Marine-environment, emergency-egress system and method

A method of operating a zip line in a marine environment for emergency egress, the method comprising:

• providing a track line;
• receiving information initiating emergency egress;
• suspending the track line by deploying it by a mobile watercraft from a first location deemed unsafe toward a second location remote therefrom, the first and second locations being separated by a body of water extending substantially the entire distance therebetween;
• providing a first trolley and a second trolley, each comprising a roller operably constrained to run along the track line;
• deploying and tensioning the track line after receiving the information;
• suspending, from a support configured to be independent from the track line and to unweight the track line from the first and second trolleys by providing the exclusive vertical support therefor above and not resting on the track line until released from the support, a first rider from the first trolley and a second rider from the second trolley;
• releasing, sequentially, separately, and independently, the first trolley and the second trolley from the support, by the respective first and second riders, to engage individually and separately in time, and then descend simultaneously along, the track line toward the second location.

An emergency egress system comprising:

• a first structure at a first location;
• a second location remote from the first location across a substantially continuous marine environment therebetween;
• a track line, located at the first location, undeployed, having a first end and a second end, the first end connected to the first structure;
• a deployment device arranged as a mobile water craft at the first location capable of extending the second end from the first location to the second location in direct response to initiation of an emergency egress;
• an anchoring device capable of securing the second end at the second location after delivery thereto by the deployment device;
• a tensioning device operable to take up a portion of the track line between the first and second ends;
• a carrier system installed at the first location providing the exclusive vertical support to suspend multiple trolleys, each trolley thereof thereby unweighting the track line until released from the carrier to weight the track line carrying a rider in a seat, with the trolley simultaneously connected to the track line in a configuration and readiness to be released from the support to weight and to travel along the track line;
• and
• a control mechanism corresponding to the each trolley and operable exclusively by the rider corresponding thereto to release the each trolley from the carrier system to traverse along the track line.