Time to Update Your Flip Line
One of the highest utility pieces of gear a rafter has in their possession is their flip line. This line is one of the most essential pieces of gear because there are so many uses for it on the river: from tying up boats, to hanging gear, and of course righting a raft. Until recently flip lines have remained essentially the same since the 1970s. In this article we’re going to take a look at what flip lines are, how they are changing, and most importantly why the thoughts and techniques are changing around it.
Old School Flip Lines
In the early years of commercial guiding, river guides were having an issue with how to right their boats after a flip; so with a little raft guide ingenuity, a carabiner, and some tubular webbing, the flip line was born. Essentially this was just a piece of webbing with a loop tied on either side, double wrapped around the waist, and connected by a carabiner.
The original designs were great for what they were being used for; guides could use them to right rafts, make anchors, or rig self-equalizing systems. They also had particularly high load limits (break limits of modern materials are often 3000 – 4000 lbs). Since their invention not a lot of thought has been given to the flip line in the subsequent years. The main advancement was an increase in safety by moving away from non-locking carabiners. Both twist lock and auto locking carabiners became popular choices as the years went on.
With the invention of self-bailing rafts, flip lines became more important than ever. Folks were paddling harder rivers with rafts that were more likely to flip rather than just wrap as bucket boats were prone to do. Companies also started requiring guides to carry flip lines so everyone had to have them.
However, one of the big issues for the old time rafters was storage. PFDs did not have pockets in the early days, and even up to the mid-2000s pockets were either uncommon or too small to be useful for anything beyond a snack. There really was nowhere else to store the flip line except around your waist. Additionally, this made for a lot of variation in the length of the flip line as well as the strength.
The Clean Line Principal
In recent years there has been a big push from rafters in the international boating community to make boating safer through the promotion of the Clean Line principal. If you are unfamiliar with this concept you can learn more here, but in short the principal states that you should endeavor to minimize any entrapment hazards by having as few snag points as possible on your body as well as your boat. Ultimately this theory of boating is designed to increase safety by taking a hard look at how we can mitigate accident potential.
The old school practice of an around-the-waist flip line definitely violates the clean line principal. The gap between your body and the line is the most dangerous part of the flip line. There are all kinds of snag hazards on the river including trees, branches, jagged rocks, or even t-grips can work their way into that gap creating an entrapment hazard. When you talk to enough river guides, many have a story of buddy or two getting snagged by their flip line causing an unforeseen swim or pin. While many of these stories are shared in humor, they also allude to what could have been a devastating situation. With no quick release you can really find yourself in a world of trouble super quick. This was part of the reason people moved away from non-locking carabiners on flip lines. Subsequently, a stray unlocked carabiner has an equal opportunity to become clipped into a waist-belt flip line. It’s easy to see why more and more boaters are shying away from this system.
Another problem with the waist line practice is that as boaters, our bodies tend to fluctuate around the waistline regularly as part of the natural ebb and flow of rafting seasons. With the increase or decrease of layers needed depending on the weather, we easily find our waistlines expanding in the fall and shrinking in the spring; thus boaters must have a little extra slack in an old style flip line to comfortably sit around the waist. And since tubular webbing was the material most commonly used, more slack was inadvertently introduced in the line because of its tendency to expand as it gets wet.
Modern Flip Lines
This entire topic has stirred a huge amount of discussion in the boating community in regards to what the modern flip line should look like. Rescue instructor and contributor Mark Hirst has put forth a new alternate option by using a much more space conscious size flip line that is stored tucked away in a pocket.
Material science has come a long way since the 1970s, and there are a ton of new materials and manufacturing processes on the market. One of the best options out there comes from the climbing world: the anchor sling or rabbit runner. A rabbit runner is a line of webbing with loops sewn into each end to eliminate fail points from knots. The compact nature of a rabbit runner makes it ideal for easy storage as well as maintaining a high strength rating. BlueWater Ropes makes a more compact rabbit runner, however Sterling has recently come out with a 1” runner with a maximum break strength of over 8,000 lbs. The important part is that you can easily stow and deploy a flip line when you need it.
Another important consideration to your flip line is the carabiner that you are using. A lot of folks still use twist lock carabiners, but one of the drawbacks to a twist lock is you often need two hands to open the gate after it has been on the river for a while. While twist locks are pretty bomb proof in general, you do have to balance the life of the hardware vs convenience of use. An auto locking carabiner is super simple to operate with one hand, and generally is easier to use on top of a flipped raft when your hands are cold.
Whichever carabiner you chose, turbidity in the water is your greatest enemy. Even clear rivers carry sand, silt, and other small granules; those granules can cement themselves into a carabiner’s locking mechanism rendering it useless when you need it. Twist lock carabiners are especially prone to gumming up and can be notoriously difficult to get working. While the drawback of an auto locking carabiner is that the spring system adds an additional point of failure in a riparian environment, so it is important to check your gear regularly and lubricate as needed. It is also super critical to dry your gear when you are done on the water. This will help to reduce corrosion and help keep your gear working longer. Don’t be hesitant to replace old rescue gear that you rely on when it’s no longer giving you optimal performance. If you’d like to learn more about types of carabiners, check out our carabiner article.
With all that in mind we are huge advocates of the modern flip line theory incorporating the Clean Line principal. It is critical for us to look at all of our gear to understand where we taking unnecessary risks with our equipment and to migrate them. Rafting is an inherently risky adventure sport and although we generally have a good safety record as a community, that doesn’t mean we need to be taking unnecessary risks with our gear. Many times in rafting we get into a rhythm, and there is an attitude still pervades the community that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. The reality is that the old dog didn’t get old by staying the same. Stay safe out there friends and make sure you are out there training with all of your gear as much as possible. We’ll see you out on the river!
