ORC guidelines advise bare wire. Larry C. has assured me bare wires are ok. Gate is optional. But rope strops (versus turnbuckles) are not. I like the idea of strops (per ORC guidelines) over turnbuckles for the same safety reason Steve likes the gate - easy to cut and loosen the lines. The class objection, if I understand it, is that we wont take care and maintain the strops, so they will rot over the years and the lifelines will fail. I wouldn't let lines rot on my boat, but I understand, if not agree with, the point. We're supposed to carry a wire-rope cutter anyway, so as long as you can find it in an emergency, it suffices.
