MIKE SPEIRS SIMON’S SON’S STATEMENT

My dad had a lifelong dream to compete in the Clipper Race and was excited to be taking part. We acknowledge that ocean racing is a dangerous pursuit and there will always be risk, but there are also controllables.

We see five key points that have come from the MAIB report:

■ Clipper had not acted on previous recommendations according to the MAIB itself. In my mind, this first point sums up many of our concerns. If Clipper were happy to take on the recommendations then we would not feel the need to do any media. There would still be risks, but the sense is that they appear to do the minimum needed to continue.

■ The manning of the boats and the number of professional crew is another area that stands out. It is true that Clipper made changes once the MCA revoked their exemption, but I question whether this would have happened had that not been the case.

■ It seems there needs to be some more work on training. There had previously been a requested review of their man overboard training. Specifically, I think the training for tethered man overboard incidents needs to be looked at. There is plenty of classroom training and a bit out on the Solent, but it’s all well and good doing these things when you are warm and dry but in the real world where people have cold hands it is a different kettle of fish. I think the required training is four weeks over two years, which seems a reasonable amount of time to commit, but is that enough for a complete novice to be ready?

■ Finally, yacht defects are a big part of this report and the work required to minimise them. Prior to my dad’s boat leaving, most of their prep week was spent sorting defects. Quite often work that should have been done by a shore team fell to crew. I don’t think there was enough support in this area and the crews ended up doing a lot of work themselves. My dad ended up doing a great deal of repair work when out at sea. There are also many examples highlighted in the MAIB report that confirmed some of my suspicions that the boats did not seem fit for purpose.

■ I am a firm believer that things do not have to be binary. The Clipper race does not need to be a dull experience and the adventure element is part of the appeal. But I think there is more they can do to talk though the risks involved. Before my dad set off we did not really think there was much of a risk. We joked about it, but I don’t think I realised then how much of a risk it could be.

■ I live and work in London and travel on the tube every day. I used to see the Clipper adverts and pondered that the cost of those adverts would have been significant. I looked into the cost of advertising in tube stations and I think it was something like £100,000 for two weeks. I believe the pay for a professional second crewmember would be around £30,000 each, so to my mind when Clipper consider advertising and safety, they have erred towards advertising.

■ The race will never be truly safe – it is still ocean racing. But our position is that if we saw Clipper taking on all the recommendations made to them, then they would be doing what they can to make the race as safe as possible. It always feels like they are slightly lagging and will only make changes following an incident.

■ There are elements of the race that they can control and if they took on all the recommendations then I think they would be as safe as they can be. There may be something that crops up and it would be nice to see them working to get ahead of issues and absolutely making changes when they are suggested.