Let’s teach people to take responsibility

Curtis Jazwiecki, while sailing his J/46 from Rongelap to Majuro in the Marshall Islands, offered this observation:

It is a breath of fresh air to read your article regarding safety regulations and over regulation causing harm to the sport. For some reason, espousing these views is met with scorn from the establishment. Why?

I agree 100% that safety at sea is paramount, that training is good, and that requirements for safety gear establishes baseline standards which improve safety. However, it is when we firmly set a path of firm rules in a book and fail to utilize common sense that we harm participation in the sport.

My first keelboat was the Melges 24 which does not have a bow pulpit or lifelines that met local regulations. As a result, I was banned from the weekend races which rounded buoys a few miles from the club on an inland lake. As a new boat owner and young sailor entering the sport, I was banned in the name of safety.

I fought the rule, bringing the issue to the board rooms of yacht clubs and to the top of US Sailing. I managed to be allowed to race (and quite successfully) in a few Great Lakes “offshore” races, before being swiftly banned again.

As my penchant for offshore sailing grew, in spite of the regulations, I sold the Melges 24 and took off to sail doublehanded around the world. I’ve now crossed the Atlantic twice, rounded Cape Horn, and crossed the Pacific, exploring some of the most remote places on earth.

Do I need lifelines and pulpits? Absolutely not. Are they nice to have? Sure. Do I consider them a primary safety item? No. In fact, I teach people to imagine they don’t exist!

Mountain climbing without ropes teaches a different way of thinking, as does sailing without lifelines or pulpits, and even life vests, jack lines, and safety tethers. All of those are good things, but sailors should be taught to sail without them. They are backups to your own abilities.

Too many sailors are reliant only on training regulation set forth by authorities. They are educated that if they tick a bunch of boxes, they are safe. They think because a boat has an EPIRB, they are wearing their PLB in their lifejacket, and have ponied up cash for the best gear, that they are safe. Hardly!

While it is good to have backups, redundancy, and a safety net, let’s not teach sailors to be reliant solely on regulations and checklists for their safety.

Let’s teach people to take responsibility for themselves, to think forwardly about outcomes, to problem solve in the moment in difficult conditions. Let’s teach them to build up time on the water and time in their boat in varying conditions.

That is what makes great sailors. Not a class. Not a piece of paper. Not a boat certification.

Most of all, let’s use some common sense and get more people out sailing and learning about our amazing sport!