipment is treated, it must be certified by DHV tests to be suitable for use. I`ts not a failproof system, and equipment still can fail or not work as designed under certain circumstances, but at least it will help minimize the risks and establish a minimum requirement for equipment. It may not be sold as paragliding equipment if it doesn`t comply with the requirements of the tests.

The rule, however, as currently worded, only applies to sailors while they are racing, as it uses the word "competitor" implying that anyone out sailing for the fun of it can still go ahead and drown, so perhaps that needs to be revised.

Cheers
Steve