We had two incidents this year on the Nacra 20 in which a sailor fell off the boat and became separated from it.

In the first one, starting the second leg of the WRSC Twilight race in over 20 and big waves, the crew trap gear broke dropping him in the water. I was able to sail the boat back to him, but it took two tries. In those conditions, it was difficult to get the boat park enough so that he could swim to the boat. On the second pass I came closer to him then I like, but even parked he was barely able to grab the footstrap. In those conditions, parked the boat was still moving, and with the waves I feared trying to back down to him as it seemed likely the boat might go over backwards.

In the second - blasting downwind in the NASS Oxford race with Alec on the wire and me sitting on the rear corner, a wave popped up from the side and knocked me backwards off the boat. Weirdest damn thing. Watched as Alec sailed away on the wire with full sails and no helm until the boat turned downwind and his weight caused it to capsize. I tried swimming to the boat but it was no use, it was making more time on its side than I could do swimming in full gear. So I bobbed and watched as Alec prepared to right the boat, knowing that in those conditions he shouldn't have a problem getting to me. My biggest worry was getting hit by a monohull under spin in the 20kt breeze. A bit to my surprise, while I was watching Alec a monohull had noticed and dropped sails and was under power steaming towards me. I accepted the ride back to the boat, even though I was convinced we were ok. I estimate about 20-30 yards separation from the boat at the time I was picked up.

Anyway, these two incidents has gotten me thinking about tethers or other ways to secure oneself to the boat. Options would be be something like a big boat tether that has bungee in the middle of the line with clips on either end. Another option is clipping into the mainsheet and spinnaker sheet, with the hope that if you fall off the tension on the sheets will cause the boat to capsize right there with you.

The second option seems good, but I have to think that in the second incident (and the first one for that matter), with the main sheeted in traveler centered (hot downwind), that me falling off and pulling on the sheet would not cause the desired capsize and I would have become a sea anchor for a boat trying to go 20+ knots.

For my part, the two things I learned from the two incidents are 1) be ready with some kind of throwable for retrieving somebody who is close but can't swim to the boat, and 2) I should have a leg under the tramp strap (duh, but I still have to force myself to think about it and still don't do it) or have been holding on to it in the second incident - I was sitting with the helm in one hand and the traveler line in the other, very comfortable for the long downwind haul but not secure. I was not able to keep my grip on the traveler/mainsheet line against the power of the boat once I hit the water.

So - here's the question for discussion - does anybody have experience with using some kind of tethering? I'm looking for ideas, but also I'd like to hear of accounts when the sailors were tethered and either fell off or went through a crash. Given the two incidents, any thoughts on how things might have transpired with different tethering options. In a situation where you are unlikely to have help, getting separated from the boat could end badly, IMO.