Re: [Paddlewise] boat tether

In a message dated 9/14/99 11:10:55 PM Pacific Daylight Time, dan_at_hagen.net 
writes:

<< This is an interesting idea. The potential drawbacks I see are: (1) The
 length of the tether. It would seem to me that using the bow painter as
 the tether increases the possibility of a nasty entanglement. That's a
 lot of line floating around with you in the water. (2) The use of a
 side-release buckle. These do not release well when under tension. (See
 my earlier comments on this.) On the other hand, as you noted your idea
 does have some advantages. >>

Dan,

Thanks for your comments.

1.  Using the length of the painter could be a problem.  But I didn't mean to 
imply hooking onto the end of the free painter.  I was talking about clipping 
the biner onto the painter rope while the clip/biner on the (free) end of the 
painter is still clipped onto the boat near the cockpit.  The separation 
between the body and the boat would then be limited by the length of the 
tether (maybe 4 ft?).  Since the tether biner could slide along the length of 
the painter, you would have the freedom of moving anywhere from four feet aft 
of the aft painter attachment point to 4 ft beyond the bow.  You *would* have 
the option of unhooking the painter hook/biner and attaching it directly to 
the tether biner, giving you another 7 to 8 ft of freedom beyond the bow, 
which would be handy if you wanted to swim-tow your boat. 

2.  True, but since the side-release buckle is in front of you, within easy 
reach, you could use one hand to release the tension as you released the 
buckle with the other.  I know that SRBs have drawbacks, but I have started 
to use them in place of other hooks and biners because they are:  (a) 
lightweight (don't sink the towline so quickly when released);  (b) cheap; 
(c) unaffected by saltwater;  (d) unlikely to hook onto deck fittings or 
other catchalls and entrap you as a biner can so easily do; and (e) a bit 
more likely to break in the event of the system being loaded beyond what my 
body might survive (acting as a weak-link).

Happy Paddling,
Harold
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List
Submissions:     paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions:   paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************