Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

[William_H]

A lot of us are glued to the tele on Boxing day to watch the start of this race. Hoping for a bingle.!00 yachts in 2 starts. Not so spectacular this year except for one port starboard encounter where the 100 fter had to do a crash tack. He was not ready so after tacking the massive cant keel was canted the wrong way. You would not think such a big yacht could heel so far over. (looked like about 20 degrees from flat) anyway with hydraulics they got it sorted.
News this morning talks of 2 incidents seemingly the same but different yachts of crew dieing from hit by boom. Obviously not one of the bigger boats as boom is so high on them. I wonder when it will become normal to wear helmets?
Some footage shows amazing scenes to m of crew running around the bigger boats. No harness no LJ. Yes I know they are big boats but pretty wild ocean. Boats are frequently doing 20 knots. I hope my friends in UK can find some amusement here Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2024 ol'will

 

[dunedin]

Main thread already on racing forum Sydney Hobart 24, well underway.

Sadly two separate fatalities

 

[rogerthebodger]

It is always very sad when sailors lose their lives, and it gives any authority license to meddle and impose additional regulations.

RIP

 

[RupertW]

I don’t think that helmets will help a lot except for glancing blows - what amazes me is that we all know that almost all deaths come from going overboard or being hit by the boom, yet even in races for experienced people it still happens. The kill zone will be part of pretty much every safety briefing.

 

[Stemar]

My sympathy for those affected.

There will always be times when a helmet just isn't enough, but far more when a helmet will make the difference between swearing a bit and a concussion, or a concussion and a fatality. It would make total sense to me to put on a helmet when the lifejackets must be worn signal is flying, if the boom is low enough to hit the crew - and that would be most boats if the crew is on the side deck when a crash gybe happens.

 

[Sandy]

We participate in an activity that has some risk. While the death of anybody doing that activate is sad at least we know they were doing something that they loved.

 

[Refueler]

I personally dislike threads / posts like this.

People have died and I wish for more Respect.

Sorry but that it my position on this. I hope this 'thread' stops.