Trapeze Harnesses

Which Trapeze harness to buy ?? Since my existing harness has perished beyond reliable use and a little uncomfortable at the best of times I ponder which one to buy. Is Magic marine "Ultimate" the best ? The July edition of Australian Sailing had a good article on trapeze harnesses but with comments from NickB (see broken beam thread) I'm a little unsure. Any feedback would be appreciated.

G'day Peter,

I know Jon from Ballarat has bought a nappy style "Gul" brand harness via the Catamaran Sailor On Line Store (above). He has used it for about a season now and is very happy with it. He shows it off every chance he gets.

I am thinking about getting one as well as I am not happy with my present harness.

Thanks Col. Do you know if the Gul harness has back support as well ? I hadn't heard of that brand before your reply.

I think they do have a removable back support. Jon had taken his out as he found it better without it.

Yeah, it looks like I bought the smart harness from magic marine, wasn't very impressed.

Initially I set it up like I would a rock climbing harness, relatively loose leg straps with plenty of tension around the waist, but it would ride up awkwardly when on trapeze, shoulder straps pulled it up. I then tightened the leg straps to prevent this but when sitting in they would tighten unbelievably around my upper legs leaving bruises after a days sailing.

I used it twice before swapping with my brothers skiff nappy. He shouldn't have too much trouble with it because he'd be sitting more upright when on the gunwhale (12ft skiff) as opposed to having feet at bum height on a cat. The nappy is much better but I haven't fine tuned it yet.

Having said all this, I haven't tried to fine tune the smart harness off the water. Will probably be forced to when my brother starts racing again and wants to have his harness back.

Hi All

When we were looking for a harness for my daughter, we were shown how the harness should be fitted. Naturally I then went and played around with my own harness, and found it much more comfortable.

Basically the spreader bar needs to be set down low, as far as it can go, by shortening the leg straps. By doing this, the body weight is supported more in the harness, rather than by the leg straps, and I have found that the leg straps can then be left more loose. It took a bit of playing around, but have definately found a big improvement in comfort!

Cheers

I'll have to try those installation instructions next time. I'm sure it relies on the waist strap being done up first as you said.

Another question.

Do ppl put their life jackets over or under there harnesses?

I put my life jacket under, otherwise the harness shoulder straps bear on the bottom of the life jacket and it rides up.

This is probably more of a personal preference. I have a Kayak style PFD and a Gul Harness with back support (as found on catsailor.com). I wear my PFD over my harness and a stretch lycra top over that to keep from catching my outhaul stopper ball on my PFD--this I learned from experience in a race <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />.

I had a situation on the weekend where in 17kts of wind I came in off the wire and could not throw my tiller extension away for a tack... it had gone through the arm hole of my harness and was sticking out behind me. Now the boat is turning and I am thinking, "this is gonna get interesting in a few seconds"... anyway I struggled/paniced and had to launch myself past the front beam to remove the skewer from my armpit.. funny now but at the time extremely scary. Anyway at the time I had my rashy/PFD/Ronstan Jacket then harness. I think I might put my jacket on last to stop any reoccurances. Next time I may not be so lucky.