GL: More Demo/ man overboard

[Charles and Pat Culotta]

 The following is a post by Peter Pisciotta of
www.SeaSkills.com.

I think that it is applicable to this discussion. I exchanged 
correspondence
 with Peter when he was
preparing a presentation for TrawlerFest.
CCC
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1. You are 8 times more likely to go overboard at night than during the day
thus a personal strobe on the PFD is essential
2. You will survive over twice as long with a PFD on than without one on. In
cold water, you will survive twice as long by staying still rather than 
trying
to swim.
3. You are twice as likely to go overboard off the foredeck than the stern
4. Commonly available inflatable PFD's with integral harnesses were all
tested to be satisfactory. Features to look for include plenty of Velcro on
the enclosure and twin D-rings to form a complete girth enclosure.
5. If you are dragged in the water at 4-1/2 knots or greater (as you might 
be
if your tether is too long), you will likely drown within 2 minutes. On
trawlers, it often possible to place jacklines high (chest level) and 
inboard
assuring the victim does not get dragged in the water. Also, please see (6)
next.
6. Tethers: The inboard end shackle (attached to your chest) should be
releasable under load (a snap shackle). As a distant alternative, when using 
a
snap hook (such as a carabineer) a knife should be at the ready.
7. A US Sailing test (1999) of 20 tethers using a 220 lb test dummy dropped
from a 6-1/2' height resulted in failures of 47% of the tethers. Either the
cast snap shackle broke or the stitching came undone or the webbing failed 
or
some combination of all. Features to look for include contrasting color
stitching (white stitching on blue webbing for example) to enable 
inspection;
quick-release shackle on the inboard end; snap hooks must have a "gate" that
the bail fits into. Even the well respected Wichard snap hook without a 
"gate"
failed. However common snap hooks can and do twist in a padeye in such a way
so as to release so these are not nearly as good as the very expensive
special-purpose snap hooks.

The following products failed in a way that could have caused the wearer to
lose contact with the boat (read: something broke):
   Captain Al's single tether
   Captain Al's 3-point tether
   Forespar Passagemaker tether
   Holland Yacht Equipment tether
   Helly-Hansen 3-point tether
   Raudaschl tether
   Wichard Model 7001 tether

The following tethers had some damage to them that did not endanger the
wearer:
   Survival Technologies single point tether
   West Marine 6' tether with dual snap shackles

The following tethers passed the dynamic test without failures:
   Jim Buoy
   Lirakis
   SOSpenders
   Survival Technologies Shock Arrest
   West Marine 6' tether with snap shackle
   West Marine 6' basic tether
   West Marine 6' tether with snap shackle and Gibb Hook
   Wichard Model 7015 Tether

My personal observation is that some very well known and well respected
manufacturers (Forespar, Wichard) built products that did not fare well.

This is no place for homemade equipment.

Peter Pisciotta
www.SeaSkills.com
San Francisco CA
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