Floating anchor systems and hardware
Floating anchor systems and hardware should be familiar to all VR team members and will not be discussed in detail in this manual . VR operators who have not successfully completed their organisational training course in the use of floating anchors or highlines should not attempt these techniques .
The image below shows the preferred method of installing a floating anchor to be suspended over the casualty . ( Note that the use of four ropes is shown to illustrate the technique of creating a floating anchor with shorter ropes – the same outcome could be achieved with fewer ropes if each rope were long enough ).
Each of the four anchor lines are independently rigged and lowerable . The rigging plate has been tied in using an alpine butterfly knot on each line , with the tail of each knot tied off to the tail of the opposing knot using a double-fisherman ’ s bend .
Whilst the alpine butterfly knots are secured to the plate with karabiners , the actual tension is held through prusiks set back on the line so that there is slack between the prusik hitch and the knot . This allows a quick visual check of when the system is overloaded . As shown in the lower left system , when the line is overloaded , the hitch will slip on the line and take up the slack .
Floating anchor systems like this can be used to suspend multiple points of attachment over the casualty . Although the installation and positioning of the anchor may be timeconsuming , the subsequent rescue usually becomes straightforward and linear .
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