I would say once again something like …
[I]1. non-professional on-board electronic charts and other navigational instruments and as a result, failure to identify the potential danger in extreme sailing conditions, and
- deficient on-board electronic cartography presenting navigational dangers on small and medium scale views on the non-professional electronic chart system supplied.[/I]
[QUOTE=RichMadden;158895]Lots of talk about electronic charts, but the race organization passed along that they are required to take paper charts, as well. Most of us have had the home office ask long it would take us to get to X port, only to have to answer that we don’t have the charts onboard for it. As has been mentioned previously, at the beginning of this leg, there were no plans to transit this area, therefore, I’m sure they didn’t include paper charts to cover it. If it was a commercial vessel, that would have been a non-starter - we would have avoided the area if we did not have adequate charts.
Looking at the charting programs they had available, they are generally concerned with getting from point A to point B in the minimum amount of time - not safe navigation.
As the sailors involved with this race are being billed as “professional sailors,” perhaps it’s time they start being treated as such. And treated as such does not simply mean the pay or status - it means the responsibility and ability to :
Note where “Win some races” ranks. It’s also where “Safety of cargo” comes in on my personal list.
When I asked the race organization back in December what certifications were required of the captain or crew, there was no comment. [I]
"Christina Gaither <christina.gaither@volvooceanrace.com>
12/9/14[/I]
[I]to me, Eva, Communications [/I]
[I]
Hi Richard,[/I]
[I]
Adrena, and expedition are supplied by Volvo Ocean Race along with C-Map charts and teams can use any other software they think necessary. They are also obliged to take paper charts. [/I]
[I]Kind regards,[/I]
[I]
Christina Gaither
Media Relations Supervisor
M. +34 676 675 931
More media information on: volvooceanrace.com/presszone"[/I][/QUOTE]
I think it’s a reasonable assumption that the boat crew and the navigator understood the importance of keeping the boat off the rocks. This is the old Witbread round-the-world race, 4 or 5 people have been killed doing t. The boats are run with a much smaller margin of error then would be acceptable on the commercial side.
Secondly, fully qualified people can make horrendous seemingly obvious errors Think Tenerife airport disaster. One of the pilots in that case was considered KLM top pilot and was an instructor. He didn’t fly his fully loaded 747 into a second one because he didn’t understand it was a bad idea.
As far as the charts etc, the navigation process is divided into two parts; planning and execution. Unlike on the commercial side in this race, planning is done shores-side before the race so short-handed crews can focus on racing. It is after all a race. According to the article above planning took 5 days and cost one boat 1/4 million dollars.
The charts and navigation tools carried on board have to only be sufficient to monitor the navigation rather then plan it.
In this case the last minute [B][U]change[/U][/B] in the area of the race meant that both planning and execution had to be done with insufficient tools simultaneously by a fatigued crew focused on boat speed.
There were two important changes, the route change but there has also been the long term trend on how navigation information is displayed. We’ve been using paper charts for hundreds of years now and they work in a way that is highly intuitive vs the new requirement that we "zoom in’.
These two changes allowed an error to slip by undetected.