Serious Safety Failure

[indaba1991]

Am I alone in condemning the ORC? (Offshore Racing Congress). These photos show the start of the Coastal race in Valencia yesterday in winds over 25 kts. A dyneema lifeline failure caused two crew to fall overboard at the start of the race. (fortunately rescued) Although dyneema is very strong it is not allowed to be used a lifelines by some race organisations because it is prone to stretch, chaffing and UV degradation.

Worse than this there is not one lifejacket in sight - few organisations these days allow formal racing in such conditions without a lifejacket rule imposed (IE when reefed / wind over certain strengths etc). This is a European Championships for heavens sake!








Basic stuff guys!

[willk]

Originally Posted by indaba1991

Am I alone in condemning the ORC?

Those are WAFIs! We condemn them all the time on here If you're looking for SPECIFIC condemnation then a WAFI forum might get a more focused result.

On a more general tack (see what I did there?) I'm past condemning boaters for not wearing life jackets. The planet is not short of people...

[Barrowboy]

Un fecking believable. I'm rapidly heading towards Wilk's Point of view regarding life jackets...

[indaba1991]

Originally Posted by Barrowboy

Un fecking believable. I'm rapidly heading towards Wilk's Point of view regarding life jackets...

The big difference here is that we are not looking at individual choice. This occurred at an organised European Championships. There are meant to be safeguards in place. Some years ago there was an event called the Nioularge (now called Les Voiles de St Tropez) The event was shelved for some time after a French competitor drowned - the race committee were found culpable by a French court - the individuals on the organising committee were charged and jailed, causing every yacht club / race organisation in the world to adopt strong safety measures with limited liability infrastructures introduced.

Its seems that in history man learns nothing from history!

[indaba1991]

Rescue was quite competent - but many of the basic guidelines of safe recovery were ignored - including legs near propeller.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by willk

........The planet is not short of people...

This has been my mantra for years & people just said I was a callous b'stard

[willk]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

This has been my mantra for years & people just said I was a callous b'stard

Ah yes, but being right and being a callous Barsteward are not mutually incompatible. I would know

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by willk

Ah yes, but being right and being a callous Barsteward are not mutually incompatible. I would know

Being at the top of the food chain & having no natural predators, we have to rely on nature & our own stupidity to keep our numbers down. Once we defeat age, famine & disease, all we have left is stupidity. Thankfully we don't seem to be in short supply of that

[spartacus]

Originally Posted by willk

On a more general tack (see what I did there?)

willk you are on fire!

[A1an]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Once we defeat age, famine & disease, all we have left is stupidity. Thankfully we don't seem to be in short supply of that

That's a forum signature right there!

[willk]

Originally Posted by indaba1991

The big difference here is that we are not looking at individual choice....

They were told that they weren't allowed to wear life jackets or there were none aboard?

I'm fairly confident that they were busy comparing how big their b@lls were by not wearing them. Delighted to be wrong though!

[Poly]

Originally Posted by spartacus

willk you are on fire!

Was that a gibe? Be careful which topics you broach with Willk, once he get a run going he can be hard to stop. Still it mast be difficult being the main protagonist in these threads. Especially if he has to put himself in the bilges!

[willk]

Originally Posted by A1an

That's a forum signature right there!

He's almost as good a source as AE.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Poly

Was that a gibe? ....... Especially if he has to put himself in the bilges!

Was that a Threat?

[Poly]

Originally Posted by indaba1991

Rescue was quite competent - but many of the basic guidelines of safe recovery were ignored - including legs near propeller.

I'm not sure a single picture is a fair representation. If the engine is now stopped then the transom looks to be the easiest place to recover (just as some people here will use the antiventillation plate as a step or even the powertrim as a lift - on an OFF engine). Even without that the prop on a yacht is usually well forward of the transom (so it washes over the rudder) so whilst it might not be perfect its not like recovering on a small powerboat.

A bit surprised that with presumably loads of manouverable, relatively low freeboard powerboats around the recovery was by yacht.

[willk]

On that note however, I will bid you all adieu et bonne nuit as I have a big day tomorrow