My favourite Spinlock Safety Tether is now available in Walmart!

Safety tethers or harness lines are an essential bit of sailing kit, so you can imagine how delighted I was to see that my favourite Spinlock performance safety tether is now available from Walmart and West Marine

A favourite safety tether? Yes you read that right!

I do have a favourite tether line, just like I have a favourite ring on the cooker and a favourite butter knife and for our American readers you can now buy one from Walmart.

You know when something just works and brings a tiny bit of happiness to your day, yes? Well this Spinlock Performance tether is just that. If you were crew on my boat and I allocated you this safety line, you know I really like you.

It’s not a low cost option, but in my opinion, it was worth spending a little more for.

Why do I like it? Two things: the bright visibility and the ease of using the hook.

How does the Spinlock Performance Hook work?

The smoother tip of the hook helps to more easily attach to webbing jackstays without snagging with a barbed hook as found on most commonly used safety tether lines.

You start simply by squeezing your thumb or palm against the silver back release mechanism

This allows the tongue to unlock and easily push inwards with little effort

The wide mouth of the hook without any snagging points makes it easy to very quickly clip on and off intentionally.

World sailing rules and regulations stipulate that a 3 point safety line is a must, but other times you don’t need the extra bulk of a 3 hook line and you’re not clambering around on the foredeck, but simply clipped in at the cockpit and a two hook line is perfectly safe.

There’s a range of options for this model of safety tether from Spinlock. They all have an elasticated line to help avoid snagging trailing lines but the ends have differing options.

The option for a webbing loop and a hook is really sueful for static lines. The webbing loop, cow hitched on to a strong point with a single working hook, I use this set up for static lines within my cockpit area, especially for the line that goes into the companionway to be clipped onto before stepping outside. The fabric loop stops the loud rattling noise associated with metalwork clattering around at the deck eye and can wake up someone off watch unintentionally.

Then, the optipon I’ve shown here, the double hook option is short enough not to be an overboard risk but long enough to allow you to function.

Every boat and skipper has their own preference. I have 4 static lines around the cockpit and helm positions, then there’s double hook lines for general working and three hook lines for when moving about on deck.

I love this tether more than any other I’ve used in my 40 plus years on boats. Worth every penny I paid for it.

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