RWS Sailing Safe
“Keel Failures Don’t Give Warnings—Knowledge Does.”
“Why didn’t we know”
We lost our brother Roger, when the keel failed on the Big Hairy. Since that day we have all been asking the question “why didn’t we know”. See RWS
We should have known….
What do we want to achieve? Our aim is to create a quality education resource that others can learn from, honouring Rogers memory, but sticking to the key message “why didn’t we know”.
We believe there are some huge problems in regulation, information gathering, and how this information is communicated, and want to shine a light on these issues.
Since Roger’s accident – we have read a lot, and learnt a lot of, “stuff” that should be out there in the sailing community. This has been our motivation in memory of our brother ….. to develop a unified platform dedicated to promoting safety awareness, and education firstly around keel failure, and then hopefully wider sailing safety.
We hope that the sailing community will get behind us and share their own experiences and expertise, to help contribute to the body of knowledge around keel safety. This will help us spread the message through the sailing community, so others aren’t left wondering why didn’t we know.
Further Reading
Disclaimer
At RWS Sailing Safe we do not pretend to know everything. We are not your naval architects, marine engineers, or part of the sailing elite.
We’re just everyday sailors — the kind who grew up racing dinghies, sanding and varnishing boats, cooking sausages after club races, towing trailers full of boats to championships and regattas. Some of us moved on to keelboats, crewing offshore, racing up and down the Queensland coast, and even taking part in major races like the Sydney to Hobart. We share information based on our experiences and research, but we are not professionals. We cannot be held accountable for the other sites the articles link to. That’s their site. We have tried not to plagiarise just link to the available articles. We have used all our own photos and copyright stays with us. We are trying to gather all the research and articles and present it in one place for others, as a resource.
Its still up to you Skipper, you are responsible for your own decisions, safety, and vessel.
Always seek expert advice