The incident in a nutshell;
- Elderly Star skipper, way at the back of the fleet, falls out of the Star in a broach.
- His crew cannot sail the Star back to him and the skipper in the water has an inoperable inflatable life jacket.
- The skipper in the water is close to going under when the skipper of a nearby dismasted Star swims over towing a spare life jacket and keeps the man afloat until the Canadian Olympic support RIB shows up.
- skippers culpability; he's too old to be out there, he's wearing a life preserver that was clearly inadequate.
- the response when the crew's VHF distress call was picked up at the club (but not picked up by the RC).
My questions to Cedar Point YC;
You had two Stars in distress in the same area; one flailing around with one sailor and another dismasted and, as the story's been told, a Cedar Point YC crash boat never made it to the site. A fellow competitor and a coach boat had to perform the rescure.
- Did Cedar Point YC have crash boats for the Star North Americans?
- If they did, were they tied up with other rescues? Meaning was there inadequate rescue resources for the number of boats racing?
- Were there any Cedar Point RC personnel watching the race course and keeping track of the distressed Stars?
- Why did the Cedar Point RC need to be alerted by VHF radio from the home club about the incident?
These are the most important questions the RC need to address.
Unfortunately, in the U.S. crash boats are usually an afterthought in RC planning and are usually manned by the most inexperienced volunteers.
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