A coroner has recommended the wearing of life jackets during competitive yacht racing be mandatory after an inquest into the drowning of a sailor in Moreton Bay five years ago.
Brisbane man Rickie James Makin, 44, died in March 2020 after he fell from the Lady Helena during practice for the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race.
Mr Makin was not wearing a life jacket when he was struck by a boom then swept overboard from the 45-foot vessel in wind gusts of 25-30 knots. Valiant attempts by crew members to rescue him failed and his body was recovered by a Coast Guard vessel about an hour later.
In his decision delivered on 31 July, Brisbane Coroner Donald MacKenzie stated that three of the six crew members aboard the Lady Helena, including the skipper, were not wearing life jackets of the day of the incident.
Coroner MacKenzie said there was no requirement in the race rules, instructions to crew, or legislation, for participants to wear a life jacket or other safety equipment.
He also pointed out that the skipper was highly experienced and a former navy officer, and that the yacht was sound and seaworthy.
A police investigation into the incident concluded Mr Makin’s cause of death was “drowning which was attributed to a head injury due to the impact with the yacht boom”. The incident was also investigated by Maritime Safety Queensland and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Coroner MacKenzie said those investigations raised questions about matters including the adequacy of safety plans and risk assessment; the adequacy of the sailing skills and management of safety equipment on board the yacht; whether sailing should have been abandoned that day; and whether the wearing of safety equipment during competitive yacht racing should be mandated.
“This inquest had the advantage of considerable expert evidence from experienced and highly regarded mariners and sailors,” he said.
“In the long run, there was considerable agreement in the views expressed by the experts.
“This meant that the oral evidence given by all of the experts at the inquest as well as their cross-examination was relatively short, and, largely, uncontroversial.”
He said the most important outcome of the inquest was recommendations made with the help of those experts and legal representatives.
Legal representatives of crew members and the skipper of Lady Helena, and of Wynnum Manly Sailing Club, appeared at the inquest.
Coroner MacKenzie recommended that the Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Regulation 2016 be amended to include the mandatory wearing of life jackets, with fitted rescue tether points, in competitive yacht racing, unless for momentary adjustment or when it was impractical or unsafe.
“I am clearly of the view that yacht racing is a dangerous sport and the wearing of life jackets at all times should be mandated by law when not sailing in areas of smooth waters … The current regime of individual responsibility for wearing life jackets is insufficient,” he said.
Section 24 of the Regulation requires vessels to be equipped with one life jacket for each individual onboard but only mandates the wearing of those life jackets by children, in open areas of the ship, or when crossing a coastal bar.
Coroner MacKenzie recommended that Australian Sailing direct its members, stakeholders and affiliates that it is the responsibility of a skipper to ensure that life-jacket wearing is mandatory in competitive yacht racing, and to ensure regular Man Overboard Drills are done.
In addressing the other questions, he said the evidence did not support a finding that the practice race should have been cancelled or abandoned, or that Mr Makin’s rescue was hampered by a lack of training.
His final recommendation was that the three crew members who tried to rescue Mr Makin be nominated for a bravery award to the Council of the Order of Australia.
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