Lifejackets please
From your article the First Test of the X49, (YM, June 2020) I quote: ‘It was going to be a feisty day and I was keen to see how our small crew would cope’ and yet I was concerned not to see any lifejackets in the main photograph. Later in the article: ‘Our boat speed peaked at 12 knots and steering was fun but quite a handful at the higher wind angles.’
However experienced the YM tester and her small crew, the potential for a mishap with an unfamiliar yacht under those conditions should not be dismissed.
I am lucky enough to be one of the NCI Watchkeepers at Portland Bill. It is sad to say that we see far too many vessels rounding the Bill with the crew not wearing
lifejackets. Even on benign days there can be unexpected swirls and eddies that will throw a small craft suddenly; let alone the days when the Race is performing in character.
In a widely read and prestigious publication, wearing properly-fitted lifejackets should be de rigueur for your yacht testers and crew.
Michael Gill, RYA/DTI Ocean Yachtmaster and former examiner Theo Stocker responds:
I agree that lifejackets should be worn if not as a matter of course, then whenever the conditions would warrant it. I would add, however, that we maintain that the decision of when to don lifejackets should remain a skipper’s prerogative, rather than a matter for regulation.
Our boat tester on this occasion, Pip Hare, is a highly experienced offshore racer and solo skipper. I wasn’t there on the day, but I am confident that she will have made an experienced judgement on whether lifejackets were required. That said, I would personally encourage people to get into the habit of wearing a lifejacket whenever they are out on the water.