Are you planning a sailing vacation? If you are, you or another member of your party may be wondering about the safety of sailing. This is a reasonable question for someone who is not a sailor.
Sailing is not more dangerous than driving. Drivers are twice as likely to be involved in an accident than sailors Sailing is generally safer than driving because people keep their boats docked when the weather is bad, and most boats leave a wide distance between each other.
This article explains and debunks some of the most prevalent dangers and worries.
How risky is sailing?
If you’re going to retrieve and recover a guy overboard, you’re going to need reliable equipment – and you’re going to need to know how to use it.
According to a recent study conducted by experts at Rhode Island Hospital using data from the US Coast Guard, sailing has a higher mortality rate than downhill skiing. Sailors have a greater incidence of deaths than athletes involved in sports that involve fast velocity, falls, and accidents. Indeed, going overboard, strong winds, and operator inattention are all recognized variables contributing to the increase in American sailing fatalities, with alcohol accounting for 15% of all sailing fatalities.
‘The leading cause of death was drowning, and unfortunately, 82% of drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket,’ said Andrew Nathanson, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Rhode Island Hospital and clinical professor of emergency medicine at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School. ‘Death and injury may be avoided if skippers and passengers wear life jackets, refrain from drinking alcohol while boating, and exercise appropriate attention.’
Between 2000 and 2011, the overwhelming majority of sailing-related fatalities happened when boaters fell into the water. The largest avoidable cause of death was alcohol consumption, followed by operator inexperience and inattention. Operator-preventable contributory causes accounted for 37% of all deaths.
Twenty-eight percent of fatalities were attributed to weather or dangerous seas.
‘Neither expert nor beginner boaters escaped injury or death,’ Nathanson said. The boating accident reports detailed accidents ranging from day sailing on a tiny boat on a lake to coastal cruising on a catamaran to serious regatta racing. The dangers must be recognized by the eight million individuals who go sailing at least once a year in the United States. ‘
According to the legislation, all boating fatalities, disappearances, serious injuries, and substantial vessel damage must be reported to authorities. The Coast Guard keeps a database of the complaints, which the researchers examined. They discovered 271 deaths and 841 injuries among the 4,180 reports. The mortality rate was calculated to be 1.19 fatalities per million sailing person-days. In comparison, snowboarding have mortality rates of 1.0 per million snowboarder person/days. During the study’s 11-year span, 271 fatalities were attributed to sailing, compared to 197 deaths of American football players during play or practice.
Nathanson’s research was just published in the peer-reviewed journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, an international magazine dedicated to unique scientific contributions on medicine characterized by isolation, harsh natural conditions, and restricted access to medical assistance and equipment.
Rhode Island Hospital, founded in 1863 in Providence, Rhode Island, is a private, not-for-profit hospital that serves as the primary teaching hospital for Brown University’s Alpert Medical School.
Is boating a riskier activity than driving?
There are no seatbelts or airbags, and driving a boat at speeds of up to 170 miles per hour may be more dangerous than driving on the road, according to DEM marine safety coordinator Michael Scanlon.
“There is a sense that it is not as serious or as hazardous as driving a vehicle while intoxicated,” Scanlon said. “When you’re on a boat, you’re not seated in a seat belt. If you collide with anything, you’re either going to be thrown from the boat or propelled into something on board. “
Two Massachusetts ladies were murdered earlier this month when their boat collided with a rocky protrusion known as Despair Point in Narragansett Bay.
The two deaths—which occurred before Memorial Day, the traditional start of boating season—are more than twice the number of fatalities on the water last year.
The boat’s operator, who survived, has been charged with operating a vessel while impaired.
As if the lack of seatbelts and fast speeds weren’t hazardous enough, Scanlon said that the waves’ movement and the sun’s heat enhance the effects of drinking. “Not only are they battling the effects of the drink, but also the physical impacts of their environment, which has a greater effect on you,” Scanlon said.
According to Scanlon, the DEM Division of Law Enforcement made a half-dozen arrests for boating while drunk in the most recent year for which statistics were available. “It is far more common, but we can not be everywhere at all times,” Scanlon said.
He said that the Division is down to 36 policemen after the retirement of six officers in the past two months. DEM personnel are also responsible for enforcing environmental regulations on land.
Local police officers also have the power to enforce state laws against drunken boating.
While boating while drunk is just as hazardous, if not more so, than driving a vehicle while inebriated, the penalties for driving are much harsher. Attorney General Patrick Lynch said in a statement that the relevant DWI-related death statute has a maximum sentence of 15 years. “It’s perplexing that a crime committed on our roadways carries a punishment three times as severe as a similar one committed on our waterways.”
Meanwhile, Scanlon said that more resources should be devoted to educating the public about the problem. “The issue of drinking and boating has been very difficult to communicate to the public,” he said.
Which is the safest mode of transport, a sailboat or a motorboat?
What makes sailing superior to powerboating? In comparison to a powerboat, a sailboat is quiet and clean. Sailboats are much less expensive to purchase and operate. Additionally, they are more secure and dependable. Sailboats provide a greater level of challenge and excitement than powerboats. The voyage, not the goal, is the point of sailing. While powerboats are more efficient at reaching somewhere, they come at a cost.
Sailboats are unquestionably the superior option… but not for everyone. Naturally, it depends. To be fair, I’ll discuss some of the benefits of powerboats once I’ve established the argument for sailing.
Is ocean sailing safe?
Boating is usually twice as safe as driving. Notably, this does not account for the fact that individuals spend much more time behind the wheel of their vehicle than they do on their boats. Apart from that, just by being on a boat rather than driving a vehicle, you get a significant statistical advantage.
However, sailors are even safer than boaters in general.
This is because the vast majority of boating accidents include tiny open motorboats, a lack of lifejackets, and events involving alcohol.
If you intend to rent a sailing boat, are trained as a skipper, wear lifejackets, and do not intend to drink and drive, your risk is significantly decreased.
Let’s review the top concerns we hear about sailing and boating in general:
1. What happens if the boat overturns?
There are two points to make regarding capsizing. To begin, capsize is a very uncommon occurrence for the overwhelming majority of cruise sailors. I’ve spent my whole life sailing keelboats and have never capsized anything bigger than a dinghy/hobiecat.
This leads us to the second point: bigger boats are built for this purpose and, in fact, to withstand it. Monohulls, like Daruma dolls that can be pushed over and re-standing, feature weighted keels that enable the boat to self-right.
The “Angle of Vanishing Stability,” or AVS, is a ratio to which boats are built. Most monohulls are capable of tipping over to the point where their mast is far underwater and still rising to the surface. As you would guess, if you have no immediate plans to cruise across the Southern Ocean, you should be OK here.
Indeed, the more a boat heeled (or tipped over), the more it was intended to right itself. The picture below, courtesy of the fine folks at Wavetrain, illustrates how, in this case, the boat had the greatest proclivity to stabilize when flipped over at a 55o angle.
And that it will “give up” attempting to correct itself when its mast is 300 below the surface of the sea. As you can guess, this requires some enormous prerequisites to exist. If the weather is severe, just make a cup of coffee, take a book, and anchor securely in your harbor.
Catamarans, especially those manufactured in France and South Africa and utilized by charter firms, are extremely stable. I have never heard of a manufactured catamaran capsizing in a major sailing area.
Nonetheless, they include many critical safety measures, including hatches that enable people to access the boat’s “new top.” Additionally, and rather consolingly, they are very stable when reversed.
2. And what about pirates?
Many individuals are concerned about pirates. Therefore, let us examine the data in an attempt to ascertain some truth here.
Piracy reached a high of 688 incidents globally in 2010. Then maritime laws were amended to address the issue.
In 2015, this number has almost halved to 386 events. Somalia was formerly a hotspot. However, in the past two years, since the rules were amended, piracy has decreased to a tenth of its previous level.
Asia and Africa continue to be the primary hubs for piracy (which is now no longer the top spot). Marketwatch is to be commended for the graphic above.
Piracy has never been reported in key sailing areas such as the British Virgin Islands.
3. What if an individual goes overboard?
Even while going overboard is statistically uncommon, it may be a severe issue. Hypothermia exacerbates this danger if it occurs in cold water.
The majority of cruise destinations are located in areas with warm water. Nonetheless, nobody likes to find oneself suddenly in the water. In particular, if struck in the head by the boom.
Nowadays, keelboat and catamaran design take this into consideration, and in the case of bigger boats, the boom is kept out of harm’s way while in the cockpit.
Nonetheless, this is something to keep in mind, especially while working at the mast. And that is not avoided while sailing downwind, particularly with a boom.
If you do wind yourself in the water, life vest technology has advanced significantly, with vests now available that automatically inflate when they come into contact with water. The critical point is to wear it at all.
The Royal Yachting Association effectively requires all of its sailors to always wear deck vests. In warm water, sailors who are also capable of swimming often wear them just when they feel the necessity.
If you are concerned about going overboard, ensure that you have a proper life vest. If you do this and sail in warm water, the probability of anything bad occurring to you is significantly reduced.
4. Isn’t it true that sharks are a problem?
This is an all-too-frequent occurrence. Individuals are unwilling to plunge into the Caribbean’s crystal clear, balmy, azure-blue water due to a fear of sharks.
A website called trackingsharks.com displays the locations of shark attacks worldwide. As you can see below, there have been no reported shark attacks on the major islands of the eastern Caribbean, which include the British Virgin Islands.
Each year, about 5-7 deaths occur globally, including hotspots such as Reunion Island (in the Indian Ocean near Africa) and certain Australian beaches. Every two seconds or thereabouts, we humans kill that many sharks.
In recent years, the eastern Caribbean region’s sole instance was a non-fatal injury in the Dominican Republic. And there have never been any deaths reported in the whole region.
If you still can’t shake the idea and wish to swim fearlessly, consider shark repellent items such as the Sharkbanz 2. Would one of these ever be worn in the Caribbean by your correspondent? Not at all, despite the fact that he swims there every day. Indeed, this correspondent is from Australia, where he would not wear one.
However, since illogical fear is, well, irrational, attempting to rationalize it away will be futile. In such a case, get a band and take in the scenery.
5. And how about the hurricanes?
Because of this perceived danger, many individuals avoid sailing in the Caribbean during the warm months. However, for some, this is the optimal time of year to sail. For one thing, weather forecasting has improved to the point that any major storms crossing the Atlantic from Africa are generally predicted at least five days in advance.
Then there’s the relatively limited storm path: since the Caribbean is such a vast region, having an average of 10-15 storms pass through each year (with only a few of them strong enough to make the news) means that the odds of being surprised by a hurricane are slim.
Nonetheless, our objective here is to provide a balanced perspective on storms rather than to promote the notion that they pose no danger. Naturally, they include risk. During storm season, we keep a close eye on the weather. We merely urge a sober assessment of the danger in this case.
Below, you can see the course of 2016’s major hurricane Matthew and how precise it was. The eastern Caribbean islands are the line of islands immediately after Matthew’s orange line. At the time, we were a few islands south of the border and could actually see blue sky from where we were.
Or even Storm Irma, the biggest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, which wreaked devastation on our own British Virgin Islands base but caused little damage to neighboring islands.
This is an excellent opportunity to discuss travel insurance. If you get travel insurance (which we always recommend), you will be entitled to a full refund if your holiday is canceled as a result of a designated storm. As a result, the risks are manageable.
Conclusion
Sailing is much safer than many people believe. For one thing, it is much safer than setting foot in a car. And, if you exercise caution, it is one of the safest outdoor sports available. Therefore, do not allow a fear of the unknown to prevent you from participating in this great sport!
