I just bought a new harness and life jacket because i wanted to avoid all the extra buckles. I wasn't thinking safety at the time, just how annoying it is when you are dashing for the other side during a tack and the harness buckle gets caught on the trap wire or mainsheet, or something else. I can now see it is a safety issue to. The new stuff is way more comfortable too.

Tami,

I agree the article doesn't say explicitly the hook was caught, but it does say:

"PJ was wearing a currently legal harness with no "Quick Release" buckle. In 2006 ISAF tried to make Quick-Release buckles mandatory, but was repealed. Ryan dove many times to untie half hitches to free PJ."

The implication is it was an issue...why bring up harnesses in such detail if this was not an issue?

Please hop aboard the safety parade.

So let me understand this...safer or quick-release harnesses give a false sense of security, thus you won't be getting one...but you're going to take measures to reduce risks from snagging. How is that any different from a safer harness?

Huge issue financially for those selling safety hooks which would all need to be replaced at high cost strait away so there is a while lot of reasons to ramp up the commentary.

Safety is a problem for us all as we are all too safe. Every time one person dies for any reason authorities want to over react. Only sensible place for the mitigation of the loss of human life is not to sail.
I was watching some old Indianapolis footage and people died and the boys just kept racing. We are all soft now and getting softer.
What is the step too far?
People make safety hooks, if you want one buy one, if you don't be prepared to die if you are the one unlucky dude this last year out of all of the sailors on the planet who might have died because he was hooked up.
I looked into the ball style and too many people wrote into this forum and said they just dropped off the side of the boat...I sail all alone out past the Islands here with no boats in sight. What do I do if I fall off the side of my boat when it is going 15 knots in a big sea?
Where is the balance for me of how many times I can get back to my boat and how many times I am going to hook up and be drowned?
It is awful that someone died but he died with the freedom to have the ball style harness.
Are there any stories out there about the hook Saving a life? One such story a year would balance the deaths.
I had an experience where my leg was caught up in my mainsheet. Do I 86 the mainsheet?

Ball-style harness:
"too many people wrote into this forum and said they just dropped off the side of the boat"
Those stories resulted from using the plastic spreader plate made by Hobie.
There are no breakage issues with the aluminium or carbon/Kevlar spreader plates.

The only disadvantage is that the trapeze wire ball does not disengage from the harness by itself, you have to push it. Some skiff sailors claim this slows their tacks by some milliseconds.

Stein

The article at SA's was written by Tempesta, who inserted his opinion about the harness. The news articles don't mention anything about harness, only 'canopy.' Which is exactly why I looked to the news, because I wondered whether there actually was a harness issue. At this point, I've not seen any evidence from the news media reports which indicate the harness hung up.


I'll quote my response on the subject from SA:

"Back in the 70's and 80's, when Hobie was ruling the world, and thousands upon thousands were sailing the overpowered H16 with their scary old laceup harnesses, did you see legislation come out about changing harness design? No... the MAST was legislated. Which is fucked up right there, but that's another argument.


We have enough outside involvement in our lives and a depressing trend towards absolution of individual responsibility. Get the kiss outta my business. DON'T tell me how to equip myself."

No one here has brought up legislating anything. Chill out.

I always thought you were humorless, now I'm sure. Have a nice life.

Tornado,
Yes, you have indeed brought up legislating things... the SA article you quote is a chastisement of ISAF for not enforcing the quick-release rule. That rule would be legislation. No thanks, really, no more steenkin' rules.


Pete, as usual, you have nothing salient to say. Apparently you have no ability to make a real argument thus your need to degenerate to insults.

More details on the incident...apears it was the hook:

"Wild was on the recreational boat with Wenner the day of the accident, 1.5 miles off Waikiki Beach. The high-performance skiff, which capsizes easily if not moving forward, had already capsized five times that day. On the recreational boat were teammates, instructors — all experienced sailors.
Wenner, wearing a harness, was standing off the edge of the boat. When the boat started to tip, he knelt down, and the harness hook got caught in the weblike netting that stretches between the hull and the outriggers of the boat, Wild said.
"Almost immediately someone from the chase boat jumped off and tried to save him," Wild said. Everybody already in the water dived down and "tried as hard as they could to free P.J."
It took a while before they figured out where the problem was.
"It was twisted so tight, we couldn't free that," he said. "We were all diving underneath," Wild said, but without goggles "we couldn't see how to free him."

I think it would be really hard to twist-up my aluminum ball harness plate in anything like mesh. The ball has never come out, if it was in the slot in the first place: 4 years racing in the ocean now on my A-cat.

Also- Wearing a long-sleeve rash-guard over the top of everything really helps to NOT stick the tiller extension thru your life jacket arm-hole or strap. I really hated it when that happened.

I was dumped by my quick release last weekend in 28 mph winds. Crew took over and single handed the boat back to me. If he had gone over it would have been a long swim back to shore. I have since flipped the release to face down. Video is on youtube "Wet Kitty Catamaran". the release is just a few seconds after the video stops.

Condolences to the family.
we all hate to hear these things. take heed. No fear.

Condolences to the sailors family. Loss of life is a terrible thing.

But it happens less in sailing than many sports and just life in general. After all it's living that kills you.( If you don't live you can't die).

As far as trap hooks go, I rescued a cat sailor that was caught under the tramp on a wire strop that connected the Boom Vang. But it wasn't caught on the hook it was caught behind the plate that held the hook. Just can't fix every possible cause of entrapment.

Have fun and don't do anything that "you" are not comfortable with, that's as safe as you can get.

I am pitching a sailing program for TV at present and have written a few sail quotes I created. I went back to them after reading this again and found these.


"Risk on the water must be mitigated with a rigorous attitude of crossing "t"s and dotting "i"s."

"Plan to be upside down and see right way up as a plus. Plan for rough, cold weather and see warm, calm as a plus. No matter who says the weather will be fine, do not believe them. Ever."

"I am happy with the risk that the sea presents to me because I know I have enough experience but more importantly enough forward planning to give me a good chance of survival if I have no chance of outside help."

" Rough weather is no time not to take risks. It is those very risks that keeps one safe and that is the beauty of it."

Sailing is a risk and I am all for it. That is not to say we should not take care.

Sail safe and sail fast..well I will because it is the season down here.