![]() ![]() The line on the bag we tested also retained a fair amount of water, making it heavier and more difficult to throw. The ball does offer the potential for greater distance and better accuracy on rethrows, but only when we took time to ensure that the line was neatly coiled prior to throwing. And if you upend the bag after removing the ball for the first throw, much of the line will spill out of the bag prematurely. The ball did slip out of a tester’s hand on one throw having a different texture on the ball’s surface would improve handling, in our opinion. In our tests, the Marsars bag averaged 43 feet with Good accuracy. Bill Davis, Marsars’ president and owner, told us after the fact that the ball is intended only for rethrows. Our testers initially threw the Marsars incorrectly, assuming that the ball was meant to be thrown on the first toss. On the rethrow, the rescuer holds the bag in the non-throwing hand while tossing the coiled line and the ball to the victim. On the initial rescue toss, the rescuer is meant to hold the ball with the non-throwing hand while using the nylon straps with the quick-release buckle as a handle to throw the bag to the victim. A large plastic ball about the size of a softball is threaded on a soft, braided polypro-nylon line. This bright-yellow bag has a quick-release buckle and a cinchable drawstring opening. We tested the 75-foot 2-in-1 Water Rescue Throw Bag. Marsars makes several sizes and models of throw bags. The Life-line averaged 35 feet with Good accuracy. The KwikTek is easier to repack than most of the other test bags despite its narrow diameter and the line’s stiff nature. Throw bags aren’t meant to be repacked in the heat of an emergency, but in order to prepare them for the next man-overboard situation, you should carefully repack them. ![]() This worked, but it wasn’t always easy to keep the water in it during the throws. The instructions dictate leaving water in the bag for rethrows so that the weight of the water will help the bag fly farther. We weren’t surprised when subsequent throws didn’t travel as far. Coiling or gathering the line is somewhat difficult because of the inherent behavior of the polypro line it doesn’t coil easily without twisting, and those twists create friction and the possibility of tangles as the line pays out. Our testers were impressed at how smoothly the line paid out of the bag. On the first throw, the Life-line traveled the full 50 feet with perfect accuracy. The polypropylene line inside the bag passes through two donut-like floats made of closed-cell foam. ![]() The line is only 50 feet long, so it is not intended to reach as far as the other products PS tested. It comes with a quick-release buckle and cinchable drawstring opening as well as instructions printed on the bag. The KwikTek Life-line is by far the least expensive and lightest bag in our test ($11). So, to get a better grasp on the full spectrum of throw bag products, and to offer more explicit recommendations, we tested eight throw bags from seven manufacturers. Since only two actual throw bags were examined in that earlier report (along with two similar but more sophisticated products-West Marine’s Inflatable Lifesling and Switlik’s Techfloat), we felt that a test was in order. We wondered: Are some throw bag devices more accurate than others? Do some deploy more easily? And are some of them easier to reuse quickly? Regarding throw bags and safety lines, Marx explicitly states that many of the participants in the trials found these devices to “have a very limited effective range.” That immediately prompted some questions on our part. The primary recommendation he made was to “buy a throw bag and practice throwing and repacking it with your crew…” The importance of this cannot be overstated.Īnother participant in that four-day trial was Captain Henry Marx, an offshore safety specialist and the proprietor of Landfall Navigation, which sells throw bags as well as a full spectrum of safety gear. Our correspondent for that article, John Rousmaniere, offered several pieces of important advice in the conclusion. Late last year, Practical Sailor published its initial report on the crew overboard trials that took place in San Francisco in August 2005 (“COB Recovery-Making Contact,” Nov. ![]()
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