Harken Safety and Rescue Wingman - A long term review

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

What is you impression of the Harken Wingman?

[@romangarcia7757]

very interesting and good system Greetings

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@dabomb199715]

I’ve had the Wingman for a few months now. I teach NFPA 1006 classes. Easy to use, easy to explain it’s applications. I only have two complaints. The bag is mostly useless and the way it attaches to your harness just makes it twist and twist. Something like the AZTEK Pro Bag would be better. Have had issues with the handle on the Wingman either opening up or getting ‘stuck’ on the basket as personnel are litter attending. Outside of that, I love it.

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Thank you for your insights and adding to the conversation 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@paulnormandy6247]

I love it. We bought two: one dedicated to the litter bridal and one standalone to be used for whatever. We made two small modifications: we added a redirect pulley for the litter bridle so we can have the release handle on the top and still be able to pull down when you’re bringing the litter back to horizontal. We also added Petzl AMD’s with Captiv’s on both ends to prevent cross loading. Last, we kept the AZTEK but swapped the 8mm rope out for a much longer one. It’s about 10m fully extended now and works well as a standalone hauling system, we just added an anchor sling and a Rescucender to the bag.

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Sounds like a sweet setup. Thanks for sharing.

[@slowgold20]

I compare these more to rockex AZTEK then a petzl jag. My organization had some large animal rescue/manipulation training and the training organization used AZTEKs. Very cool pieces of equipment, but for most of our crew with limited-to no rope experience, a stressful environment where these endangered animals and our coworkers are relying on us, switching to the wingman was a no brainer for me. The AZTEK is much more flexible, with longer laundry list of capabilities, but being able to give someone a lever to lower makes a huge difference. During the training, it was clear that minding prusiks in our various haul systems was causing confusion and stress. Obviously that is solved with more training, but we are a multi disciplinary crew and the reality is we won't get as much time as I want. It takes longer to train someone green to use a trilock carabiner than it takes to understand the functionality of the wingman. Can't beat that in my book. Same thing with the petzl twin release for the 12.5mm haul line. More expensive? Heavier? Yes, but never needing to worry about a changeover is huge.

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Why would you compare it more to an Aztek and not a Jag? For both you need to lift the load a bit before you can release the prussik or cam. Don't get me wrong, the Aztek is a great piece of kit. You can control it from both pulleys etc. For me fiddling around with gloves getting the pin sometimes get annoying. That said, I don't own one and only use it a few times per year. The situation you describe and the risk assess what gear for whom is very good. Especially with multiple tasks it can be to much to stay on top of all the skills. That is why we need to keep things as simple as possible. Seems like you do. The Petzl Twin is very good at what it does by the way. I am a fan of that.

[@aerialrescuesolutions3277]

Great piece of gear, I would love to have one, or two. Jim

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

It is a great piece of kit. Super useful 👍🏼👍🏼

[@3minKnowledgeforyou]

Great channel man!, could u do a post/video about finding jobs as a freelance level 1 (in NL) Im thinking about getting my L1 but as a self employed electrician im not top sure about possibilites. I think a vid about this subject would be of intrest to alot of followers who are also thinking about going the rope access route. Keep up the great work, appreciate it!

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

I talked about it in this video at around 5:50 mark. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qovXnaGaj7ujpLssi=ZzTk-LUKAOXBkPNj&t=351 I have talked about it a few times in stories and reels. I think I might make a dedicated video about the subject. Thanks🙏🏼

[@raphaelbeinhauer9242]

At work I currently use the Kaa for tensioning steel cables and such, it is a very nice system too. I do sometimes overload it and get it to slip, but that is with high loads. In those situations you do need to lift a little bit to release the cam, afterwards the lowering thing can take over. With normal (one person) loads, I can usually just push the cam open with my thumb though, without lifting up. My biggest gripe with the Kaa is not being able to put an ascender on the end to assist with pulling, like you can do with rope based systems. We also use the JAG for Rescue, which I never really liked from a training standpoint, because a lot of people struggle with releasing it. The Wingman might be a nice option, especially with the swivel, the most common mistake I see when training ist a twisted system, and they can't unweight the casualty. In my free time, I also volunteer with a rescue team, we have 2 Aztecs, and for us they are perfect, because we change around which side the prusik is often, the Wingman can't do that unfortunately. Otherwise it does look nicer, I've had to really fight those prusiks when you have a 300kg patient in an adjustable strecher bridle.

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Thank you for your comment. At The Vertical Freedom tour at the end of 2022 I got introduced to the Kaa and I was impressed, a very good little SOF. You make a good point with that we can’t put a rope clamp on to pull some extra. The Aztek is also great and the only thing it has over the Wingman is that you can indeed use a prussik and to choose on which side the brake is. The way a Wingman lowers 200kg is impressive, it gives a lot of fine control. To solve that problem I use that extra Rollclip and have the control on the side I want giving me a 5:1 CD or 4:1 CD. I also agree on the Jag. People struggle a lot with releasing that lever and lowering out. It is not one of my favorites. I am not envy of your struggles with moving patients of that size. Interesting risk assessment considerations with regards to climbing gear standards and Safe Working Loads….

[@go2Qzero]

definitely like the looks of that over the Petzl Jag, mainly for the release, which he gets into at 8:40.

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Yeah that releasing part is great 🙏🏻👍🏼

[@chrisbaggs7428]

Nice video, always love the content. Any thoughts comparing this to the CT Up you go?

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

I had to look it up. What you make with the ct up is similar to the Petzl Jag. You have to lift to lower and lowering is not very controlled. It can be good I guess and I have had situations where we rigged frames into place, bolted them on and almost had to overload the Jag to be able to release the cam. That could have been prevented of course, and still the Wingman is so much easier to operate.

[@chrisbaggs7428]

Completely agree on the ease of operation of the wingman, always nice to get opinions and thoughts on different equipment that’s out there. Does make me want a wingman of my own now. Thanks for the content from Australia 👍

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

@@chrisbaggs7428 🤩🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@XxLuvverofMusicxX]

Second orientation looks much better as the handle for lowering remains available to the user at the top where as in the first orientation the lowering handled moved down with the weight. So if you were up at height and needed to lower something to the ground using this device the second orientation would allow that where I do not believe the first orientation would.

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

So that would depend on what you are doing. And I agree with how I often use it ;-)

[@XxLuvverofMusicxX]

glasses were on the table behind you :)

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Hahaha I got that. Thanks

[@pnxelectrical]

I hope its just me not appreciating the kit but in a 4:1 lowering setup; your cam/lever/control/release will be constantly moving, and away from you at that, compared to the 5:1 with redirect where your cam/lever/control/release, stays in a fixed position , am I seeing that right?

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

You are correct

[@pnxelectrical]

@TheRopeAccessChannel something else occurred to me when watching this; would a small rigging plate made a useful addition to your 'everyday carry'; To try and reduce the utter clutter that you tend to find when work is underway? Also a couple of prussiks, to give you a couple of progress capture/ascender/decender devices? Weigh-wise I think it'd be marginally lighter, or is IRATA against using prussiks owing to thier 'soft' nature (as opposed to 'hard' hardware; ID, Rig, Megawatt etc)

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Well, IRATA is not necessary against it. You just need a good risk assessment. In the ICOP there are a few guidelines though. I carry a VT prussik often and use it for many applications . But that is usually not when working for an IRATA company. Comething like the new Minitraxion or even Skylotec Cric would be sort of easier to use than a prussik for certain things. So yes you could when properly risk assessed and sometimes better tools are available . A small riggin plate could work, however I dont see a need for that as it also costs some height. I have been eyeing the Grivel Vlad for that. I really want to give that a go.. My go to as extra on the harness are usually rollclip with tibloc, a VT prussik and an small Omni pulley by rock ex. Further ad ons could be a mini or micr traxion and a camp turbochest. Allthough that could be exchanged for a DuckR which is an extra backup that could be used as an additional rope clamp… SO many options hahahaa

[@AaronOchoa-u6k]

I have a question. You have the red bag 50ft version wingman right? So this this mean when it's fully deployed/Released it's like 12ft ish in the 4:1 configuration? Or is it 50ft on the 4:1 configuration?

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

It is about 3 meters fully extended. I dont know the exact length in feet. You can look it up on the Harken site

[@matthewhow7952]

Defiantly better than the Petzl Jag

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Absolutely!!

[@catchingfire]

mule - overhand knot

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

Ah yes!! Thank you! So simple🙄🙄. Teaching all day (talking to much) and filming at night sure fries the brain haha

[@catchingfire]

@@TheRopeAccessChannel or maybe just two half hitch(haha). I respect your hard working. Im also considering one of the bags too.. rock exotica aztek pro leg bag or courant faster bag.

[@TheRopeAccessChannel]

@@catchingfire harken called it a blocking hitch. So I guess a lot of knots will do👍🏼.