The 1998 Sydney to Hobart race resulted in the loss of 6 sailors lives, 55 people rescued from sailboats, 5 boats sank and 66 boats retired out of the 115 starters when multiple storms merged and hurricane force wind and waves descended on the fleet.

There is enough data and information here to keep Safety and Race Management experts in debate for a long time to come in providing solutions to prevent a reoccurrence of such an event.

The Coroner in Australia has provided three documents.

• The First, is the Executive Summary of the Coroners Report, roughly 3 pages long.

• The Second, is the Coroner's Report in Adobe .pdf format, which is 331 pages long.

• The Third, is the entire record of the the Coroners Investigation on a CD-ROM including thousands of pages of testimony and information, which can be purchased from the Coroner's office.

Executive Summary

FINDINGS

The provisional findings were given before commencement of the inquest proper. The findings as to date of death of the three crewmen from the yacht "Winston Churchill" were incorrect. On the evidence before me they died on the 28th December, 1998, not 27th December as originally stated. I am now able to return formal findings into each of the six deceased.

My formal findings are:-

THAT BRUCE RAYMOND GUY DIED ON 27TH DECEMBER, 1998, OF ISCHAEMIC HEART DISEASE, A NATURAL CAUSE, IN THE TASMAN SEA OFF EDEN, AT AN APPROXIMATE POSITION OF 37 DEGREES 16.5 MINUTES SOUTH AND 150 DEGREES 11.2 MINUTES EAST, WHILST COMPETING IN THE SYDNEY TO HOBART YACHT RACE AS SKIPPER OF THE YACHT "BUSINESS POST NAIAD".

THAT PHILLIP RAYMOND CHARLES SKEGGS DIED ON 27TH DECEMBER, 1998, OF IMMERSION, IN THE TASMAN SEA, OFF EDEN, AT AN APPROXIMATE POSITION OF 37 DEGREES 16.5 MINUTES SOUTH AND 150 DEGREES 11.2 MINUTES EAST, WHEN THE YACHT "BUSINESS POST NAIAD", OF WHICH HE WAS A CREW MEMBER, WAS STRUCK BY A WAVE AND OVERTURNED, HE BECOMING ENTANGLED IN EQUIPMENT AND REMAINING UNDERWATER WHILST THE SAID YACHT WAS INVERTED.

THAT GLYN RODERICK CHARLES DIED ON 27TH DECEMBER, 1998, OF IMMERSION, IN THE TASMAN SEA, OFF EDEN, AT AN APPROXIMATE POSITION OF 38 DEGREES 15 MINUTES SOUTH AND 150 DEGREES 19 MINUTES EAST, WHEN THE LANYARD WHICH WAS ATTACHED TO HIS HARNESS FAILED AT THE STITCHING, HE THEN BEING WASHED OVERBOARD FROM THE YACHT "SWORD OF ORION", OF WHICH HE WAS A CREW MEMBER.

I MAKE THIS FINDING NOTWITHSTANDING THAT THE BODY OF GLYN RODERICK CHARLES HAS NEVER BEEN LOCATED.

THAT JOHN WILLIAM DEAN DIED ON 28TH DECEMBER, 1998, OF IMMERSION, IN THE TASMAN SEA OFF EDEN, WHEN THE REMAINS OF A LIFE RAFT FROM THE YACHT "WINSTON CHURCHILL" TO WHICH HE WAS CLINGING, WAS WITHOUT WARNING STRUCK BY A WAVE, WASHING HIM BEYOND ITS REACH.

I MAKE THIS FINDING NOTWITHSTANDING THAT THE BODY OF JOHN WILLIAM DEAN HAS NEVER BEEN LOCATED.

THAT JAMES MICHAEL LAWLER DIED ON 28TH DECEMBER, 1998, OF IMMERSION, IN THE TASMAN SEA OFF EDEN, WHEN THE REMAINS OF A LIFE RAFT FROM THE YACHT "WINSTON CHURCHILL" TO WHICH HE WAS CLINGING, WAS WITHOUT WARNING STRUCK BY A WAVE, WASHING HIM BEYOND ITS REACH.

THAT MICHAEL BANNISTER DIED ON 28TH DECEMBER, 1998, OF IMMERSION, IN THE TASMAN SEA OFF EDEN, WHEN THE REMAINS OF A LIFE RAFT FROM THE YACHT "WINSTON CHURCHILL" TO WHICH HE WAS CLINGING, WAS WITHOUT WARNING STRUCK BY A WAVE, WASHING HIM BEYOND ITS REACH.

RECOMMENDATIONS

My recommendations apply to all Category One races which take place within the jurisdiction of this Court. The jurisdiction is, of course, wide so it is appropriate to address Recommendations 1 to 12 to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Sydney and to the Australian Yachting Federation. These recommendations may be equally applicable to Category Zero and even Category Two races and the CYCA and AYF might consider them in that context. The remaining recommendations are made to Work Cover New South Wales and the NSW Minister for Fair Trading (Product Safety) respectively.


My formal recommendations are:-

1) THAT ALL CREW MEMBERS OF COMPETING YACHTS WEAR A PERSONAL EPIRB (EMERGENCY POSITION INDICATING RADIO BEACON) WHEN ON DECK IN ALL WEATHER CONDITIONS.


2) THAT ALL CREW MEMBERS OF COMPETING YACHTS BE TRAINED IN THE USE OF PERSONAL EPIRBS.


3) THAT ALL COMPETING YACHTS CARRY ON BOARD A 406 MHz EPIRB AND NOT A 121.5MHz EPIRB.


4) THAT ALL INFLATABLE LIFE RAFTS CARRIED ON BOARD COMPETING YACHTS SHOULD COMPLY WITH THE CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS OF REGULATION 15 OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE SAFETY OF LIVES AT SEA 1960 ("SOLAS").


5) THAT THE CONTENTS OF INFLATABLE LIFE RAFTS CARRIED BY COMPETING YACHTS BE AS FOLLOWS (I have underlined additions to the requirements recommended by the Australian Yachting Federation).

EQUIPMENT

EACH RAFT SHALL HAVE AT LEAST THE FOLLOWING EQUIPMENT, PROPERLY STOWED AND SECURED SO AS TO BE AVAILABLE UNDAMAGED AFTER LAUNCHING AND INFLATING.