Page 292 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

eyeglasses, a lanyard for each piece of hardware of your harness. The gear loops on the harness
you’ll be working with, and two lanyards for heavy are also a good place to keep spare shackles and
objects, plus spare lanyards for any extra require- lanyards.
ments that might come up, with each lanyard scaled
to the weight of its lanyardee. (That is, the lanyard 2. Lanyard Sharing. Seize small rings to your
should have a breaking strength of at least 10 times rigging bucket just below the rim (Figure 7-10).
the weight of the object—cheap insurance.) Attach a lanyard to a tool, reeve it through the
There will be times when you say, “I can’t deal ring, and attach it to a second tool, one you won’t
with all these strings!” But if the lanyards are get- be using at the same time as the first. Likely
ting in your way, you’re probably trying to work too pairs include a crescent wrench and chisel,
fast. It’s a special world aloft; clearing and stowing hammer and file, hacksaw and screwdriver, etc.
tools and lanyards during each step of a job is a nec- You’ll be dealing with half as many lanyards,
essary ritual, one that will prevent hard, expensive in complete safety. You can seize rings onto
objects from crashing down on crew or deck. Slow your chair, too, or just run lanyards through
down, work on organization, and the strings won’t the halyard-attachment eyes. Or build a sheath
be so intimidating.
Some specific confusion-reducing tips: Michelle, Ma Bell

1. Distribution. Rigging buckets are always Take this idea aloft with you. The crescent-wrench
overcrowded; relieve the clutter by keeping some head is welded to the marlingspike, and both this
tool and the knife are secured to the sheath with
items, such as tape, seizing wire, and especially lanyards. But here’s the crowning touch: The “lan-
electrical tools, in the pockets of your chair or yards” are household telephone extension wires,
in a fly-fishing vest. And wear a knife, spike, belayed to tools with Knute Hitches. You get
plenty of working lanyard scope without trailing
and pair of Vise Grips on your belt or the belt long bights of twine through the rigging. You can
also use those “corkscrew” shoelaces instead of
phone cord.
Figure 7-10. To reduce the number of lanyards you
must deal with, thread a single lanyard through a
ring seized to the rigging bucket and attach ends to
tools that you won’t use simultaneously (in this case,
adjustable wrench and putty knife).

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