Yachting World - July 2018

20

LETTERS

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LETTERS

Plenty of fuel is

needed for typical

calms on a west-

east crossing

How to hook on

I refer to the article in your March issue

regarding the safety hook failure on the

Clipper Race and one correspondent’s

question: could climbing gear be a

solution? This type of problem can be

avoided with no change of equipment by

clipping on to a jackstay as follows:

You have safety hooks on each end of

your tether; that is, end A and end B.

Attach the safety hook on end A of

your tether to your harness.

Pass the safety hook on end B of your

tether under the jackstay and bring it

back up and attach it to your harness.

You now have a tether half its original

length, with only a webbing loop attached

to the jackstay. There’s no safety hook to

become snagged on deck hardware and

no metal hook being dragged across the

deck, damaging your non-slip gelcoat.

If your jackstay is rigged properly –

that is, inside the shrouds – then on most

boats, if you fall over the guardrail you

may suffer some bruising but you won’t

be in the water at risk of being drowned.

A properly rigged jackstay should

allow for unrestrained movement from

stem to stern without the need to unclip

and re-attach.

The shorter tether may appear to

restrict movement slightly and limit

access to some parts of the boat, but

most jackstays can in fact be lifted

clear of the deck with the tether still

attached, thus allowing easy movement,

so the perceived limitations are seldom

a real problem.

The same principle should be adopted

wherever possible. For example, when

working at the mast, loop your tether

around the mast and back to your

harness. On the foredeck, loop the

tether around the forestay and back to

your harness. This is a safe and simple

procedure that should be taught by all

the sail training and safety bodies, and

should be adopted much more often.

Mervyn Wilson

Transatlantic passage

I have crossed the Atlantic from west to

east 15 times and my experience is that

most historical data is from the old time

when it was big ship crossing. Mostly it’s

much calmer when crossing west-east

than sailing the opposite direction or on

the ‘milk run’ as inexperienced sailors

name it.

Anyway, you should take as much

diesel as you can carry for a west-east

passage whereas you only need enough

for two weeks’ charging sailing the

opposite way. To go back to Europe,

your biggest problem will be diesel

consumption. You should also have a

good handle on the weather situation.

And then – have fun!

Mats Gustafsson

Swedish summer

Tom Cunliffe’s feature on sailing in

Sweden (www.yachtingworld.com)

garnered a number of responses and

suggestions of where to cruise:

Sweden has of the most stunning

coastlines for cruising in the world.

My favourite is the coastline from

Gothenburg and north towards

Norway – it is just amazing.

There are thousands of islands of

polished granite to visit and many

charming fishing villages. Each

island has microclimates that makes

exploring fun.

Tron d A sdam

I would say from Gothenburg visit

Göta älv and cross Lake Vänern

before taking the Göta Canal on

to the east coast. The archipelago

is stunning and there is always a

place in the harbour or to be alone

somewhere. Welcome to the north.

Folio Images/Alamy Carl-johan Tibendahl

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