Two reports relating to safety incidents have been uploaded to the Australian Sailing website.

The reports recently published are from the Bunbury Return Ocean Race and loss of the yacht Finistere, and the collision between Vestas 11th Hour Racing and a non-racing vessel in the final stages of the leg into Hong Kong during the Volvo Ocean Race.

Whilst both are from older incidents, each provide an important way to learn about and improve n safety aspects of our sport. The Western Australia Department of Transport report into the failure of Finistere’s keel shows how critical keel modifications and repairs, inspection and maintenance are. The Volvo Ocean Race report shines a light on the use of AIS radar and navigation lights, and maintaining a lookout. This report goes on to look at race management practices for offshore racing.

Each report is available here.
A Safety Information Notice about navigation lights is here.

By Glen Stanaway