Dinghy sailing fatalities and the lessons learned

9:52 PM Thu 3 Sep 2009 GMT

'The Laser Stratos - the type of dinghy involved in the incident' .

In July this year two dinghy sailors from the same family lost their lives in a capsize.

The incident happened in Keilder Water in Northumberland UK, but the lessons deduced by the RYA for dinghy sailors are applicable worldwide.

The Incident
The incident happened when the Laser Stratos dinghy, sailed by Geoffrey Wilkinson, 52, and his daughter Victoria, 17, capsized and inverted during a club race event.

The investigation revealed that it is likely that a gust of wind hit the boat, heeling it over and capsizing the craft, causing Victoria to fall forwards onto the sail and/or rigging.

Somehow during the capsize Victoria's left leg/ankle became entangled in the port hand trapeze wire. Geoff may also have fallen or jumped forwards into the water and/or sail.

There is little evidence to suggest Geoffrey was entrapped so it is assumed that he continued to support Victoria and died in his attempt to rescue his daughter.

Both were taken to Newcastle General Hospital by two air ambulances. Geoff Wilkinson sadly died the same day, whilst Victoria who was placed on a life support machine, but later died on the afternoon of Tuesday, 14 July.

The Investigation:

The RYA has made certain recommendations following the investigation, which have been accepted by The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). A preliminary investigation had been made by the MAIB in which Keilder Water Sailing Club was commended as to the high standard at which they run the club and the valiant efforts made to save the lives of both Geoff and Victoria Wilkinson.

RYA Recommendations:

a. Dinghy sailors should always consider going straight to the centre board or dagger board to prevent inversion and then allow time and opportunity for any entrapment to be resolved by those involved or by safety boat crews.

b. Safety boat crews should practice how to deal with inversions and the recovery of casualties into safety boats. In addition to this also consider how crews would perform CPR in the restricted confines of their safety boats to determine the best approach.

c. Dinghy sailors should be encouraged to use centre board / dagger board elastic tie backs or tie downs as means of preventing CB retraction during inversions.

The RYA will also be highlighting the potential hazards of entanglement in trapeze wires or associated elastic cordage to the sailing public, as well as making any relevant reviews to its training programmes to highlight the prevention of inversion during capsize drills.

RYA National Sailing Coach, John Thorn, who undertook the investigation on behalf of the RYA said: 'From any accident we need to see what lessons can be learnt and we, the RYA, will be working hard to raise the awareness as to the importance of preventing dinghy inversion and providing guidance to clubs regarding safety boat cover during racing events.'

It is worth remembering that according to participation surveys, over 400,000 people sail regularly (in the UK alone) in small boats and dinghies, and capsizes in dinghy sailing and racing are common occurrences and are usually resolved without incident.

by Sail-World Cruising

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