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Etriers, and getting back on board...

A

AlanH

compulsive typist
In the Lifejacket thread we're talking about flotation, but I thought I'd address the issue of "getting back on the boat".

Once upon a time I had a Santana 3030, which has a fair bit of freeboard. I was in the slip, had just jumped in the water to scrub the keel and rudder and just on a whim, I tried to get back on the boat from the water.

No
Bloody
Way

It just wasn't happening.

I could haul my butt back aboard my Cal 20, when I was 40...no problem. I could most usually get myself back aboard my H-Boat, which had pretty low freeboard for a 26-foot boat. But the Santana? No way. I tried once with my Santa Cruz 27. I was older then, and heavier and it was really, really dicey. With an adrenalin rush...maybe. I KNOW that now, without the stern ladder on the back of my S2 7.9, I could not haul myself back on the boat. The tether and jackline will keep me from losing contact with the boat, but how to get back on board?

So back in the day, I made myself two etriers.

kotw-etrier-ladder-02.jpg

I sewed mine, but by following instructions on this website: https://www.itstactical.com/skillco...reating-your-own-ladder-with-tubular-webbing/

You can just tie one together.

Mountaineering shops sell them. REI has 'em. Any sailmaker or canvas shop could knock one out in an hour. You could also use a rope ladder. Rope laders aren't perfect...then again, etriers aren't, either. Something that "stands off" from the hull so it's easier to get your feet in them is better, but we're not talking about "convenience" here. We're talking about having a fighting chance of getting back on board.

I don't use mine when I'm in the Bay, but if I'm outside the Golden Gate, they are attached to the toerail, aft, with a solid s.s. carabiner. I have them lightly lashed to the stern pulpit with paracord, such that there's one bit of string hanging down that I can yank and the thing will fall into the water.

What's your plan for getting back on board?
 
AlanH said:
What's your plan for getting back on board?
Click to expand...

First, setting up the jacklines and tether so it's hard to fall off = close to the centerline and stopping short of the bow and stern.

Second, mostly what you proposed:
https://www.sfbaysss.org/forum/showthread.php?2181-Surprise!&p=23019#post23019

LongPac Start.jpg

Regarding PFDs for LongPac and the SHTP, a quick reading of the rules for previous races suggests that the PFD you're required to have and the PFD you're required to wear may not be the same kit.
My observation is this is how the pros and large programs deal with it in other races. The required kit is down below and they wear their PFD of choice on deck - probably not what was intended but what's happening.

Then Philpott (I think) quoted multi-circumnavigator Jim Kellam - "The harness is so you have a place to strap on the pistol."
.
 
Last edited:
Excerpted from Bob's earlier thread, linked to, above.

" As with Ragtime!, the plan includes a second, perimeter jackline (outside the stanchions) which would allow me to switch tether "legs" and slide back to the etrier."

Brilliant idea! I'll be doing this. Merci beaucoup.
 
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