Coast Guard suspends racing

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getakey

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Not sure what to think of this. Coast Guard is responsible for issueing permits for sailboat races. 5 people were killed in a tragic accident 2 weeks ago.
Should all offshore racing be suspended pending review of safety procedures? This could have happened without a race. Some boaters here are saying that they are "closing the ocean".

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/201...celed-coast-guard-after-deadly-yacht-incident
 
That race has a history of capsizes and CG searches, though rarely have they had actual loss of life. I'm sure the CG concern is all the costs involved to do those searches and rescues. The fact that the skipper and crew are usually quite rich makes it a hot potato issue. Maybe the CG should increase the permit fees to cover more of their costs for SAR and if there is none for a race, they get a partial refund or such.
 
The Yacht Racing Association didn't seem to have any at problem at all with it, and US Sailing is doing an investigation in cooperation with the CG. So all the parties in interest appear to be on board with the plan.
 
Agree w/ ITK. Is this within the USCG authority? What next? America's Cup?
 
Like I said, everyone involved is Ok with it, and yes the CG has the authority to issue permits (or not) because it there is a major shipping lane and VTS involved.
 
Yet another case of nany state behavior. For centuries, or at least 2... :), captains have been free to make the decision to race or not to race based on conditions. It has been a long standing tradition that it is not the race committee job to make the decision and they cant be held responsibe unless they are really negligent

This is true at every level of racing.

What a next? Cancelation of the Fastnet, Sidney Hobart and other classics?
 
Does anyone know what the conditions were that day. I know around that time there was incredible swell from two directions along with wind waves around the Farallons. Combined wave heights were in the 15 to 20+ range.

Really unfortunate that this accident happened. I suspect they (the Coast Guard) are looking at the safety requirements surrounding the events covered by the racing permits. You would hope that the event promoters would require certain safety equipment. From what I read all but one were swept overboard and the remaining person would have been overboard but got tangled in a line that did break his leg. Who knows if this could have been avoided with additional safety requirements for participants in the race. I am guessing the Coast Guard is going to make sure they are maximizing the odds of finding survivors when things like this happen by looking at what safety rules sponsors are putting in place. The investigation did conclude no criminal negligence on the part of the boat captain. That would lead me to believe crew members were not required to be tethered with a harness to the boat by the race sponsors (I am not an attorney but am guessing if the race rules required tethering crew there would be some sort of action against the Captain for not having the crew tethered). I find it unlikely that all seven of them would have untethered at the same time when rounding the outer most point on the race course if they were using tethers. Really sad outcome.
 
The only thing which may be questioned is using the island as a mark considering the typical conditions there. Maybe they should rethink that and either place a mark so boats don't cut to close and end up with zero safety margin.

Or set a lag/Lon waypoint. This is what has been done in round the world racing where competitors have to stay north of certain lat to limit risks of hitting icebergs. Some were heading to far south to sail a shorter route
 
Although you are right on point with a low safety margin by cutting close to the island as it turns out the island was the only thing that saved the three survivors. Two somehow managed to get to some rocks on the island and the third was still on the boat that crashed on the island. The only survivors were on the island. If they didn't turn close to the island it is likely only the guy still on the boat would be alive. Really unfortunate.
 
The seas were 10 to 15 feet and "confused" as they often are around those islands. Sad part is that boat had some sort of trouble getting underway. They had no chance of finishing high up in the ranking, so not sure why they were cutting in close to the island.
The captain was hired. The boat owner was one of the survivors
 
I just talked to a San Fran snailbote racer the other day, one of his friends was on the boat. He thinks YES, they did cut too close to the island mark. My SF snailbote friend has sailed in the same race several times, so he knows what he is talking about.

The race committee bears responsibility for tracking race boats, with disqualification for cutting marks too close. Simple solution that should also prevent snailbote racers from using incoming freighter bows to cut off their racing buddies.

That happens ALL THE TIME in the Chesapeake Bay. This is the responsibility of the racing club to stop. Unless they adopt these policies, I support the USCG racing ban. Clearly, many racing snailbote skippers needlessly endanger the girlfriend/crews that happen to be on the boat.

If you are on a laser and have a death wish to sail too close to an island in stormy seas, or use incoming freighter bows to cut off your single handed racing buddies, you endanger only yourself and generate extra business for funeral directors. But, a big hassle for the families left over, the ship captains, and emergency crews tasked with dragging for your body.

Bringing a crew along is an entirely different situation, and endangering them is not right. Hopefully the racing committees will see the light and work with the USCG to adopt sensible rules to stop snailbote captains from needlessly endangering themselves and importantly, their crews.

In the article linked above, it seemed irresponsible that the skipper did not demand all his crew to "clip in" given those sea conditions, and not appropriate conditions to bring someone out for their "first ocean race."
 
There are idiots everywhere... Using your logic all poker runs should be banned as well because once in a while a dickboat driver screws up and flip his boat..
Someone who knows someone thinks they cut to close?

Read the statement from the survivor and view the video of the other boats. It looks like they got hit by a bad wave, which could have happened without racing. These guys knew what were doing but accidents happen.
 
Sorry, people in many PowerBoat Poker Runs who do not follow the sensible rules and do dumb things are kicked out IMMEDIATELY, and banned from the club. I have been in a run where that happened. All Poker Run events I have been in are closely worked out with the USCG, who have always been great with us.

Snailbote racers are well known for extremely reckless behavior, talk to any freighter pilot. There are few things that frighten them more, than snailbote racers using freighter bows to cut off their racing buddies. That has long puzzled me as to why race committees do not throw out racers who do this. It seems to me, that failing to wear safety harnesses in the reported sea conditions clearly indicates they did NOT know what they were doing.

And, BTW I am in the process of buying a racing snailbote to add to my fleet, so it is not like I have a thing against them. <gg>

If a guy with a friend in the boat, and has sailed the same race, thinks they cut too close, well that is good enough for me. I managed a yacht club where the insurance companies finally banned insurance coverage of any racing sailboat in club, because they were ramming each other all the time. So, the big boat skippers ended up suing each other after race accidents. Wait, I thought boating was supposed to be fun?

Most snailbote racing capts, will admit to doing "rash things" to gain an extra few seconds on their racing buddies.
 
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/collision-suspected-yacht-mishap-killed-16237551
 
Sad news Capt. Bill, but good timing!

Perhaps future ocean races around the islands outside of SFran should require being clipped in, and carrying a SPOT, so that every race boat course can be checked. Any race boat within a set distance from the islands is immediately disqualified, and assessed severe race penalties.

Plus, any race boats anywhere should be mandated to stay clear of large vessels, or serious penalties apply. Large container vessels have a 1/4 mile + blind spot in front of their bows.
 
I'm speaking as an olde tyme sailor, one who raced in the Bay for several years in the 1940s as a USNA midshipman and later in the 1960s as skipper/instuctor of midshipmen. Together with "my mids" we did decently well from Annapolis to Newport and another time from Newport to Bermuda sailing one of the USNA donated racing bosts.

The failure to properly safeguard one's crew cannot be lost in this saga. Crew training and personal smartz is not easily obtained. A skipper must work hard to ensure that all reasonable saferty procedures are followed every time he casts off the lines from the pier.

As many have learned, nothing at sea can be taken for granted. Most tasks can be accomplished in several ways--we all should try the safe way first. None of us were involved in the san Francisco fiasco so we shouldn't shovel any blame around BUT we all can learn from this affair.

I believe the action of the USCG is appropriate and may serve to protect others who gain so much satisfaction in ocean racing.
 
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