Keel Regulation

 

Keel Incidents/ Reporting

The number of keel incidents/failure world-wide is hard to determine accurately because of the varied nature of participation in the sport of sailing.

A World Sailing presentation in 2013 puts the number of keel failures at 72 reported incidents, with 24 fatalities since 1984. (WS Report) This report cites the main cause of keel failure as

-          33% are welded fin failures

-          25% from grounding or collision

-          25% from hull internal structure failure

A further extension of these statistics has been compiled via Kraken Yachts (here) providing additional cases along with a touch of self-promotion around their encapsulated keels.

A further summary of specific incidents can be found on the Australian Sailing resources major incidents (here)

Our summary of all data is in the following spreadsheet – (here)

Reporting Keel Issues  

Racing incidents involving keel related incidents can be reported to World Sailing (WS) (or their affiliated bodies) if they are taking part in an event sanctioned by WS. (more)

The general nature of the reporting covering everything from a collision to man overboard etc doesn’t specifically put the spot- light on keel failures or add anything to the body of knowledge around keels. The reporting pathway goes straight to WS, with no education of promotion of the process by Australian Sailing making it highly unlikely that reports would be completed unless a fatality or major rescue occurs.

There is a requirement to conduct an internal and external inspection after grounding (only in Cat 1,2,3 races) but no specific reporting system, record keeping, or compulsory follow up procedures in place.  … 3.02.6 Inspection after Grounding – an appropriately qualified person shall conduct an internal and external inspection after each unintentional grounding.

In a racing and cruising context most maritime bodies within Australia ask that a Maritime Incident form be completed (here) if an incident occurs. Australia Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) are only concerned with domestic commercial and overseas flagged vessels, not recreational sailing vessels.

The self-reporting of keel incidents (unless there is an insurance requirement, serious injury or death or search and rescue involvement with accompanying media) is unlikely to be happen, with the owner/skipper not wanting to declare damage to their boat or the result of their poor navigation.

Boatyards are not required to keep public records of keel repairs or failures, so no data is coming out of this key area to help gain a better understanding.

Overall therefore, we are not gaining an accurate indication of the extent of keel failure, number and nature of groundings and damage incurred, from most boat owners from any of these sources without mandatory reporting.