You may be interested In this MAIB investigation report into the loss of a crewmember from one of the Volvo Round The World yachts in the South Indian Ocean recently due to the failure of a hook on a tether on a safety harness and might want to look at the harnesses you have onboard your own boats. The report was published today on the MAIB website.

https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/safety-war...ing-yachts 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Thanks Tim,

It is desperately sad to see anyone lose their life at sea. Unfortunately as you will be well aware the sea is a dangerous place and any form of sailing carries quite an element of risk. As with any dangerous sport of course if there were no risk then it would lose its appeal.

I've sailed all my life and always in racing rather than cruising and when I first started to venture offshore the harness hook design was pretty poor - they used to come undone quite easily. The current design came about after a series of fatal accidents with the old type. Most likely there will now be another re-think on design to resist high lateral loading. I think the report says the hook was caught on a mooring cleat. Better placement of the jack stay might have avoided that?

Interestingly you will find on most yachts designed purely for racing there are no mooring cleats or they are removable or retract. It's not a safety feature exactly but just to lessen the chances of a sheet or other control line getting tangled up on it to the detriment of performance.

You said the unfortunate sailor was lost during the Volvo Round the World Race but in fact he was competing in the Clipper Race. These races are in no way similar. The Volvo Race is analogous to Formula 1 racing - highest of hi-tech boats crewed by hardened professional sailors backed up with millions of pounds of sponsors money. The boats are now hitting speeds of 30 knots plus on flat water and more when surfing. By comparison the Clipper Race boats are massively heavy old barges crewed by amateur adventure-seekers paying to be aboard with one experienced professional - the skipper.
Both races are dangerous and crew members have been lost on both - but I know which race I would rather be in. Zero chance of that though - I'm not good enough. 2008 MY Java Black TDV8 HSE

Paddi, I have been out of touch with “small” boat sailing for about 5 years, IIRC the last change to the safety harness designs were after the Fastnet Race disaster a long time ago. My apologies for mixing up the two races too. I used to sail a friend’s Contest 41S (which I took across the Atlantic 3 times from Grand Canary to Antigua just after the ARC each time) and sailed in the Chesapeake Bay a lot while he had it there, but now that boat stays on the West Coast of Scotland and my friend has a 2nd sailboat - a 42ft Hunter centreboard boat) at Solomon’s Island in Maryland and he flies back and forth between the two for 3 months at a time........ I love sailing as well as my work and maybe after 2019 I will have time to go off with my friend again but his trips on both sides of the Atlantic don’t seem to coincide with my leave periods these days. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW