http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2836136/Boy-suffered-catastrophic-brain-damage-boat-crash-secretly-filmed-assess-extent-injuries.html

Quoting the report: "Will this astronomical pay-out effect RYA licence fees and race insurance as we understand there is another court case against the governing body following a fatal accident in Dover."


http://raceboatinternational.com/

Powerboat racing is known to be a dangerous sport.  If people cannot be regarded as competing at their own risk, then I fear for many activities that make life interesting, as they seem to involve an element of danger, dinghy sailing included.

And so the emasculating, decadent decline of the west continues... to be overwhelmed by the brutality of Isis or the vigour of some other less 'developed' culture?

Children - that is people under 18 - don't have the legal capacity to 'voluntarily assume risk' or take on 'compete at own risk' and it's probably impossible for parents or guardians to voluntarily assume risk on their behalf.

Voluntary assumption of risk and rule 4 will NOT absolve a race committee or club from a duty of care when juniors are involved.

Who ever thought it was a safe idea to have 10 and 13 year old kids racing speedboats at close quarters?

Full MAIB Report http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Portland%20Powerboat.pdf" rel="nofollow - here

Interesting what the nature of the RYA's liability might have been.  I suspect that it may have been largely through RYA Insurance covering both the RYA and the Club, and that apportionment of liability was never attempted.

Talking about voluntary assumption of risk, the RYA seems to have got itself involved to a much greater degree than for sail racing:

If the RYA is licensing powerboat competitors then they need to ensure their licenses are issued appropriately, if this means a pre-requisite is PB2 or an assessment from a PBI then this should be implemented. Karting you can start at aged 8 I believe in the Cadet class. Not sure I would let an 8 year old being in charge of a powerboat though.

Motorsports and karting was in my mind when I posted.

Difference is, I think, modern karts are safety engineered to the nth degree, and in speedway racing all the vehicles are going in the same direction, no 90 degree mark-roundings.  I'd bet you could find formal risk assessment documentation as long as your arm.

Looking at the forms involved, I've gotta say that any game that has such a foreseeable risk of injury that you have a standard form to report competitors going to hospital really obviously needed a better standard of risk assessment.

They are, there were changes introduced some 20 years ago which were not popular at the time at all but the positive effect they had on safety was immediately apparent (side pods, nose cones and full width rear bumpers).

Originally posted by kneewrecker Unless both parents are former or current powerboat racers themselves,how on earth are they socially qualified to assess the risks? I rely on my wife to assess the risk of horse riding for my kids, as she does with me when we get on a sailboat. When I comes to skiing we take an equal responsibility, but if either of our girls suddenly wanted to start motocross, we would be utterly clueless, save common sense / peer group research verses parenting dilemmas of supporting your children in what they want to do with protecting them at the same time.  Powerboat racing - no way I'd encourage it that's for sure!!!

The thing is, I think, that the 'sport', that is the sport governing body, that is promoting the sport, needs to take some sort of responsibility to guarantee (not at all happy with that word), to parents that the activity will be appropriately risk managed.

If you are promoting a sport for kids, then you want to reassure parents who you should probably assume have no knowledge whatsoever, that it is 'reasonably safe'.

Society needs risk, my three sons happily battered their way through adolescence while my heart was in my mouth. That is the way it should be but we do have to ensure safety while hiding behind a tree.

As has been said, kids cannot be expected to adequately assess risk, and that is something that I was happy to accept as a motorsport mad teenager waiting for my 17th birthday.  There were always slot and RC cars to get involved with in the meantime.

Not sure I'd let the parents decide the risk either.  As we see in sailing, many are keen to live their sporting life vicariously through their kids, and if they're motorsport nuts they'd clearly like little Jonny to be the next Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button.  How easy would it have been at home for young Lewis or young Jenson to say 'I don't fancy motorsport, I'd rather study wild flowers', I wonder?