Your Boat Cleaning Products Distributors Share Great Reasons to Check and Maintain Your Tethers
Raritan Engineering your boat cleaning products suppliers would like to share with you this week some great information regarding the importance of checking your tethers.
Just as we were wrapping up the report in our December 2017 issue describing how to make your own safety tether, 60-year-old British sailor Simon Speirs went overboard and died during the Clipper Round the World Race in an accident linked to a tether safety clip failure.
Regarding the most recent incident, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, noted offshore sailor and the Clipper Race founder and chairman, was reported saying that the tether “failed in some form or another.”
“The reason why the clip failed is under investigation, and I am not going to anticipate the findings as that could be misleading and not do yachtsmen any favours,” Knox-Johnston wrote in an e-mail to Practical Sailor.
According to Knox-Johnston, as a precaution, all Clipper racers have now switched to a different make tether with a different safety clip. Although he did not disclose the brand of the new locking snap-hook, media photos show competitors wearing tethers with what appear to be Gibb-style safety snap-hooks, featuring the stainless steel locking gate.
A decade ago the field was dominated by stainless steel caribiner-style hooks. The center hook has a threaded lock that works, but can be hard to manipulate in the dark or when wearing gloves. Two dual-action, locking snap hooks, the Gibb (red) and the Wichard snap hook (yellow), share a similar “flat” form like the Spinlock brand suspected to have failed in the Clipper Race.
Practical Sailor is currently undertaking an investigation of the most common safety tether snap-hooks used by sailors and will be providing additional information as we become of aware of it.
More Benefits of Tether Maintenance
Your boat cleaning products manufacturers discuss that except for the fact that the Clipper Race has halted the use of the Deckware Race Safety Clips aboard its boats, we have no evidence that they pose any more risk than similar designs. We will be looking into this further.
“It was not a normal failure of a perfectly good tether, but it would be unwise to speculate until the Government (MAIB) have completed their report,” said Knox-Johnston.
The Spinlock Deckware tether hook features a black plastic locking lever. This is the type of clip linked to a fatality in the Clipper Round the World Race.
In addition to testing the approved locking snap-hooks on the market—including the Kong Tango, the Gibb, the Spinlock, the Wichard Proline, and Wichard locking snap-hook—we are surveying sailors who use them.
The accident offers another reason for sailors to familiarize themselves with the care and use of their inflatable lifejacket (PFD)/harness/tether combination.
So don’t forget these tips when checking your tethers. 1) Harnesses or combination inflatable PFD/harnesses should be either on a person, hooked to your bunk, or otherwise immediately available at all times; 2) Inspect your inflatable PFD/harness every time you put it on and self-test your inflatable at least yearly for leaks; and 3) The hook used for connecting to jacklines and fixed points on deck should be a locking type designed for that purpose that cannot self-release.
Dolphin Tangled In Fishing Line Swims To Shore To Get Help
Folks out enjoying a day on this stretch of the Spanish coast last week likely never thought they’d end up saving a life — but that’s exactly what they did.
Inés Oliva Pérez was among a group of sunbathers on El Buzo beach, in El Puerto de Santa María, when she spotted a young dolphin stranding herself in the surf. Other people there noticed it too, and a small crowd began to gather at the waterline.
The dolphin’s mouth was tangled in fishing line, which she had no way of removing on her own.
“It seemed she came to ask for help,” Pérez later wrote online.
Fortunately, the dolphin found the right people to offer her that assistance. As Pérez looked on, several beachgoers worked together to steady the distressed animal against the crashing waves long enough for the improperly discarded fishing gear to be cut from around her muzzle.
As the rescued dolphin swam away, Pérez could see two other larger dolphins circling in the distance, as if they had been waiting for her return. Even as she joined them, they seemed to linger for few moments longer. In that act, Pérez perceived a sense of gratitude for what had been done to help her.
Click here and see how Raritan Engineering provides you the best products in the marine sanitation industry today. Be sure to watch our latest video on Boat Cleaning Products below.
via Dolphin Tangled In Fishing Line Swims To Shore To Get Help