To all members
We regret having to report to the membership a grounding of one our vessels over the weekend. Luckily there were no injuries, the crew is safe and the boat is back at the Marina. The boat will be hauled out for an inspection this week.
The grounding occurred in the West side of the reef, South of the Statue of Liberty. This is a well known shallow area and is clearly marked as a “No Sail Zone” in all our club skipper training material. It is unfortunate that we have these recurring incidents as these incidents reflect poorly on the Sail Club.
This is another example of not knowing the position of one’s vessel and being unaware of the dangers of the area that is being sailed. Even without a GPS, skippers should know their boat position at all times, using ranges and bearings.
ACTION
We clearly refer to the “No Sail Zone” in the Learn-to-Skipper materials, and have made Learn-to-Skipper Module 1 a compulsory in person session for all skipper candidates. This will continue and we will be testing all new candidates on the location of the No Sail Zone.
Temporarily, we now expect all our skippers and designated crew to be able to identify the shallow areas South of the Statue of Liberty and to be able to establish where the Club’s No Sail Zone is. Staff will be instructed to ask each skipper these questions at the time of completing the Float Plan.
Hopefully, this incident will not be repeated.
Thank you for your attention.
