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From: Dennis Surtees
Date: 18 Aug 1998
Time: 17:52:35
Remote Name: dynamic47.pm09.mv.best.com
If so, the "hiking straps" should be regarded as "safety straps". Slack lifelines are as much a violation of YRA as would be straps. I would not feel safe leaning back at all or, what I actually do, tuck my buttocks over the rail for stability, without the straps. From my experience to date, that would be dangerous. The straps should be a matter for reasoned discussion at a class meeting. I feel that I can make a very strong case for their use. They can be of a length to prohibit unsafe "hiking" . Until I started to slack the lifelines and sit out a bit, I would fall all over the boat when we hit waves. Now I am stable and comfortable. I do not LEAN as such at all but use the lifeline for support. I have a 68 year old back. I have raced 505s for 23 years on the bay. I am not interested in destroying my back. These straps make it possible to sail comfortably and SAFELY in the worst the bay has to offer. Don't knock them until you try them. I have shown them to Jim Antrim and Kame Richards, both of whom (without actually endorsing them)acknowledge that they have might be a good idea. AS far as YRA is concerned, I have contacted the office to inform them that I depart from one design to the extent of the straps AND the slack lifelines. When we start racing one-design, we definately must agree as to what that will constitute.