"I have tethered myself to the boat while playing in heavy surf on a sit-on-top. Since my favorite place to surf has a very rocky sea wall, the last thing I want is to have to swim close to the wall to retrieve my boat. A knife or a fool-proof means of detaching yourself from the tether is, of course, crucial" Sailors tether themselves to big boats. They are more likely to simply fall overboard, but tangling is a real danger as is being dragged at speed, so sailors use a harness, and clip to the tether with a big stainless steel carabiner that can be removed with one hand. It occurs to me that, rather than depending solely on a knife (which requires a spare hand, perhaps another tangling lanyard, etc.) it might be worthwhile to clip your tether to a slip ring on a quick release tow belt, just like many use for towing. In fact, you are most likely to use the tether when traveling solo, so you could stash your tow line away and dedicate the belt to anchoring your tether. I would think the tether should be attatched to the boat somewhere on the back deck or beside the cockpit. You would want to do many experiments to find the least tangle-prone set-up. The tether should allow you to wet exit either to the right or the left, and to work your way along the boat to set up paddle floats etc. This quick release could be important durring rough landings, although I would think you would want to detatch the tether in surf zones. I haven't tried any of this myself. Nick Lyle *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Whitesavage & Lyle wrote: > This quick release could be important durring > rough landings, although I would think you would want to detatch the > tether in surf zones. > > I haven't tried any of this myself. Nick Lyle One thing I would worry about is the nasty habit of the rescue belts not fully releasing unless under some tension. Another is the problem of the ring being on the back. Under a worst case scenario, you could be pulled backwards by the wayward kayak and that's not the easiest way to deal with the problem. The rescue vests were designed for white water rescue and these attributes don't result in problems in those circumstances. You're usually dealing with a lot of tension when you _want_ it to release and you want to be harnessed backward relative to the current if you're being pulled in. Some other release mechanism may have merit. A front release that doesn't need much tension to work. Hmm.... Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Sandy, You can get a stainless steel ring like the one I use from marine supply stores that cater to sailors. West Marine carries them and they sell through catalogs. I am sure they have a web site. Some of the commercially available ready made tow belt systems use the same kind of ring. Good luck with your hurricane. Nick Lyle *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:02 PDT