Yachting and Boating World forums: Fouled sterngear

Can I say a few words in defence of fishermen in general? I sympathise entirely with anyone who gets caught in part submerged or poorly marked gear. We get fouled up just as often, or more than yachtsmen, and we don't have the luxury of sails to get back home. My boat has had the gearbox detached from the engine twice due to discarded rope. There is no real need for the topmost marker rope to be heavy. I make sure that my buffs or dahns are attached with the thinnest rope possible, 8mm dia, so a yacht has a good chance of parting the rope in a short time. I only use one marker on leaded rope, not a string of buoys with rope floating between (my favourite, and usually a part-timer!). You always risk running into gear at night or in poor weather, so may I suggest the following. Fit spur cutters to your prop, they really work. Carry a long handle with a stainless knife blade firmly fixed, which has a flat bar welded to the tip angled back so that you can hook it around rope or net which then jams against the blade to cut it. Serrated (butcher's hacksaw) blades are effective. Finally, the fin and skeg give you three options for getting caught: round the keel, round the skeg, and between skeg and rudder. A simple strap running from keel to skeg and under the rudder could save you a lot of grief.