TEAMO AUTOLOCK TETHER

It would be hard to imagine a simpler bit of safety gear than a tether. That doesn’t mean, though, that the basic sailing tether isn’t without its problems. First and foremost is the problem of what to do with that 6ft of length webbing when you’re trying to move around and/or it’s not in use. How many of us have been caught out on watch with our tether down below when the wind picked up because we were tired of it getting underfoot? Then there’s the matter of what can happen in the course of that 6ft fall in the event you do go over the side. At best, you’re going to build up a good bit of velocity before it catches you. At worst, you could find yourself being dragged through the water well out of reach of the rest of your crew, making getting you back aboard darn near impossible. Alas, there have been all too many cases of solo sailors, particular, drowning while still securely attached to their boats. The TeamO Autolock, however, solves both these problems by providing you with just as much (or little) tether as you need and immediately catching you in the event you should ever fall, in the manner of the adjustable seatbelt in your car. The spring-loaded system is contained within a corrosion-free housing that is surprisingly unobtrusive when not in use. Better still, it is configured so that the tether is continuous throughout. In other words, in the event the housing or retraction mechanism should fail, you’re still left with a nice solid length of webbing. Look for this wellthought-out product to be popular among both racers and cruisers. $NA. TeamO Marine, teamomarine.com