Leaving it to the Coroner

by Rob Kothe, Al Constable and Sail-World Team on 12 Oct 2009 The Australian sailing community is still numb today, Monday, and will stay that way for a long while. More because the conditions just before 3am on Saturday morning amongst the Five Islands off Port Kembla were so unlike those of Bass Strait 1998.

Here at Sail-World we’ve been involved in an offshore yacht racing tragedy at sea and the media and coronial aftermath.

Given some of the inaccurate commentary in the mainstream media our first reaction was to want to 'wade in and right some wrongs.'

However, we know the correct action is to let the process run its course.

It is our intention to wait for the official coronial inquest, rather than to speculate on just what might have happened as Andrew Short’s Reichel Pugh 80 PriceWaterhouseCoopers/Shockwave 5 rounded Flinders Islet and in the subsequent minutes.

We know its the best thing to do for sailing, for the families and our two lost sailors.

Having sailed with and against Shorty and Sal over many years, all we can say is ‘we, the Australian sailing community loved you both; you will be deeply missed. Fair winds.’