COMMENT
DON’T WAIVE THE RULES
Michael Howorth is getting hot and bothered by those who publicly flaunt the COLREGS
M
uch attention is currently being given to the fact that it is 50 years since the small sailing yacht
Suhali was sailed non stop around the world single handed. While I have admiration for someone who has the mindset to do that I do worry about the fact that they are allowed to do that.
Single handed skippers of yachts are breaking the COLREGS with impunity whilst other professional crew suffer the wrath of the authorities if they try and ignore them. Rules 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 of The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea quite clearly lay out the responsibilities to follow the regulations, keep a good lookout, proceed at a safe speed and minimise risk of collision. Nowhere in these rules is there a statement that permits a seafarer to break them whilst sailing solo round the world, or is there anything, that allows for vessels sailing in less populated sea areas, to substitute watch keeping electronics for the physical duties of the OOW.
As the Master of the yacht, solo sailors clearly break Rule 2, failing in their responsibility to follow the rules as described; and fail to abide by Rule 5 which calls for the keeping of a proper lookout at all times; because nipping below for a kip or chattering to the world on the SatCom, hardly constitutes keeping a proper lookout. Rule 6 concerning safe speed is clearly ignored, because trying to break a record could never be described as conducive to keeping a safe speed and Rule 7, dealing with risk of collision, is mostly ignored because how can you ascertain if risk of collision exists if you are fast asleep?
There are plenty of examples of accidents attributed to the failure to maintain a proper watch and the subsequent criminalisation of seafarers, all too often, there are newspaper reports of professional watch keepers fined or jailed for failing to keep a proper lookout, frequently they loose their certificates and few ever progress through the ranks after having been found guilty of causing an accident. Yet for this same crime; Ellen MacArthur was made a Dame
when she sailed solo around the world and Robin Knox Johnston a former Merchant Navy officer who really should have known better, was knighted.
What would have happened if either of them had the misfortune of being run down by a ship whose OOW was asleep, would he have been exonerated because he was on a long voyage, or on the other hand, would he have been knighted? Has a precedent now been set? Should the MCA prosecute these solo sailors or should it ignore these crimes and if it does, will this mean there is one rule for solo sailors and one for those who serve in superyachts?
Some single handed skippers have admitted that they manage on 20 minutes’ sleep at a time, grabbed here and there whenever they could get it and that; foremost in their mind was; wind speed and how fast the boat would go. This is a flagrant disregard of the collision regulations as well as the watch keeping hours of rest regulations and clearly flouts safety guidance laid out in the Code of Safe Working Practice.
Safe manning levels are designed to run a vessel properly, without the need to use fatigued seafarers in charge of a watch, the watch keeping hours of rest regulations state; that people on watch must be properly rested, yet these must all be impossible on a solo voyage. What would happen to a Master of a commercial charter yacht if he forced his crew to keep such hours? The excuse that these solo sailors are not undertaking a commercial voyage holds no water when you consider the name of the yachts sail in, and the paintwork on the hulls and the logo covered sails.
The MCA have said, “Failure to maintain a proper lookout is normally uncovered by our Enforcement Unit following an incident.” But they believe that to stop this single handed manning of yachts will be impractical. It is clear to me that while we as superyacht crews rule the waves and we will have to just accept that the single handed sailor is just going to waive the rules.
Some single handed skippers have admitted that they manage on 20 minutes’ sleep at a time, grabbed here and there
ONBOARD | SUMMER 2018 | 5
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