The mission of the Onboard Safety Committee is to determine a timely way forward to educate, advise and inform boat captains and yacht owners regarding onboard safety. This would include creation of a generic Racing Safety Manual and addressing the numerous issues including onboard communications, how to avoid equipment breakage, onboard guests, afterguard qualifications, effectively integrating race crews with the yacht crew, and lessons learned from active, experienced programs. The Committee will determine the relevant information to make available and the best way to disseminate this critical information with an emphasis on getting this information to those programs which are new to superyacht racing.
Committee Members
Membership as of 1 January 2024
| Kate Branagh Chair | Palma Superyacht Cup |
| Committee members | TBD |
| Shirley Robertson | SYRA Manager |
‘RRS Afterguard Member’ compliance a key component to safe racing
A thorough understanding of the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) is vital in superyacht racing. It could be said that there is no other arena in our sport where this is so critical. As we all know, the extraordinary size and varying maneuvering capabilities of superyachts present a great challenge to safe competition.
In many past instances on the race course, we learned that there was no member of a particular superyacht’s afterguard with an adequate level of experience and expertise with the RRS. This led to undesired encounters, near misses and unsafe outcomes. With all superyacht regattas invoking the RRS Appendix SY, the requirement for an individual currently active and fully conversant with the RRS, while having a thorough understanding, becomes even more essential.
As most captains and afterguard members know, if the afterguard member submitted a form at a previous regatta, their name is listed on the SYRA website superyra.org/after-guard. The individual is not required to submit another form.
To learn more about RRS Afterguard Member Compliance at superyacht regattas superyra.org/after-guard/