Originally Posted by David Ingram
Originally Posted by brucat
Not taking sides, I will add here that I've seen tethers required by cat clubs before, and these were experienced cat sailors (really old New England 100 days). IIRC, they were required on the boat, but you didn't have to be clipped in.

Tethers, like PFDs, are tough. People have been trapped under boats and unable to escape without removing their PFD. Others have been saved only because of the PFD. Other than probabilities, one group isn't more "right" than the other.

Bring dragged behind a boat is no fun, neither is having the boat drift away from you with no rescue boat in sight. Would make the EPIRB and VHF on your person suddenly much more important, though...

Mike


Mike,

Saying you've seen the tether requirement before and it was supported by very experienced sailors (in your opinion btw) doesn't really make as strong a point as you think it does. Just because someone else does or says something won't change my position unless they have a very compelling argument. I have an EPIRB on my person (my crew does too) I'm NOT tieing myself to the boat. If that's a rule then so be it, I have other options.

And for f!@k sake take a position! The middle of the road is completely uninteresting. Even though Mark annoys the piss out of me he almost never bores me. When he channels Wouter is when he bores me.


I WAS one of those "really old New England 100 days" sailors. They didn't make you tie yourself to the boat, you had to have the means to do it if you wanted to, lots of races do that. They also made you carry an anchor which generally did more harm to your boat in waves than good if you tried to use it in the rocks. The GT300 likes you tied to the boat also as well as leaving your VHF on all the time , so when you really need it ,it's dead. Not me, ain't doing it. I as well have been tangled under a turtled boat and will do everything in my power to make sure it doesn't happen again. OAs don't want to hear experiences, they just want liability mitigation, which they aren't going to get by increasing risk with mandates.

"I said, now, I said ,pay attention boy!"

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea
Isak Dinesen
If a man is to be obsessed by something.... I suppose a boat is as good as anything... perhaps a bit better than most.
E. B. White