On the night of November 29, 2014, while competing in the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, Vestas Wind ran aground on Cargados Carajos Shoal shortly after local sunset. The crew consisted of eight seasoned professional sailors with multiple Volvo Ocean Races in their past; the vessel was essentially new and in perfect condition; the visibility was excellent except for lack of moonlight; and the shoal was charted on virtually every paper chart of the west Indian Ocean from extremely small scale 1:45 million charts to an extremely detailed 1:75,000 chart.

A new set of Safety Equipment Requirements (SERs) replaced the ISAF (formally ORC) Offshore Special Regulations in the US, effective January 2014. These new requirements were adapted and successfully used in the 2014 Pacific Cup and the 2014 Newport Bermuda Race and have since been adopted broadly in a wide range of offshore races.

This list started when a CCA member tried to identify what changes he had to make to his boat when he started cruising with just himself and his wife. Others have added too, and this may give you a great starting point for your list!

To be safe, all harnesses, whether integral with a PFD or not, should fit properly.

This may be an issue if you are smaller than average, as noted below.

Regarding the fit of a sailing harness, the core instructions are: the attachment point of a harness must be “above the lowest point of the rib cage” (from ISO 12401). US Sailing has expanded on the ISO rule to note that many inflatable PFDs with a built-in harness are designed for people 5’6” in height or greater.

Last weekend [October 2015], I was asked to take part in US Sailing’s National Faculty during their annual meeting. My goal was to create a “unit” in US Sailing’s Safety at Sea Course on Crew Overboard, and this required that I come up with a plan on how to explain this challenging seamanship problem to sailors of all backgrounds.

I won’t go into too much detail in this document, as this is supposed to be a safety moment, not a safety eternity. But I have culled some of the most important points from this weekend to share with you.