Racing sailor killed due to splice failure

[alansmith]

Sad news on Scuttlebutt Sailing News

A rigger misunderstood the effectiveness of the Brummel splice that wasn't lock stitched. It was being used as a preventer for the main sail boom. It parted and delivered a lethal blow to the neck of a crewman. This happened back in Sept of 2015 but just surfaced (for me) on this web page...hope I am not rehashing...but it is still pertinent information that bears to be repeated again and again due to the high loads that main booms are under in boisterous conditions.

I have provided the link so that you can get a much better idea than my poor writing.
https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/w...4_10-07-45.jpg

I have synthetic rigging on much of my trimaran. Apart from the horrific accident....and the loss of human life...i think there is information in this article for all of us to ponder...and absorb

[boatman61]

The link just takes me to a photo..

[thinwater]

The actual error was in believing that the brummel lock could hold the load without the long tail bury. It is the long bury with taper that provides the strength, and the brummel is just one way to keep the splice from working loose when not loaded.


This was on one of the Clipper Round the World Race boats. A full report is on line by the MAIB.

[Ahquabi]

What is the $ to death ratio so far Sir Robin?

[Snore]

Originally Posted by thinwater

The actual error was in believing that the brummel lock could hold the load without the long tail bury. It is the long bury with taper that provides the strength, and the brummel is just one way to keep the splice from working loose when not loaded.


This was on one of the Clipper Round the World Race boats. A full report is on line by the MAIB.

Agreed. I believe the other part of the failure is shock loading. Would like to see Practical Sailor or one of the manufacturers do a study of shock loading on the spices.

That said, when I first read the article I started doing lock stitches on my Dyneema life lines. Especially if you have Dyneema gates it is impossible to get a long enough bury so stitching them become doubly important.

[AKA-None]

I stitch every splice as a matter of habit.

[IslandHopper]

Am guessing this is the article in question and referring to the death of Andrew Ashman during the Clipper Round the World Race of 2015/16...

Scuttlebutt article....

https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2...nked-fatality/

MAIB report and Annexes....

https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/acci...oss-of-2-lives

A recommendation has also been made to Marlow Ropes Ltd (2017/110), the rope manufacturer, aimed at improving the information provided to users on the loss of strength caused by splices, hitches or knots when using high modulus polyethylene rope.

More at PBO in this article dated April 13, 2017 .....

https://www.pbo.co.uk/news/clipper-r...ccidents-52210

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

I stitch every splice as a matter of habit.

If you use a brummel splice with a long bury then stitching should not be needed. I don't use a brummel, just a long taper and always stitch. In this case failure appears to be due to a lack of room for a long bury.
Corrected article link
https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2...nked-fatality/

[Suijin]

I make my brummels with a long bury. I don't think I would trust them with just a lock stitch given the weave of the material. Just doesn't strike me as secure.

As far as the accident goes, I never trust my preventer to be failsafe. I generally consider it to be first line of defense against an accidental gybe, but I don't have ultimate faith in it, particularly if the boom gets dipped. That said booms on racing boats are low and you can't keep your head down 100% of the time.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by Suijin

I make my brummels with a long bury. I don't think I would trust them with just a lock stitch given the weave of the material. Just doesn't strike me as secure.

As far as the accident goes, I never trust my preventer to be failsafe. I generally consider it to be first line of defense against an accidental gybe, but I don't have ultimate faith in it, particularly if the boom gets dipped. That said booms on racing boats are low and you can't keep your head down 100% of the time.

I didn’t mean I rely on a stitch only, but that I always stitch. And I do a long bury as a matter of course.

[thinwater]

Lock stitching is well proven in testing, is recommended by Samson and Marlow, and is how larger lines are spliced. The load is carried by the tail and there is no difference in security. The brummel or stitching are only to prevent the tail from backing out under zero load.


The mistake was in using ONLY a brummel.


Whether the system was well designed from a load perspective is a separate subject. A contributing factor is the use of a preventer with swept back spreaders, which dramatically increases the leverage. An alternative design seems needed, but workable suggestions are thin on the ground. The best answers seem to be to either square off the boom, so a conventional preventer works, or keep the boom in far enough so that it is retrained by the traveler (not much sheet out).

[alansmith]

Guys, sorry about the link. I posted and headed to work. Article certainly caught my attention.

[ggray]

I'm having trouble understanding what the strop looked like before it failed.

What was in the middle where it failed?

[Matt Johnson]

I see a tapper on both of the brummel splices with the rings on each end. Plus, there is stitching back-up too...

It looks to me like the line failed mid way nowhere near the splices. The article says that instead of using two individual strops, the rigger used one longer length of line with rings on each end. That would make the splices on the end and not in the middle.... or was it spliced in the middle to connect the two strops? If he did splice the two together with just a brummel, then that is ridiculous stupid.

Maybe it was around fitting with too tight of a bend radius?



Matt

[Paul L]

Given the two ended strop they were using and the fact that only one side was in use at a time, I don't see how it could have been spliced with a bury. Seems like two, separate strops would be needed and they would need to be long enough to account for buries on both ends.