This is an update of an article I originally posted in May 2022. I’ve updated the original and added some new modifications I’ve done to the boat.
No, this isn’t about staying and sleeping on the boat. This is about not falling off the boat!
I’ve been looking at the practicalities of single handed sailing for a few years now. Safety out on the water is paramount, when you’re sailing alone doubly so. There is no-one there to stop the boat or turn around if I fall in; no one else to raise the alarm if I have a problem; no one to help me complete any tasks.
When sailing away from land you also have to be self sufficient. If I am able to call for help that help could be hours away, or even days if you’re crossing oceans. Obviously the most important thing is staying on the boat. I can have all the fancy safety gear I want on board, if I’m no longer there it’s useless.
Personal responsibility can not be delegated
Frank Sonnenberg
Some aspects of these ideas may only be used in rough weather. But having the boat and myself ready for the rough stuff means I can quickly and easily adapt to situations.
Moving about on deck
I have to be able to wander around the boat when I am out on the water. After all sailing involves putting up, reefing and taking down sails. Some boats have sail controls lead back to the cockpit. To do this to Isosceles would be expensive, and these systems are not without their problems. The distance to the mast on my centre cockpit boat isn’t far, it’s a matter of making this short trip safe in bad weather conditions.
Around the edge of most modern boats are some guard lines. The salesmen in the boating industry have laughably called these life lines, unfortunately the name has stuck. Anything at or below knee height should technically be called a trip line, but this wouldn’t be a great selling point on any boat. Not only are they they too low to be a safety feature, as they are flexible people can, and do, fall through them. Added to that I wouldn’t trust them to hold my full weight if I was thrown against them.
To mitigate the risks I rig Chest Lines when I’m sailing, especially if I’m sailing alone. These run the length of the boat at the outside edge. As the name suggests, they are at chest height. It isn’t a hand hold, but a guide to where the edge of the boat is, something I push against rather than hold on to.
Holding on
Of course there is the all important rule of being out on a boat, “one hand for yourself, one hand for the boat”. This means that, at all times on deck you should have one hand holding on to the boat, leaving one hand free to do the job you are there to do. If you need both hands free then either the job has to wait or you’d better be tied on tight!
The sprayhood was off to be cleaned and have the windows replaced recently. This seemed like the ideal opportunity to try out an idea that I had spotted on another boat on my travels.
I cut small slits in the canvas of the spray hood where it went over the supporting frame and did some button hole stitching around the edges of the hole. Then I took some webbing strap and threaded it back and forth between the two holes and round the frame. This went through some plastic tubing to give the handle some rigidity. Once these were tightened up and secured I covered the plastic tube with bicycle handle bar tape to give a better grip. I now have a hand hold as I’m walking past the sprayhood.
This is not a long term solution, but it has definitely proved its worth. Walking past the spray hood feels much safer when the boat is moving about in the waves. I plan on replacing it with a stainless steel tube when I can find the right brackets to fit.
Life Jackets
Modern life jackets include a harness attachment point. This is so you can attach yourself to the boat by clipping a tether on between yourself and a strong point. Doing this when I’m on my own and moving about on deck should be an absolute must really. I do try to do this in all but the calmest of conditions. I may not be able to get myself back on board if I went over the side, but I am much more likely to be found if I’m attached to the boat. At least my family would have closure if the worst happens. This may seem like a very morbid thought, but it is reality.
Freedom is the ability to be responsible for ourselves.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
One thing most people don’t consider is what happens if your fancy automatic lifejacket inflates at the wrong time. Rogue waves can catch you off guard. If you are just coming out of the cabin with your life jacket on it can inflate if you take a wave through the hatch. Should that happen you may well struggle to get out through the hatch. Likewise if you are working at deck level, or drop to your knees as a big wave hits, the water can set off the lifejacket. You can easily get a wayward lifejacket caught around the guard wires around the edge of the boat. It’s impossible to prevent all scenarios, but it pays to be aware.
The staying attached part is, in my view, more important than the lifejacket part, especially in calm conditions. In order to make me more likely to attach myself to the boat I have bought a dedicated safety harness. This is light enough for me to leave on at all times and thin enough to keep on underneath waterproofs when I need them. If the weather kicks up rough I put my lifejacket over the top.
Where to attach to
Standard practice has become to rig two two lines called Jacklines, one each side of the boat going between strong points at the back and front of the boat. These strong mounting points should easily hold the weight of a person if needed. If someone needs to leave the cockpit and go forward they will attach their tether to these so they remain attached as they walk forward.
No system is perfect, but this has some major flaws. It can be quite a reach from inside the cockpit to the edge of the boat where the jacklines lie. Also, if I do slip and end up over the side then the tether between me and the jackline will be just the right length to drag me in the water. Not a nice ending.
and back to the other side of the cockpit.
I decided to move the jackline inboard as far as possible. I began by attaching strong points to each side of the cockpit. These have been backed up by stainless steel plates inside the boat to spread any load. I can reach these much easier before I leave the cockpit.
Next I ran a single jackline from one of these points, around the front of the mast and back to the other side of the cockpit. Now I can reach the jackline while I’m still sat in the cockpit and attach myself before I move to the mast. This keeps me as far inboard as I can possibly be when I’m on deck. There is a second tether attachment point on the mast if I need it.
I also have the second jackline which I rig to cover the foredeck area. This goes from the front of the boat, back round the mast and forward again. This way if I need to go right forward then I am still attached.
Complacency
Hopefully this will go some way to keeping me safe. You can never eliminate all the risks in life. Seat belts in cars don’t stop all injuries, they just make the worst ones less likely. Jacklines and tethers keeping me attached to the boat won’t stop every possible injury or mishap, but it will increase my chances of remaining safe and well, or at least being found.
The biggest danger we face in anything however is complacency. When you do something all the time it is easy to become so relaxed with it that you miss the danger signs. Just one more reason to take a step back and look at the world around you sometimes.
