Chapter Three: Jacklines And tethers
Jacklines are there to keep you on your boat! The operative term here is “on” your boat. They’re not to keep you “attached” to your boat, and that’s where the distinction needs to be made. So many rig their jacklines to keep them attached “to” their boat not understanding that there is a clear and very dangerous difference between the two. Running them down the sidedecks, and attaching to them with a five foot harness, is not keeping you “on” your boat. If your jacklines allow you to get over the lifelines, they aren’t doing what they’re intended for. Over the lifelines is off the boat, period.
This brings us to “where” it is the jacklines actually should be. To be frank, the only properly placed jacklines I’ve ever seen in real life were on my boat, though I’m sure there are many sailors that have their jacklines in the right place on their boat, and this is why I’m making such a big deal out of “on the boat” vs "attached to the boat”. Because it’s appearing to me that many sailors haven’t been able to draw the conclusion on their own, that there is a huge difference between the two, and that difference could and probably would cost you your life, especially if you were singlehanding. Getting back on the boat from the water side of the lifelines, from in the water that’s rushing over your body, dragging you backwards and pulling you down at 6 knots, while water and spume fill your nose, mouth and eyes, literally drowning you, is a seriously dangerous situation to find yourself in, and a very difficult or even unlikely scenario from which to get back on the boat. For anyone, even a younger, fit person, let alone for an older person. And if you’ve gotten hurt as part of the situation that has landed you overboard, it might not be possible at all. Even with another person there to help, getting back onboard from the other side of the lifelines and back on the boat is going to be extremely difficult, especially if the person is unconscious, dead weight!
The solution, the jacklines belong directly down the center line of your boat, however it is you need to make that happen, and your tethers (I wear two, one longer, one shorter) need to be the appropriate lengths as to not let you over the lifelines. Your jacklines might have to go around some gear on the way, or have several different padeys where one section of jackline ends and another begins, but down the centerline is the end result you're looking for. Because you only want your harness/tethers to extend as far as to let you “reach” to your lifelines, or as far as there is something that you might need to get your hands on, which could be a person overboard. For me the idea is to have many attachment points, and a couple different length harnesses that allow you several options for your reach. Your jackline with the appropriate harness should only let you reach where you need to work. At the mast, forward to the staysail if you have one, the headsail, or the pulpit. At the pointy end there isn’t much one can do except have a super short tether, and even then it might still be impossible for it to keep you on the right side of the lifelines, but we want to do everything we can to achieve that end goal. The bow pulpit being solid stainless steel tubing will really help keep you on board, and that is a testament to how they could help along the entire run of your lifelines.
On Bella Sera, when the seaway comes on, we wear two harnesses on deck, a short one and a longer one. Three feet and five feet. The five foot harness allows us to get out to the lifelines, but nowhere near able to go over them. The three foot harness keeps us tighter to the area where it is we need to do the work we’ve come to do. Or just hang out if that’s what we’ve come to do. But in any case, our harness and jackline combination never allow us to get beyond the lifelines, or even on top of them.
We also have a number of padeyes placed appropriately to allow us to get to areas where there’s tasks we might need to do, and one is never out of reach from where your first harness can reach. In combination with the right harness we can get to any point on the boat, remain “in” the boat, and take care of the business at hand. Having two harnesses also allows us to always remain clipped in when transitioning from one jackline to the next. There’s always transition areas where one jackline needs to end and the next one starts, so with two harnesses you can clip on to the next jackline while leaving the other one clipped on to the first jackline, therefore always staying clipped on.
In the cockpit, your harness should keep you in the cockpit, or just able to reach to the lifelines. As well you should be able to clip on/off from inside the companionway so you don’t spend anytime in the cockpit not clipped in. With two harnesses you should be able to reach from the cockpit where you’re clipped in, to the jackline that leads to where it is you want to go, even if it means using a second harness or multiple jacklines. This means when going either forward or aft, because don’t forget, jacklines need to be stretched aft as well, all the way to the stern pulpit if you can’t reach that from the cockpit.
There’s one thing I want to also make clear here, I’m not telling anyone that they have to wear a harness or use jacklines, that’s entirely up to you. I know there’s plenty of even well respected sailors that don’t wear harnesses, and for a multitude of different reasons that are all of their own personal subjectiveness. It’s not my thing, when the seaway reaches a certain point, we clip in. Of course I don’t like to be encumbered by a ton of gear attached to me, and it does, or can, make moving about the deck more difficult. But in a serious seaway, and that determination can also be subjective, I’m wearing a harness and clipping in. Being a bit encumbered for a little while is way less of an inconvenience than being washed overboard, left by your boat, no wait, buy your own actions, as your boat sails silently, unmanned, into the ocean beyond, leaving you to die alone floating to your watery end. And this isn’t being melodramatic, it’s a painted picture of what could be a very real scenario. If wearing a harness was smart enough for Bernaird Moitessier, I’m smart enough to follow his example.
We’ve talked a lot about padeyes in this chapter, and we want to make sure they too are installed extremely well, the entire jackline/harness system starts and depends on them. Please see the chapter dedicated to installing and securing padeyes and other deck hardware or gear that needs to be fastened through the deck, coamings, or anywhere else gear that needs to be depended on is installed.
