US Sailing safety resources include the very latest on entrapment and trapeze safety, hurricane
preparation, and overall yacht club safety guidelines developed by the Gowrie Group.
The National Safe Boating Council celebrates National Safe Boating week each May. You will find lots
of free safety resources on their website.
Planning for safety, on and off the water, is particularly vital to a youth event, so appointing a
qualified and committed person to head up this effort would be a good early assignment.
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A must-read for venue safety is “Electrical Hazards” in this section.
Also read the “Risk Management” chapter in the Race Management Handbook.
Waivers and medical consent forms: US SAILING policy prohibits the use of indemnification and
hold-harmless agreements.
For insurance: See the US Sailing web site for a broad range of comprehensive insurance
programs administered by The Gowrie Group:membership.ussailing.org/insurance.htm or call
1-800-262-8911.
The Boothbay Harbor JO Festival First Aid Station was
fully stocked with everything from sunscreen to extra
t.p. for the port-a-potties.
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__ Check weather reports
__ Talk with PRO (Principal Race Officer)
__ Safety boat meeting (including coaches)
__ Assign/reassign safety boat numbers
__ Weather forecasts
__ Possible safety problems & procedures (lightning, squall, etc.)
__ Assign daily duty: zone, escort, mother ship, other
__ Positive attitude; hand signals with a smile
__ Radio channels and protocol
__ Confirm that each boat has:
__ Key(s)
__ Gas and oil for full day
__ PFDs
__ Patrol flag
__ Radio and backup, ___ Channel ___ Alternate
__ First-aid kit
__ Water for competitors
__ Daily assignment
__ Spectator boat briefing by spectator boat fleet captain
__ Outline spectator fleet rules and enforcement
__ Review the above safety boat information
__ Emphasize no interference with racing or safety boat functions
__ Dispatch safety boats before sailors leave the dock
__ Meet with shore-based safety officer
__ Monitor launching, check-in and radio
__ Stay in touch with shore, PRO and safety boats
__ Sweep racing area at end of day
__ Set up “Chain of sight” string of escort boats to guide novice/younger fleets in
__ Maintain safety ratio as boats go in (recommended ratio:_______)
__ Verify tag board or other check-in is complete.
Joni Palmer
Junior Sailing Consultant
Annapolis, MD
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Thank you for volunteering for this USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival! Your
presence on the water is essential to a safe environment for our junior sailors.
Please review the safety guidelines below – and enjoy this great event. Thank
you for your help!
1. Channel VHF____ for communication on the race course.
Channel VHF____ for communication with _______________ Yacht Club.
2. Club Sailing Program/Instructor boats are designated first for rescue/capsize situations, etc. If an
instructor safety boat is not available or cannot be hailed, then volunteers should proceed to rescue.
3. Please turn engine OFF when boarding a child from the water.
4. For best control in windy conditions, approach capsized boat very slowly from directly upwind, and
maintain capsized bow and rescue boat stern directly into the wind with intermittent reverse gear.
This will allow sailors to right the capsized boat while head to wind. All junior sailboats should have a
painter (bow line).
5. If boat is “turtled” with mast in the mud, do not tow or move the boat. Allow instructors to rescue,
but please stand by.
6. Please inform the Race Committee of boats leaving the race circle under tow or retiring. Disabled
boats should be moored to the “Mom” boat at each circle.
7. Please escort junior sailors off the race course at day’s end. Please be wary of high-speed
powerboats.
--from Narragansett Bay YA
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Planning for safety, on and off the water, is particularly vital to a youth event, so appointing a qualified and
committed person to head up this effort would be a good early assignment.
Powerline hazards should be first on your safety officer’s “To Do” list. A meticulous troubleshooting walk
around the event site and approaches by land and water will identify any dangerous situations. Do this months
ahead, so remedies can be implemented. Read “Electrical Hazards” in this section.
PFDs save lives. Make your PFD policy known to all, in the SIs, and at competitors’, RC, coaches’ and safety-boat
meetings (e.g., competitors are required to wear PFDs on the water, as are coaches; all other on-water support
people, including boat drivers, parents, are strongly encouraged to wear PFDs).
Lightning deserves mention at your Competitors’ Meeting (if there’s even a remote chance of a storm): Suggest
what competitors can do if lightning appears while boats are on the water, e.g., capsize and sit on upturned hull
awaiting instructions/assistance.
Your particular venue will make certain safety measures important. These, from a JO event at Chicago Yacht Club,
will suggest measures right for your event:
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Station someone with a scratch sheet at the harbor mouth to check sailors out and in. The checkout/check-in person has a VHF and a cell phone (with list of emergency numbers).
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Appoint a safety boat captain. Among this person’s responsibilities is to assign safety boats to specific
locations on the race course or in the sailing area, to assure proper coverage of the area. Safety boats
tend to congregate unless assigned specific areas of responsibility.
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One safety boat has emergency first-aid supplies.One has tools and a limited number of boat parts, tape,
etc. to deal with breakdowns. Many have water to refill water bottles. All have radios.
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Medical consent forms are alphabetized and kept at the registration desk. Someone is assigned to the
desk at all times while sailors are on the water.
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The spectator fleet is instructed to contact race organizers if they pick up someone. They are also
instructed that, in any weather emergency, they would be counted on to help in any way possible.
Note: All US Sailing trained instructors have received safety training (and are first aid, CPR and NASBLA certified).
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From the Race Management Handbook
Electrical hazards are a serious consideration in the organization of regattas. Onshore they include
roadways leading to areas which sailors will use, driveways, yards, parking areas, rigging areas, launching
areas and beaches.
Hazards over water include those over any navigable water across harbors, entrances to harbors,
channels, rivers or creeks, and nearby anchorages and beaches. Hazards around docks include power lines
facing docks, overhead lines along docks, lighting, and outlets for power to boats.
Appoint a knowledgeable person to identify all electrical hazards around the facilities, access ways, and
sailing areas to be used. Record and photograph all overhead lines. Include those along the boundaries of
approach roads, rigging areas, parking areas, and other areas where sailors may be involved in stepping or
unstepping masts, or tilting or carrying boats with masts stepped.
Check all areas for height clearances. Remember to account for high water when you are measuring areas
where the boat will be afloat. Make absolutely certain that there is adequate clearance for all boats that
will be in the area. The sag of power lines changes with temperature, so err on the safe side.
Eliminate identified hazards if possible. Ask people within your organization who may have some
influence to meet with you and local authorities (your local power supplier, municipal officials, and others
involved in the decision-making process) about the need to eliminate them.
Meet with neighboring groups who face common hazards, and enlist their support for a joint effort.
Make presentations to the highest officials possible. Encourage them to survey the hazards. Attend the
survey with them, to be certain they understand the details and appreciate the magnitude of the exposure
to each hazard. Utilities and municipalities do not necessarily understand boats.
Be prepared to discuss the alternatives for each solution (burying the wires, rerouting them, raising them
out of reach, or elimination of the lines). Work with the utility or municipality to show "safe clearance
height" at a given water level, including suitable water level indicators near signs located on all power
poles in water. Ask that "Warning Buoys" be strategically located all along the hazard to call attention to
it.
Urge the utility or municipality to act immediately. The cost of eliminating the danger will be the same
before or after an accident occurs (it is less before, if there is a subsequent suit for injuries or death).
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As long as any hazard exists:
1.
Identify and describe each hazard on a chart. Make the chart available to all prospective
participants or make sure it is a part of the Notice of Race. Post the chart on the notice board.
2. Call attention at organizational and competitors' meetings.
3. Mark the hazard with conspicuous signs showing: "DANGER" and "SAFE HEIGHT, FEET".
4. If the hazard is on the club's property...
o Fence it off to prevent cars, trailers and hand carried boats from getting close to it, and to
prevent boats with raised masts from being pushed, trailed or carried under it.
o Put a beam across the roadway, driveway or launch ramp that is safely below hazard's
height, or add poles and string a safety line on each side, but below the hazard, to
intercept a mast before it comes into contact.
o Paint the driveway under the hazard suitably (for example, with orange or yellow stripes).
Spray paint grass or dirt under hazard. Mark poles and towers with radar reflectors where
large offshore boats are involved.
5. If necessary, assign a Safety Director to act as a "watchdog", or assign a patrol boat, to warn
sailors about critical areas during regattas (from when you expect the boats to start arriving to
when you have advised the boats to be cleared of the area).
The National Electric Code of the National Fire Protection Association has specific regulations regarding
wiring and outlets on and serving docks. Contact your local electrical inspector, your insurance
underwriter, or a competent local electrical contractor to inspect wiring to and around your docks. Correct
any hazards he points out.
Make certain that launching ramps are in good condition and safe for use. If carpet or nonskid used on the
ramps is in poor condition, replace it immediately. Check whether the ramp areas and docks contain nails
or other items which might constitute a hazard while launching or docking.
Check electrical connections along docks and near ramp areas for proper condition, and make sure that
lighting along docks provides adequate illumination.
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