Sailor dies after collision in classic yacht race

[rbgarr]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/27/AR2008092702796.html

[Vince Brennan]

Previous posting
here

Nicely written cautionary article

[rbgarr]

Thanks Vince. I'd missed that.

Rowdy
http://i35.tinypic.com/2hzhmyw.jpg

[Ian McColgin]

Oh dear. It sounds as if the eight did not ease sheets as she tried to bear off and might have been lifted by a puff. An easy mistake for folk raised on short boomed high aspect rigs.

[rbgarr]

I too was wondering if maybe they realized they couldn't bear off fast enough to clear and rounded up to tack (too late).

[Dan McCosh]

Oh dear. It sounds as if the eight did not ease sheets as she tried to bear off and might have been lifted by a puff. An easy mistake for folk raised on short boomed high aspect rigs.


There have been three bad collisions around here in the past two years, caused by just this maneuver in modern boats. It's just bad judgement, more common today due to modern race tactics.

[andrewe]

Ian, Wilfred had owned and raced this boat on the classic circuit for a while and before that had represented UK in 6 mtrs. I suspect that something broke/jammed to cause this. As noted, the conditions were tricky. There will be an inquiry,so we will learn more.
Andrew

[Bob Cleek]

Years ago, I was active in the Master Mariners Regattas on SF Bay, worked on handicapping committees and chaired the race committee for a couple of years, as well as racing other times. I came to the conclusion early on that racing old boats is neither safe for the participants nor prudent for the preservation of the vessels themselves. It's simple, really. Competitiveness and the "heat of battle" are dangerous companions aboard any boat.

Far, far, too many skippers lack the seamanship skills to operate classic boats in a race environment. Far too many classic boat skippers lack the necessary racing skill and experience as well. Most of these classic races combine widely varying vessels, both in size, speed, and maneuverability. Most have staggered starts so their finishes will be "spectacular" with the entire fleet finishing in a near dead heat if all things were equal.

The result is that a large number of boats of unequal abilities are sailed imprudently (i.e. "to win") in a very confined and congested area by crew recruited from the "racing fraternity" who have NO idea of the maneuverability limitations of full keel vessels and NO idea of the rigging limitations ("Crank it tighter to make it go faster!") and proceed to cut margins of safety WAY too close, often with disasterous results. (Not to mention that they aren't sailing their own boats, which always increases the likelihood of damage by a factor of two or three!)

One really has to wonder what's the point of a "race" containing maybe a hundred boats that routinely results in one or two dismastings, a sinking, two or three collisions, and ten percent of the fleet DNFing due to gear breakage. This is not "fun" in my book!

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I am a little shocked; I knew SAFIR by sight and was admiring her in Suffolk Yacht harbour only last month. I find it difficult to imagine her suffering a gear failure - she was our local example of a boat maintained without a single scratch on the varnish. A racer's racer - with no means of anchoring that I could ever detect.

From the reports that others have posted I am inclined to agree with Ian - my father, who learned to sail in the 1920's, when all boats had long booms, with rudders attached to longer underbody appendages than we have today, drilled it into me that you never bear off to clear - you must always luff, thereby reducing the impact speed and making the contact either end to end or side to side, not end to (weak) side.

This was what everyone was taught, then.

[John B]

Another tragedy.
It only takes a self formed knot or a jammed cleat in the mainsheet and bearing away becomes impossible. But we often dip.
I don't subscribe to Bobs view ,however I strongly believe that the most important component of any classic regatta is the briefing beforehand. There it must be made clear that preservation of the boats ( and by implication , safety of the people aboard)and recognition of their limitations handling wise is the most important aspect of the racing.

This time ....? that all sounds irrelevant to me , its looking very much like a handling error due to a foul up of some kind, could happen to anyone and does happen every day in every yacht race no doubt, but with much less dire consequences.
Absolute tragedy.

[Tom Hunter]

When my boat was last in the water I did two wooden boat races.

I'm more with John than Bob, I think these races are a lot of fun and it is possible to explain to people that we are here to be safe at take really good photos first, and win fifth, with various other goals inbetween.

Ian's point is very germain, before I really understood how to sail the boat I rounded windward mark and then went on a reach. We did not let the (548 square foot) main out rapidly, and we swung very wide as a result. I still remember the spectator fleet frantically backing up as we charged towards them.:D

If I am coming to a mark with other skippers I prefer to discuss what we are going to do. I know this is not usually considered good racing tactics, but on a full keel boat loaded with concrete and pig iron I think the tactics need adjustment.

I am looking forward to the post mortem, it's a terrible thing, but it would be good to know how it happened.

Finally, the guys family expressed a desire that the series continue, I find that admirable, it reflects well on the man who died and makes it an even greater misfortune, if that is possible.

[George Roberts]

I agree with Bob Cleek.

If you are going to have multi-ton boats running close to each other, you are asking for trouble.

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Consider what would happen, if we ran auto races on the public roads. No surprises there.