Now that we can speak freely without fear of offending anyone does any body really take their harness off when you find yourself still hooked in under the sail or do you just reach down and unhook the harness lines. It never even occured to me that you would remove your harness when you have an open hook onto a line that has a plastic tube sheath. I suppose my seat harness does have one side with a quick release toggle. I thought that was just so that it was easy to slip on/off and secure the bar. Now I am facing an executive decision while underwater... do I unhook the harness lines or pull the ejector button and ditch the harness.


ka43



NSW
Australia

304 Posts
Posted 3 hours, 16 mins ago
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Hey Frant,
of all the times Ive been catapulted (a lot) Ive only been stuck once. I have no idea how I did it but I ended up under the sail with the line twisted over the hook so it was super tight. When I hit the water i got the wind knocked out of me so I had no air. I didnt panic but could not get out. In the end I just managed to touch bottom and push up enough to get a small breath from under the sail and spin around and unhook. Scared the you know what out of me. I wear a waist in the waves and seat on flat water, this was a seat. I didnt even think about trying to get out of it as the natural thing to do is try and unhook.
I dont have the luxury of the ejector button so I would have to undo leg straps, waist clip and spreader bar. Sounds easier and quicker to unhook. The jury is out?????
After reading the post on the subject I dont know how long it would take me to undo everything but it is anotehr option I guess.


TelecomGreg





QLD
Australia

78 Posts
Posted 2 hours, 8 mins ago
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Kite waist harnesses are really good too
you can look at a bigger range
and they have a handle on the back for towing
your mates home if they break gear


TelecomGreg




NotWal





QLD
Australia

549 Posts
Posted 1 hour, 48 mins ago
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You're more likely to get your hook stuck with a kite harness. The kite hooks have a bulge in the end just so they are more secure.

If your harnes lines are twisted, henced looped onto your hook tightly - the quck release only releases one side of the spreader bar - so you can still be stuck in to your harness line through your bar and one hip of your harness - though it is quicker at this stage to jettison the harness completely.
The best advise was given on the other thread, as hard as it may be at the time, don't panic.

quote:

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Originally posted by MintoxGT

G'day Leechster,

Do you think that this spreader bar could be purchased seperatly? Also do you think it could be applied to a seat harness NP in my case?

Do you have number plates on your car that say Leechy????? as I was next to a car couple of weeks ago in Loftus st with them on it, If not then that would explain the weird look from the guy when I was gesturing to him my windsurfing sticker on the side of my truck

Owell.

Cheers GT

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I can't see why you couldn't put the bar on any harness. Windforce stocks the Prolimit gear so give them a call.


Ha ha ha, no I don't have personal plates so you must have freaked some poor guy out

I would have recognised you anyway, I was looking at your wedding album the other day....

I agree. I have been under the sail many times and had not even thought to release my harness. I found by staying calm I always have time to unhook.

Furthermore, with long lines I can remain hooked in/trapped and still get my head around the mast to surface for more air so I can try to free the hook from the lines.

The worst case I had was in the shore break at mullas. I had picked up my friend's hat from the water so was sailing hooked in, one handed back to shore.

Something went awry and I was dumped from behind by a wave in thigh-deep water. I got stuck under the sail, pinned to the sand with the waves crashing on top of the sail and I couldn't get unhooked. It was freaky and I thought I was finished for a second or two. But I didn't even try to untangle the hook. After the wave passed I just grabbed the mast and pulled my head around to get more air and everything worked out after that.

In deeper water it's even easier because if you relax, the harness lines tend to loosen up (long ones remember) and the hook comes unstuck easily.

Still, good to know I've got plan C and can just pull the rip-cord if plan A and B fail!

quote:

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Originally posted by Leech

quote:

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Originally posted by MintoxGT

G'day Leechster,

Do you think that this spreader bar could be purchased seperatly? Also do you think it could be applied to a seat harness NP in my case?

Do you have number plates on your car that say Leechy????? as I was next to a car couple of weeks ago in Loftus st with them on it, If not then that would explain the weird look from the guy when I was gesturing to him my windsurfing sticker on the side of my truck

Owell.

Cheers GT

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I can't see why you couldn't put the bar on any harness. Windforce stocks the Prolimit gear so give them a call.


Ha ha ha, no I don't have personal plates so you must have freaked some poor guy out

I would have recognised you anyway, I was looking at your wedding album the other day....

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Dude now your freakin me out

Yeah it was pretty funny, thanks for the feed back re the spreader, I will give the shop a call tmorrow.

Peace dude

You guys are dead right though, the more you experience something the easier it is too deal with, the first time I got trapped was in knee deep water (How embarrasment) and yeah I was crapping myself as I had never even though of that happening, then the second time in deeper water with small choppy type breaking waves, I still got a scare but coz I got out of the first situation ok I was not as distressed, I certainly went on sailing as it is too much fun.

Im gonna spin my old man out when I rig my sail in his yard , chuck it in his pool and tell him to keep an eye on me as I am trying see if I can survive

Poor old bugger is 69, maybe I better do it when he aint home, dont worry I will have a buddy just incase.

Cheers GT

Sorry to hyjack the thread, may I ask this?

So the reactor bar demands commitment to the harness, a good thing.

It also alows you to move a bit easier on the harness lines due to the roller, another good thing.

It can let the harness lines fall free more easliy, is that just due to not committing? other than the fact that the roller has less surface area that a hook.

So why has the reactor bar not been as popular? or similar makes, Im not bagging the reactor bar at all, I just mean similar types of rolles bar setups?

I have looked at them and thought I would be continuosly be loosing the harness lines, but I guess if you commit %100 you should be ok.

Am I ok to assume (Yes I am good at making an ass out of myself) thet the reactor style is more for experienced seasoned sailors?

Any feedback would be great, I will post this in the other thread as well.

Thanks GT

quote:

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Originally posted by Wet Willy

When I was starting out in the harness, I was so paranoid that I used to carry a pocket knife in the harness' back pocket. The idea was to slash the sail to avoid drowning. As a last resort. Somehow, I never felt the need to do it...

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I sailed with goggles and snorkel for a while, but the looks I got from the other sailors made me reconsider that option.

One thing that p's me off is getting the harness hooked in half way through the jybe - (Im a harness hook up sailer) - go into turn, planing, all going well , drop line, planing well, turn board, all great, look down ready to flip sail -ohoh harness line back in hook --oops sometimes unhook again - sometime crash and burn --- it probably only happens 1 in 30 but its a pain - is that why people sail hook down ? When I used longer / droopy lines it didnt happen but I got converted to shorter lines, which are quite stiff and "stand up" so much that they can catch I suppose.

Maybe a few more mates to do bombies around you in the pool to test the impact zone part of the theory may be an idea Mintox.

quote:

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Originally posted by MintoxGT

You guys are dead right though, the more you experience something the easier it is too deal with, the first time I got trapped was in knee deep water (How embarrasment) and yeah I was crapping myself as I had never even though of that happening, then the second time in deeper water with small choppy type breaking waves, I still got a scare but coz I got out of the first situation ok I was not as distressed, I certainly went on sailing as it is too much fun.

Im gonna spin my old man out when I rig my sail in his yard , chuck it in his pool and tell him to keep an eye on me as I am trying see if I can survive

Poor old bugger is 69, maybe I better do it when he aint home, dont worry I will have a buddy just incase.

Cheers GT

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