We have recently passed the 25-year anniversary of the CYCA’s infamous Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 1998 which saw the tragic fatality of 6 sailors in a weather bomb storm event. 

Repeated harness, tether and hook stitching failings were reported in capsize, knockdown and Man Overboard (MOB) events. These failings are well referenced in several books outlining the catastrophe: Knockdown by Martin Dugard, 2000 and Fatal Storm by Rob Mundle, 2000, with the report included in the Australian Sailing Major Incident Reports: Sydney to Hobart 1998. 

These equipment failings highlight the need for regular and mandatory equipment checks and the servicing, repair and replacement of ageing personal and yacht safety equipment. Your life and the lives of your crew may be dependent on this. 

All racing under the Australian Sailing Racing Rules of Sailing & Special Regulations requires personal safety equipment and sailing in stormy conditions equipment to be compliant, in date, audited and ‘fit-for-purpose’. 

There is a prescribed usage mandate and then there is the application of voluntary and prudent due-diligence preparation. This for all equipment which serves personal safety. 

Owners, persons in charge, crews and equipment auditors will need to be aware of what mandates the condition of compliant ‘fit-for-purpose’ equipment – including lifejackets, harness, tether lines, webbing jackstays and dedicated storm sails (Trysail & storm jib) specifically when preparing for an event or passage.

Aside from what the rules and regulations say, owners, person-in-charge, crews, and equipment auditors should be aware specifically about state-of-condition regulations when it comes to the proper service for the required equipment. Regular and thorough checking is a sound seamanship. 

The first and most obvious mandate for equipment is the overall condition, age and ‘fit-for-purpose’ evaluation. Specifically in this case, the stitching or condition of thread on equipment.

Example: Tether, jackstay, designated storm sails stitching ideally would be bar-tacked in a repeated zigzag pattern. The thread colour should be different from the tether colour to allow for easy visual inspection of the stitching integrity. Faded or damaged webbing or stitching indicates loss of strength, and that the equipment should be retired, repaired or replaced.  Some tethers have overload indicators built in. These indicators consist of a coloured flag embedded in the tether stitching. In theory, when the tether reaches its overload limit and level of stress that compromises its integrity as a safety device, the flag is revealed. Although equipment testers like the concept of the overload indicator, this indicator alone should not be relied on to determine when to retire a tether.
 The indicators do not take the place of visual inspection. Jackstays: Keep an eye on your jackstay stitching. Jackstay stitching in a different colour will reveal when it is UV degraded.
When auditing safety equipment, it’s more than just counting the presence of the equipment and the required numbers. The Equipment Auditor should also educate boat owners to undertake detailed checking to ensure that everything is in sound and good working condition including the stitching on tether, jackstay, designated storm sails.  

By Manfred Speicher - Senior National Equipment Auditor for Western Australia

We’re also excited to let you know that Australian Sailing has all its current safety resources available – one click - to make it easier for you. Check out the Safety Hub here!