How windy is too windy

What club do you belong to? Clubs can put up their better ROs for opens but the idea they can pick and choose the people who volunteer on a particular weekend or that people will necessarily self-select months in advance for suitable events is pretty unrealistic.

I've driven a safety boat at a sea meeting when the whole fleet was capsizing and it got pretty worrying. Boats were scattered over several square miles over the course and downwind of it, a RIB can only attend one capsize at a time and it became impossible to be certain that somewhere, someone wasn't in serious trouble with no RIB nearby. That's even though we had a RIB for something like every six boats and I doubt many clubs could or would put out more coverage than that. It was certainly the sea state rather than the wind strength that was the issue and equally, it was the sea state that made it hard to reliably identify capsized boats from a long way off.

I've also been part of a search group looking for a sailor minus boat, which suddenly turned a day out on the water to a very serious feeling undertaking. In fact it turned out the sailor was safe but it took a couple of hours for that to become known.

Whatever RRS4 might say, if someone drowns at an event, the club officers, the RO, the safety lead and probably the safety boat drivers are all likely to find themselves testifying at a coroner's inquest. It's a daunting prospect, especially for those who volunteer to help run club events and may only do so for a few days each year.

But, you also will be expecting safety cover, or at least the RO will, we hope, be planning to provide appropriate cover, so it doesn't just come down to individuals making a decision - even if they are fully competent, maintain their boat properly, and have some idea of how to come ashore if the wind blows up and the landing area, beach or whatever becomes a lee shore.

And of course there are plenty out there who are not in that category, and the RO could easily end up in a situation where limited (but practical) levels of cover are completely swamped by the number of boats going over, breaking equipment etc., and as suggested already by Jim, by boat crews getting sea sick, unable to cope etc. Because in most situations the boat crews are going to be relatively inexpert volunteers doing it once or twice a year, and not used to heavy seas.

An RO has to be able to say - the wind (or forecast wind) is too strong, the direction is wrong or whatever, even if they are conditions in which some crews think they would be OK.

Peter