The whole idea is to keep your butt in/on the boat.
This is not exactly true.
If the tether is needed, you want to be certain that the tether is short enough to keep your head out of the water. If one goes overboard, there is no guarantee that he/she will be conscious. If one goes overboard, you want to be concentrating on just getting back on board, not also fighting rushing water in your mouth. That can be awfully distracting when you are trying to call for help.
That is the real debate with tethers; how long should they be?
You left out flexible and non-flexible. I like flexible.
NiceAft wrote:MSN wrote;
The whole idea is to keep your butt in/on the boat.
This is not exactly true.
If the tether is needed, you want to be certain that the tether is short enough to keep your head out of the water. If one goes overboard, there is no guarantee that he/she will be conscious. If one goes overboard, you want to be concentrating on just getting back on board, not also fighting rushing water in your mouth. That can be awfully distracting when you are trying to call for help.
That is the real debate with tethers; how long should they be?
The whole idea is to keep your butt in/on the boat.
This is not exactly true.
If the tether is needed, you want to be certain that the tether is short enough to keep your head out of the water. If one goes overboard, there is no guarantee that he/she will be conscious. If one goes overboard, you want to be concentrating on just getting back on board, not also fighting rushing water in your mouth. That can be awfully distracting when you are trying to call for help.
That is the real debate with tethers; how long should they be?
Ray
And that would be a great subject for another thread. Along with suitable materials for Jack lines, routing of jack lines and single vs. double tethers.
It was my impression that the OP was about to buy his first inflatable PFD. He sails in protected waters of the Mississippi and local inland lakes. I'm sure he will do the proper research and get upgraded safety equipment when and as the need arrises. I didn't know what a jack line was, much less a tether, until we moved our Mac from inland lakes to Lake Michigan.
I make my kids wear non-inflatable types because in a panic they might not do the right thing. And they are simply the most important things in my world.
Gater Dunn wrote:PFD 's are expensive until you need one then they are priceless.
