Ha ha, you may be surprised by this, but I like a friend's set-up from a surfboard that attaches a velcro cup around his ankle.

Mine is on my trap harness. My crew used his pfd so I talked him into using a regular sailing safety harness since the pfd is not made to take that kind of load. But there are river rescue rated pfd's that have the appropriate and tested harness equipment built-in. That would be the best idea.



On me that is true, it is on my trap harness and I can clip it to any line I choose. Bill uses a releasing shackle on is teather that stays with the tether.

Bill was considering the polishing you mentioned. I am just going to keep on with the system I have until I find a better shackle.

It has worked for me in various conditions, even if awkward. The most awkward is when you sail up to a dock, stall the boat, and run off of the boat and get yanked back onto the boat.

GARY

I couldn`t find any reference pics on the net for the paragliding quick-release carabiner, but it basically looks like a climbing carabiner, except that it has a button on each side, some have a sliding keeper over the buttons, you can get to the buttons with one hand and the whole top half of the carabiner releases, so you won`t have the rope hooking on any part, unfortunately you would lose the top half since it isn`t tied to anything, but at least you won`t drown trying to free the rope from the snap-shackle. Gary`s solution is a good one but might have it`s hang-ups.
I`m not sure about the lifespan if used in salt water - they are aluminium but have moving parts which might not take well to seawater.

Hi Clint, Yeah down here the Hobie fleet sails mainly off Fish Hoek, close to where Great Whites eat Kayakers and use their boats as toothpicks.
http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=269&fArticleId=2900584
Sean is still pretty much top dog here, Blaine and William are from Knysna/Plett but come regularly for regattas, but they are mostly on Tigers now, just sailing H16`s until after the worlds (Why have I seen no mention of H16 Worlds here, thought they were on real soon ??, in Port Elizabeth.) Hey Clint you should be there !!
If you spend a while in Cape Town get hold of me and I`ll arrange a test-sail on the Mozzie . Will have you adding another boat to your collection. We have a 20 boat fleet here, as do the Hobies most club races.

Cheers
Steve

Thanks Steve,



Hey Gary,

I think I may have a low cost (under $3), simple solution to the hang-up problem with the quick release shackle...how about a harness ring? I have a few which I bought at the local farm supply store for an unrelated purpose. Officially, they are used for cattle/horse harnesses. They come in various sizes/diameters, but essentially they are a perfectly round, polished stainless steel ring (solid and seamless). I would suggest a 1.5 to 2 inch diameter may work best (working load > 300lbs , breaking load > 2000lbs). The ring could be attached to the rope (with a bowline in your case) and then used to clip onto the shackle. I am sure it would slide off the shackle arm much easier than rope. For those of us with a continuous traveller/mainsheet setup, the sheet could simply be passed through the ring during intial setup. One would just want to make sure that the ring ends up on the working portion of the sheet (between the traveller cleat and the mainsheet blocks). In other words, we want the ring on the portion of mainsheet that sits on the tramp or in our hands when we sail. The ring has the added advantage of allowing the mainsheet to freely pass through it at all times - shackled or not.

What are your thoughts on this solution?



Dave

Thanks Dave. I'll give it a try. I have a climbing ring that is Titanium or maybe aluminum. It should do the trick.

GARY

Gary,

It is unlikely that I will be sailing again until spring. If you try it out, let me know how it works... in a simulated release of course. I am not suggesting you jump of your boat during a screaming reach!


Dave

Dave: How about bringing your boat to the Madcatter in May.
Fleet 204(Syracuse,N.Y) will be hosting the 30th Madcatter. There are plans for a 3 day event with a GEP program. You won't find a better event or more talented sailors. Sailing in a regatta and attending the GEP programs will advance your sailing ability more rapidly than sailing alone. We are hoping for more than 100 boats.
Watch Fleet204 for details soon.

Pbisesi,

I would love to do something like that. Unfortunately, I have no experience at all with the racing/regatta thing.

I have tentatively enrolled/booked a training day in May 2006 (organized by Karen-Ann Xavier) specifically for cat sailors. I am hoping that will allow me to meet some "real" cat sailors and perhaps lead to a regatta next summer.


Dave

Karen-Anne is usually at the Madcatter. We do a C Fleet Chalk talk on Friday nights to go over how to race. The flags, the start and all mark roundings with basic rules are typically covered. We all started the same way. You will do just fine.
More important is that the Madcatter rum parties are world famous. We expect to get a number of sailors from Puerto Rico, some from Mexico, maybe GUA and Brazil. All of Div 13 has been invited. We may have as many as 10 National Champions at the Regatta. Could be the coolest first regatta anyone could ask for. Just go for it.
Attached: Bear Boat Bar getting ready for action with the Doctor and DonQ

How about attaching to the main sheet? That way if you fall overboard you end up sheeting in the main and the boat should capsize and not drag you very far.

Chevy43,

Thanks for the tip - it is appreciated. However, in the future you may find it helpful to read the entire thread before responding or making suggestions.

cheers,

Dave

Hi Dave,
I did read the whole thread. Maybe I missed something? I saw mention of attaching to the main TRAVELER but on my boat that would be different than the main SHEET. I'm not familiar with the continous sheet traveler system (my boat doesn't have that). So maybe that is the same as being attached to the main sheet. I have been thinking about this a lot too latley because I have plans to sail in the Ocean here off Santa Cruz bymyself and DO NOT WANT TO BE SEPARTED FROM THE BOAT! I'm even a little concerened about accidently opening a quik relese.

I sure do like the way you painted your boat - nice job!

Chevy,

I understand your confusion now...no worries - sorry about that.

I too have big concerns re: being separated from the boat. This discussion/thread seems to weigh-in in favour of attaching ones` harness with a quick release clip to the mainsheet (continuous line with traveller). I think I will be doing this using a harness ring on the mainsheet to remedy the release problems HobieGary addressed.


Also, thank you for the compliment on my restoration. You probably read from my other post that the Hobie Gods nearly ended that chapter for me. Whew!


Dave

This might be a new thread but I almost always sail solo. On my h14 I have gotten into the habit of wearing a helmet. Just a bike helmet. I have been cracked on the head a few times and did not enjoy it.

I may look a bit sissy but that boom makes a big boom when it hits the noggin.

I started using the traveller and this reduces the likelihood of it happening but every so often I forget to adjust it carefully or whatever.