Boye Knife Saves a Life
Dear Practical Sailor Magazine and David Boye,
I wanted to thank you both Practical Sailor for recommending
Boye knives, and to David Boye for making the perfect sailing knife.
Per Practical Sailor's recommendation in the June 1st, 2000
edition, (plus subsequent issues), and speaking with David directly
at the Newport Boat show a couple years ago, I purchased a Boye Cobalt
sheep-foot serrated bladed knife. For the past few years I
have faithfully strapped my knife holster to my belt prior to sailing. Sadly,
after 5000 ocean racing miles and many a lazy day cruising along
Long Island Sound New York, my Boye knife was only used on rare occasions;
cutting rigging tape or slicing the end off a line for re-whippings
nothing exciting or dramatic, but always reliable.
How quickly the tide turns.
This past weekend I was off-shore racing in Sydney, Australia on
a 1980 12-ton Holland 44 foot sailboat. The breeze was a fresh
25 knots, gusting up to 35 knots, waves were rolling steadily from
three to six feet. We were five miles off shore, racing down-wind
with a spinnaker pulling the boat at speeds exceeding 9 knots. I
was crewing at the mast, setting up for a dip-pole spinnaker jibe. Due
to gusting winds, pitching boat through swells and whatever (things
happen so fast in gale-force breezes), during our jibe the pole jetted
for the sky, the mast fitting slammed down to the deck, the pole
unlocked from the mast (still attached on the spinnaker end) and
was whipping violently across the foredeck. The foredeck
crew member was forced forward to the bow, unable to move aft due
to the thrashing spinnaker pole. The crew member who was working
in the pit (who has asked to remain nameless) came forward to assist
me. In doing so, he accidentally placed his foot within the
spinnaker sheet and brace. I was looking forward trying to
sort out the pole situation, and heard a blood-curling scream from
behind me. Because the boat was dead-down wind for the jibe, all
the spinnaker sheets and braces became fully loaded with a 35 knot
gust. I turned around to instantly see my friend's leg
wrapped around a fully-loaded spinnaker sheet. He was hanging
upside down, with half his body being dragged through the lifelines.
I grabbed my Boye knife and within seconds positioned myself outside
the lifelines and with a mere single swipe, sliced the spinnaker
sheet clean through. Please find attached a photo
of the cut line remaining on the boat side (the cut non-loaded
side is obvious, and yes the inner core was stretched six inches
under the loaded cut side). The shackle snapped off the spinnaker
end, so fortunately all we lost was the other end of the line. My
friend¹s leg and life were saved.
My biggest lesson learned with respect to my Boye knife is to NOT
wrap the knife blade around the lanyard. The few seconds it
took me to un-tangle the lanyard may make the difference between
life and death if an accident like this ever happens again.
I hate sailing stories like this, but I wanted to THANK
YOU for making
a valuable difference in recommending and providing a quality product
when sailor's lives are on the line. Practical Sailor,
please keep the great reviews coming. And David, keep making
those sharp blades!
Wishing you fair winds and following seas,
USCG Cpt. John Brown III
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