From today's Scuttlebutt:
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After the near death of a friend, 49er sailor Magnus Gravare, when his
trapeze harness hook became tangled in rigging and pulled him under, 49er
designer Julian Bethwaite turned his considerable skills to producing a
safer harness.
The first prototype was "based on a pull pin, quick release system where, if
you got into trouble, you reached down, yanked a string and the whole hook
simply came away from the harness. That unit was used for about a year and
worked faultlessly both in simulated operation and also in race practice.
Then, fortuitously, I loaned the harness to a friend. It came back a week
later with the entire mechanism taped up to render it completely
inoperative! In much the same way some sailors tape up their hobbles on a
Soling, even though it is a patently stupid thing to do, this sailor had
rendered the whole purpose of the buckle completely pointless. It was back
to the drawing board!"
Bethwaite's final solution: a keyball system that eliminates the hook. "This
year we have had the Tornado sailor in Spain, the Topaz sailor in Hong Kong
and the very unfortunate young English girl sailing a Laser 4000 - all very
tragic accidents where trapeze hooks have done exactly what they are
designed to do, hook on and hang on."
"It is impossible for anyone to suggest that any system is fool proof but it
is fair to say that if you dramatically reduce the likelihood and the
opportunity of becoming snared or entangled, then the risk is reduced. The
keyball system attempts to do this."
The Bethwaite Trapeze Harness is now in production and will be represented
around the world by the following licensees:
Bethwaite Design, Australia,
http://www.bethwaite.comPerformance Sailcraft 2000 Inc, North America,
http://www.ps2000.caOvington Boats, UK,
http://www.ovingtonboats.co.ukTakao Otani, Japan Asia,
otani@cityfujisawa.ne.jpCorsin Camenisch, Switzerland,
corsin.camenisch@guma.chJoe Chan, China,
joenmaria@i-cable.comBrian Lion-Cachet, South Africa,
blion@iafrica.comMartin Billoch in South America,
mabilloch@hotmail.comFor more information and photos of the harness in action see:
http://www.bethwaite.com/bethwaite/accessories/acc_index.htm and
http://www.madforsailing.com/SAIL/Articles.nsf/LookUp/20BC4EE505662CD180256C1700600D42?OpenDocument
