Sailing safety harness incidents happen regularly. The ones occurring in ocean races are the ones that get all the publicity and official inquiries. Accidents and incidents occur either because someone was swearing a harness but didn’t clip on the tether or the person has a long tether and gets dragged though the water and subsequently drowns.
Sailing safety harness incidents happen regularly. In March 26th, 2018 the yacht Scallywag was competing in the Volvo Ocean Race, one of the crew members went overboard during a gale in the Southern ocean some 1400 nm from Cape Horn. They were on Leg 7 on passage from Auckland to Itajai in Brazil.
In similar circumstances to the loss of Nick Saull on the yacht Platino, the crew member, John Fisher, was also struck by the mainsheet traveller during a crash gybe. At the time the Volvo 65 yacht was surfing in 4-5 metre seas and in winds of 35/45 kts. John Fisher had temporally unclipped his safety harness from the jackstay in the main cockpit in preparation for moving forward. At that moment they experienced a crash gybe and he was struck by the mainsheet/traveller and the impact sent him over the side. John Fisher was wearing a survival suit, lifejacket and a safety harness, although it was disconnected. Scallywag's crew were extensively trained in safety procedures, had extensive experiential training, with skippers who had the ability of taking control and managing emergency situations. In this incident they were able to return to the location where the rescue gear was deployed but unfortunately found nothing.
Further deaths, all sailing safety harness related, occurred in the Clipper Race. The first involved the watchkeeper, Andrew Ashman, when he sustained a fatal injury during an uncontrolled gybe off the coast of Portugal. One of the identified factors was the failure of a boom preventer at the point where a knot had been tied in the system reducing the strength of the line at that point. In similar circumstances as Nick Saull on the Platino and John Fisher on Scallywag, Andrew was killed after being struck by the swinging boom and mainsheet control during an uncontrolled gybe. He did not go over board but was unable to be revived. On Leg 4 on board Scallywag, crewmember Alex Gough went overboard in moderate sea and wind conditions in daylight. Wearing dark clothing on a dark sea he was only kept visible by a crewman as he waved his arm above himself. They were able to retrieve him and as the person was also able to swim in the conditions this helped a lot. The British investigation into Andrew Ashman and Sarah Young can be read here.
The second death occurred in April 2016, when Sarah Young went overboard on passage from Qingdao to Seattle. She was doing a tidy up in the cockpit at night after reefing the main in 35 - 40 knots of wind. A big wave struck the boat and she was knocked back against the guard wire and then swept under it by another wave. She was not tethered at the time. The boats man overboard plan was enacted and despite the hard conditions her body was recovered an hour later as they honed in on her AIS signal. From this incident we know that unless AIS is activated, a search for a man overboard in severe weather conditions has only a minimal chance of success, even with experienced, fully trained and certified crew.
During the 2017/2017 Vendee Globe race, Conrad Colman was just 3 days from the finish line. Colman was tethered to the boom while reefing the mainsail when the lazy jacks broke and the mast crashed into the water with Colman aboard. All this the day ahead of a deep depression and a storm forecast of 60 knots. Lady luck was dealing him a good card, as he was picked up by a wave and back onto the boat. He made the high risk decision to detach from the tether and climb back on board over lifelines. Sailing safety harness wearing is essential, and boating safety starts with you.