Dinghy sailing fatalities and the lessons learned

by Sail-World Cruising on 4 Sep 2009 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.
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Excellent Letter on the subject from Qualified Reader:

Sender: Oliver Shaw

Message: After a lifetime sailing both dinghies and yachts I would add one further recommendation, arising from an incident only a month ago. The moral to the latter, if any, is that one never stops learning.

Last month I ran the UK National Cruising Week for the GP14 Class Association, based on Traeth Bychan, on Anglesey.

On the Tuesday, in initially idyllic conditions and a forecast of force 3 but possibly force 4 later, the cruising fleet were caught out in a sudden and unforecast force 7-8, with wind against tide, off Point Lynas. Not nice!

It is an immense testimony both to the boat and to the skills of the various helmsmen that all boats were safe; all but one continued their passage back to base, one even doing so under full sail (and driving the boat as though he were racing), while the one exception returned safely to the very safe sheltered cove where we had made our lunch stop.

However the one single-hander, who was massively experienced and seriously well equipped, did suffer a capsize and inversion - from which he recovered unaided, and resumed sailing. I stood by him under much reduced sail while he recovered, until later relieved by the lifeboat, but by the time the lifeboat arrived he had already recovered and had resumed sailing.

>From both my observations at the time and my subsequent discussions with him I am sure that a major factor in his recovery was that he had fitted righting lines to his boat; a pair of long lines, of diameter comfortable for handling (comparable to the mainsheet), each secured to a strongpoint inside the boat, and knotted about every foot of their length. Upon finding himself in the water he just grabbed hold of the most convenient righting line, and thereafter never let go, so he was attached to the boat at all times.

He then swam round the stern, flipped the line over the hull, then once amidships he lay flat in the water with his feet braced against the hull, and hauled in the line one knot at a time. As soon as he had hauled his body just clear of the water the boat started to come up.

Beautifully easy, in conditions in which I know that I personally would have been struggling.

I had heard of righting lines in the past, but this was the first occasion (in sixty years on the water) when I have seen them used for real in a situation where they were desperately needed. In my view, they were impressive, and they turned a potentially life-threatening situation into an eminently manageable one.

I was so impressed that I immediately fitted a similar pair of righting lines to my own boat, and I warmly commend the idea to others.

I hope this idea helps,

Oliver L. Shaw,
Cruising Representative, GP14 Class Association;
Vice-Commodore, Liverpool Sailing Club;
Group Owner, GP14 Owners Online Community;
Cruising Week Organiser, Red Wharf Bay Sailing & Watersports Club.