Alarms call after sailor tragedy

THE tragic death of a young Tasmanian sailor in Sydney has prompted calls for mandatory carbon monoxide alarms.

Nicholas Banfield, 23, died from carbon monoxide poisoning in July last year while taking his girlfriend on a scenic voyage in waters off Sydney.

He was an experienced yachtsman who had just sailed from Hobart to Vanuatu.

In light of his death, a NSW coroner recommended urgent consideration be given to mandating carbon monoxide alarms in all vehicles with sealed cabins, including boats, cars, caravans and motor homes.

“Nicholas Banfield was an intelligent and careful sailor with many years of experience,” NSW deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame said in her findings.

“Nicholas was known to take safety concerns extremely seriously.

“That such a tragedy can befall him, in itself, calls for a rethinking of the regulation in this environment.”

The Sydney inquest heard Mr Banfield picked up his girlfriend on July 1 and sailed to Balmoral Beach where they moored his 8.4m timber vessel Aquarius. The pair cooked nachos on the LPG stove in the cabin.

As temperatures dipped, the stove was turned back on and the hatches shut to keep the cabin warm. The girlfriend told the inquest she began “feeling really sick and confused”.

The couple possibly fell in and out of consciousness for a time. It was not until about lunchtime on July 3, that the girl was able to regain a sufficient level of consciousness to telephone for help.

An autopsy revealed Mr Banfield had a lethal level of carbon monoxide in his blood.