Rigorous training cannot prevent yachting tragedies

Today’s tragic announcement that a participant has been fatally injured only four days into this year’s Clipper Round The World Yacht Race has sent shock waves across the sailing community – the first fatality in the event’s 20-year history.

Andrew Ashman, a paramedic from Orpington, Kent and a crew member on board the IchorCoal yacht, was involved in reefing the mainsail (reducing the sail area of the main sail to gain greater control over boat speed) in moderate seas just after midnight local time in a strong breeze building to Force 6 approximately 120 nautical miles off the Portuguese coast.

Clipper HQ have reported that during the action, Andrew was knocked unconscious by the mainsheet and possibly the boom (not yet confirmed). He was given immediate medical assistance – aided by medical experts via the boat’s satellite phone – but failed to regain consciousness.

I can picture the scene. Because I’ve been there.

As a veteran of Clipper 07-08 – I’ve been onboard, at night in worsening conditions where the crew battle to keep control of a large racing yacht, driving it forward, always, always with safety at the forefront of our minds.

Perhaps the most shocking thing is that this hasn’t happened before. The race – started by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail non-stop and single handed around the world in 1968/69, is the only one of its kind in the world. A fleet of twelve 70ft yachts crewed by around 18 amateur sailors on each boat race in a 40,000 nautical miles circumnavigation, under the watchful eye of a professional skipper.

On the face of it, it sounds like a recipe for disaster – but there’s rather more to it than the headlines might suggest.

Over the course of many months, crew members undertake a stringent three part training and selection exercise – Part A, B and C training – in addition to extra racing and training weeks that all participants are encouraged to attend. The training is a continual selection process – many don’t make the grade – and includes everything from basic boat handling to detailed generator maintenance, man-overboard drills and first aid. The training is backed up by written assessments run in association with the University of Falmouth.

This training was put to the test on our race when a crew member on another yacht, went overboard at night, in bad weather, in the Southern Ocean – without a life jacket on. He had been on foredeck with several other crew members undergoing a sail change when a rouge wave swept him over the guard wires. He was, at that stage wearing a life jacket which was, as with the all crew, clipped onto the boat’s safety lines.

As he dangled over the side of the boat, a second wave breaking overhead triggered his lifejacket’s auto-inflate mechanism and yet – in a totally unforeseeable accident – the crotch strap of his jacket suddenly failed (later investigation revealed that the fastening had been somehow minimally damaged, maybe squashed or trodden on) and gave way under the weight.

The crew member was being held by others on deck but the force of a third wave swept him out of their grasp, through his jacket and down into the sea.

Straight away, the crew sprung into action as per their training and the skipper – Hannah Jenner, the only female skipper in the fleet, rapidly turned the boat about.

With no life jacket, the stricken crew member struggled to remove his heavy leather sailing boots and removed his oilskin jacket that was weighing him down. Extraordinarily, it was only the inch long reflective strip on the back of the man’s breeze jacket underneath that was picked up by the search light – they had him back onboard in 9 minutes and he went on to complete another leg of the race as planned.

Sometimes, even professionals aren’t so lucky. The professional equivalient of the Clipper Race is the Volvo Ocean Race and in May 2006, Dutchman Hans Horrevoets, 32, was swept overboard from yacht ABN Amro Two in five metre seas and 30 knot winds. He failed to regain consciousness after being lifted back on the boat. They were just 1,300 miles from Land's End in Cornwall.

The unavoidable fact is that all the training in the world though, can’t prevent an accident and there’s no getting away from the fact is that yacht racing around the world – either as a trained amateur or a professional, is dangerous. Sail changes, inevitable breakages, bad weather and simply bad luck are part and parcel of life onboard – but then, it’s that heightened state, that adventure, that challenge which is what you sign up for.

Clipper will, of course, undergo a detailed investigation into last night’s tragedy but from the details that have been released, I don’t see how this desperately sad incident could have been avoided – it was simply terribly, terribly bad luck.

Furthermore, I suspect that even today’s tragic announcement will not deter the adventurous-minded. With our day to day lives increasingly protected – some would say restricted – by health and safety regulation, there will always be those who will continue to seek out the very greatest of challenges no matter what the risk.