Sustainable Sailing

I’m a great fan of simplifying things, even if I’m not always good at it 🙂

So I love this Dyneema Pendant, which you can buy from Mantus (they call it a Snubber Pendant).

Except, that it is so simple that we will make several of our own. We will probably use a home made soft shackle rather than a shackle to attach it to the snubber line (cheaper, tool free and not going to damage the boat).

Three main uses:

• A tool and metal free attachment of a snubber line to the anchor chain (the snubber line provides some elasticity which stops the boat pulling the anchor out of the seabed when the bow rises on a wave). One that is easy to undo even after it has been used with heavy loads. Using this means that if you need to put out more chain (for example with a dragging anchor or higher than calculated tide) you don’t first have to pull in some chain (making the situation worse) to untie the snubber, just let the snubber drop in the water, use another pendant and snubber line and recover the original later.
• As demonstrated in the Mantus video to help recover if a sheet gets angled on a sheet winch.
• Using a similar technique, use it to recover your Jordan Series Drogue. Tie to a bridle line, connect snubber line and lead that to a winch. When you run out of snubber line at the winch then attach another pendant and snubber line to the bridle line as far out as you can reach, then pull that one in. Repeat until you can put the actual Jordan Series Drogue line on the winch.

There are multiple aspects to the simplicity that I love:

• Untying it after a significant load is so easy. Essential when recovering a Jordan Series Drogue where the loads can be huge. A traditional rolling hitch will probably need to be doubled and even then very hard to untie.
• Attaching it to the chain with a cow hitch is so easy, much easier than a rolling hitch and no metal chain hook damaging your deck. This is so important as the critical use with an anchor chain will be when it is rough and the bow is plunging up and down.
• So easy to create and inspect for damage. So providing you have a stock of Dyneema line you can very easily make a replacement at anytime you need it.

As I say I’d probably attach it to the snubber with a soft shackle which avoids needing a tool to attach, and of course no issues with corrosion or electrolysis. My favourite soft shackle technique is this one (much easier to tie than many others and I think stronger than any which do not bury the ends from the knot):