As I do consider my towing-system as being the most important safety equipment, only (hopefully) surpassed by common sense, seamanship and skills, it is very important to me that my system works as efficient as possible - in my hands.
That I have seen, and experienced (in surf, moving water, rock-gardens, gulleys, etc, etc...), the importance of a fast and simple system, I do my best to pinpoint the flaws, and fix them. This is the reason why my system looks like this - other people might have other preferences, and therefore their system will look different from mine.
This is how I have had the system for quite a while.
As you can see, I am not too happy about it :-) Besides I feel it hinders me, doing forward rolls.
The bag and carabina hangs in a split D-ring. This is not too bad, but in surf and big water it ends up like this.
Which is not the best position to have it, dangling around. It is quite OK for swimming and cowboy-rescue though - that it is out of the way.
I have tried having the system at my waist - felt quite good, only I needed a quick release option of some kind. I like the simplicity of the split D-ring, only the one that came with the system was too weak for job. Had to find a stronger one.
Where do I find the D-ring..?? Any drybag has two or four of them. I already knew that the ones from Ortlieb are too soft, for this use.
Whereas the ones from Pacific Outdoor are much stiffer, though the dimensions are pretty much the same.
Having found, and replaced the D-ring on the belt with, one from the Pacific Outdoor drybag, the system now looks like this.
On the water it sits nicely under my buoyancy. The carabina is ready at hand, and the D-ring on the vest has no problem keeping it in place. Still got to test it, during a swim, and while doing a cowboy-rescue.
Close-up of the replaced D-ring on the belt.
In case it for some reason does not work to my satisfaction, I will replace the D-ring with a quick release buckle.
The D-ring on the vest is mounted with tie-bands. Not pretty - but who cares.
Thank you for listening - as you see, this seems to be a Never Ending Story :-)
That I have seen, and experienced (in surf, moving water, rock-gardens, gulleys, etc, etc...), the importance of a fast and simple system, I do my best to pinpoint the flaws, and fix them. This is the reason why my system looks like this - other people might have other preferences, and therefore their system will look different from mine.
This is how I have had the system for quite a while.
As you can see, I am not too happy about it :-) Besides I feel it hinders me, doing forward rolls.
The bag and carabina hangs in a split D-ring. This is not too bad, but in surf and big water it ends up like this.
Which is not the best position to have it, dangling around. It is quite OK for swimming and cowboy-rescue though - that it is out of the way.
I have tried having the system at my waist - felt quite good, only I needed a quick release option of some kind. I like the simplicity of the split D-ring, only the one that came with the system was too weak for job. Had to find a stronger one.
Where do I find the D-ring..?? Any drybag has two or four of them. I already knew that the ones from Ortlieb are too soft, for this use.
Whereas the ones from Pacific Outdoor are much stiffer, though the dimensions are pretty much the same.
Having found, and replaced the D-ring on the belt with, one from the Pacific Outdoor drybag, the system now looks like this.
On the water it sits nicely under my buoyancy. The carabina is ready at hand, and the D-ring on the vest has no problem keeping it in place. Still got to test it, during a swim, and while doing a cowboy-rescue.
Close-up of the replaced D-ring on the belt.
In case it for some reason does not work to my satisfaction, I will replace the D-ring with a quick release buckle.
The D-ring on the vest is mounted with tie-bands. Not pretty - but who cares.
Thank you for listening - as you see, this seems to be a Never Ending Story :-)
