Changes to safety procedures recommended as review into Sydney Hobart Yacht Race deaths completed

A key piece of safety equipment will remain optional following a review into the tragic 2024 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race that claimed the life of a South Australian sailor.

Memorial service for Nick Smith, who died in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, at the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Changes to safety procedures in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race are on the cards following a review into the tragic 2024 yacht race that resulted in the deaths of two sailors – but the mandatory use of helmets has been ruled out.

South Australian man Nick Smith and Roy Quaden, 55, both suffered fatal injuries in heavy downwind conditions on the “extraordinarily eventful” first night of the race, according to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s three-person review committee.

A sailor from another yacht was also thrown overboard in the wild weather, but was recovered after 50 minutes in the water.

Wreaths were placed at Constitution Dock to honour the sailors who died in the 2024 Sydney-Hobart yacht race. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Scores of race participants and sailing experts contributed to the review, which found each of the three incidents happened during a crash gybe – a sudden and unplanned manoeuvre where the boat’s mainsail flicks violently from one side to the other as the stern passes through the wind.

Among the key recommendations for the 2025 race, the CYCA will require 50 per cent of each boat’s crew, as well as the person in charge, to have been on board for the boat’s qualifying race.

Additionally, AIS MOB personal locator beacons must now be carried or attached to each crew member while on deck.

Previously, these had been optional.

But helmets will not be mandatory with the report conceding they would likely have little effect in preventing catastrophic head injuries and would impede communication between crew members.

The overwhelming preference, the report said, was for sailors to instead handle to risk of boom strike by being “risk aware”

Daily Telegraph. 26, December, 2024. Bowline passes between North and South Head at the start of the 2024 Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Rushcutters Bay, today. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

A memorial service was held in January for Nick Smith, who died in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, at the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron. Picture: Keryn Stevens

SA man Nick Smith, 65, was the most experienced sailor on Bowline.

He was going off shift shortly after 2am, when a crash gybe took place.

“Nick was caught in the bight of the mainsheet during the gybe and his chest was forced against the port mainsail winch with great force and catastrophic consequences,” the committee said in their report.

While first-aid was available on board, the committee said it was immediately apparent there was nothing that could be done to save him.

The review committee was told that Bowline crew had considered retiring about three hours before the accident when a different crew member suffered a bicep injury that required treatment.

But the crew determined that because Eden, their closest port of refuge, was still ahead, it was better to push on while also giving themselves the chance to assess the injury in daylight.

Mr Smith is survived by his father, sister, children and grandchildren.

The deaths were the first in the Sydney Hobart since six men lost their lives in the disastrous 1998 race.

Originally published as Changes to safety procedures recommended as review into Sydney Hobart Yacht Race deaths completed