SailGP Sydney sailors prepare for the worse with knives and rescue training

It’s not your average athlete who goes into play with a knife and canister of oxygen built into their impact vest. But there’s nothing average about these thrillseekers Amanda Lulham discovers.

A SailGP sailor undergoes safety training in the water. Picture: Ricardo Pinto/SailGP

It’s thrill-a-minute racing on of the most high tech sailing crafts in the world but the flip side of the extreme sport of SailGP is it’s potentially life threatening when these crazy foiling machines crash at high speed.

It’s why every sailor from the 10 teams competing in the SailGP Sydney event undergo extensive and extraordinary training - including cutting themselves free from netting or stray lines with a knife and sourcing oxygen from a canister while underwater - to ensure they live to sail again.

Crashes - with the potential to trap sailors underwater if these F50 foiling cats invert - are common enough for officials to have implemented a safety course for all competitors to ensure the sport does not turn deadly.

“There’s always a risk when you do an extreme sport but we are trained by professionals and we are ready for it,’’ said Australian Olympian and SailGP sailor Jason Waterhouse.

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Jason Waterhouse, flight controller and tactician of Australia SailGP Team and skipper Tom Slingsby in safety training.

“At least once a year, sometimes twice, we do underwater training with a safety partner.

“It’s become more of a focus.’’

But Waterhouse said the thrills of the sport well and truly outweigh any fear of crashing and subsequent injuries.

Team Australia racing in San Francisco.

A SailGP sailor undergoes safety training in the water. Picture: Ricardo Pinto/SailGP

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“It's what we do,’’ said the Manly based sailor who won a silver medal with his cousin Lisa Darmanin in the Nacra class at the Rio Olympics before finishing just off the podium in Tokyo.

The safety training involves educating sailors not to panic when underwater while being held down by a diver, how to use a knife to free themselevs if hooked, and to activate the air system which is integrated into their impact vest.

They are also taught CPR and how to treat trauma injury.

“I’m lucky. I haven't had anything more serious than a broken rib and nose,’’ said Waterhouse, who pulled out of campaigning for the Paris Olympics to take on both the SailGP circuit and a new role as a sailing consultant with the Swiss Alinghi America's Cup campaign based in Barcelona.

More information about SailGP SydneyHERE

More from sailing/sport writer Amanda Lulham HERE