A report of a rescue of a sailor from a vessel that was rolled by a rogue wave off A Coruna in the Bay of Biscay underscores the importance of using a tether.  Without the tether, the lone sailor would most certainly have been washed away from his boat. Instead, he was pulled back aboard when the boat righted itself, enabling him to deploy his EPIRB and liferaft.

OCC member Bill Hatfield, currently en route to completing a solo nonstop circumnavigation also reported being washed overboard but was able to climb back aboard at the stern of his boat L'eau Commotion by hand-over-handing the length of the boat. He put on his safety harness afterwards!

We had a robust thread on the proper deployment of jacklines here a few years back. And there's a safety notice about hooks on tethers, but I think it would be useful to have a discussion about the best practices for use of tethers and jacklines at sea. Do you have a standard practice aboard your vessel?

Vice Commodore, OCC