Another yacht on the rocks. Is it me or is this getting a little too common? One could be forgiven for thinking that there may be some sort of similar reason for all these groundings as it seems to be more than just coincidental. Everyone has an opinion about just why these things happen and sadly too many would seem to publish their opinion before the facts are known, but perhaps after this season it is worth looking into what exactly went wrong in so many cases.
As we all are aware, one an individual basis the pertinent flag state will investigate and publish the results of these cases so that any lessons may be passed on to other mariners. But, is anyone looking for commonalities in all of these cases and trying to find if there is a common thread. Assuming that different flag states use different people and are focused on the merits of each case separately, it will be some time before we can draw any meaningful conclusions. Given the basic laws of probability it would seem sensible to try and understand if there was an underlying trend that is leading to such accidents:
Fatigue, lack of experience, unusual weather or currents, space aliens and their tractor beams all may have had a part to play. Perhaps there is a certain type of equipment failure common to all of the yachts that have found themselves on the bricks this year. In the Bahamas it is quite a regular occurrence as there are very few navigational marks and navigation over there can take a while to get ‘one’s eye in’, but the Med? I have tried to look back and see if there have been other seasons where quite so many yachts have grounded and my research is still ongoing.
If anyone has any facts or knows where I might find them I would be happy to do the work in researching any links between these accidents and so I would glad of the input of others out there. This is not a witch hunt and I am not asking for opinions in the absence of facts but I am concerned enough to think that we should look a little more closely at just what is happening.
Perhaps we would be able to offer advice to captains, insurers, training companies and owners themselves if the research turns up anything useful.