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Which lanyard is safer?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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trullalla

New Member
Jun 23, 2005
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hi all,
i'm doing a little research about lanyards.
im trying to figure out what makes a lanyard more prone to get stuck on the rope or bottom, and i wonder if it make a difference if the weight of the carabiner can make a difference. Some people seem to think that stainless carabiners are safer, but other people hate them.
i'd like to know what the forum members here think, and also:
- which carabiners they use (stainless or aluminium),
- how is the carabiner attached to the wire (lose end, rigid, taped...)
- if they ever got stuck, did that happen on the bottom and what might have been the reason?

thanks for the input

Linda
 
Stainless are heavier, they drop on their own and don't require pulling from the diver.

If the lanyard is attached to the ankle, I prefer light metals to avoid the wire diving to close to my body.

Torsion on the cord/wire my cause the carabiner to turn, posible entanglement could be higher. A wire that is not fixed to the carabiner and can turn freely could be of some aid.

The carabiner should be big enough to move freely down/up the rope.

The base plate in the turn point should be big enough to stop the carabiner without risk of getting stuck in any edges. Bigger plates if tag attached.

Stow your lanyards in the check-in luggage as some security staff could consider it a lethal weapon in the cabin luggage (specially the big stainless carabiners). Not joking...

The quick release system would be a different discussion point. I love a quick release that only requires one hand (the same were the lanyard is attached if not in the ankle) but it gets annoying if the release cord also gets entangled and pulled by accident.
 
Hi Linda,

I only use steel carabiners but would agree with lojo, that for FIM(wearing on the ankle) an aluminium one would be superior for mentioned reasons.

For the other disciplines I'd like to have the carabiner be in front of me and thus need the heavier steel ones.
All my carabiners are attached to the wire rather freely. In theory the kink of the wire could move around in the "eye" of the carabiner, but as they are fixed rather tight it's not moving much actually.
But it's not fully fixed.

I only got entangled/stuck once with my steel carabiner. The rope had in fact a cut tennisball half at the end to avoid it but I had the feeling that the impact of the heavy steel carbiner was so big that it really entangled with the tennis ball.

It wasn't really a problem as one strong pull on the lanyard freed it up but still it was a little scary.
What might be also worth mentioning is that I'm using pretty big carabiners, too.

Hope that's any help
 
i have been diving with steel carabiners since many years and it never bothered me whether the wire is in front or ahead of me... what difference would it really make?

as for the attachment, the lose ones sometimes tend to twist (it only happened once with mine, it didnt get me stuck, it only slowed me down a bit), and i have seen some people making a rigid long attachment by using resins to keep the wire from twisting around the carabiner, which seems to work.
but then again, what is making the lanyard getting stuck to the bottom? if there is a tennis ball or a plate, the carabiner should simply get to a stop and then start ascending. so why do the wire is tangling around the ball/plate?
maybe a shorter wire would be the best solution?
in your case you think that the tennis ball actually passed though the carabiner? sounds like you would need a massive carabiner to do that (or a very small tennis ball
or maybe the half ball left the knot inside it uncovered and the wire got slightly stuck to it from below?
we only use full balls, with 2 holes just big enough to have the knot passing through, so the knot is always inside and never exposed.
 
I use 200 - 300 lb fishing swivels with 400 - 600lb mono-filament for the lanyard and an Aluminium climbing carabiner. The swivels will stop the lanyard from twisting which can cause lanyards to get caught. This isn't an ideal setup for safety and not something I would recommend for beginners/students, it's more for lowest drag and best performance in competition. Having said that I have never had a problem with snags or the lanyard getting caught even on very deep dives in pitch black. I have gone past the bottom plate a few times and been yanked back by the lanyard. One good thing about mono-filament is it does stretch and dissipate shock fairly well. I think it's better and safer to use then thin steel cable that I have seen some use which would place more shock force on all the connections/joints of the lanyard as well as the diver.

I'm sure you could get larger swivels with heavier ratings and use more conventional rope/cord for the lanyard.

cheers,
Wal
 
Different People has different opinion about the safer lanyard.I think the stainless carabiners are safer.
 
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