Amendments to the Special Regulations have been issued concerning emergency steering and inspection of fire extinguishers. The amendments are:

1. Fire extinguishers – this amendment removes a non-binding explanatory note which may have led stakeholders to take an unnecessarily prescriptive approach to compliance when inspecting fire extinguishers. The note has been changed to a Safety Information Notice here.
2. Emergency steering – this amendment aligns the Australian position Special Regulations with World Sailing’s Offshore Special Regulations by applying the requirement only to category 1 to 3 races, and then shifts the requirements for practicing these steering methods to the training section; the latter element is administrative. Information about emergency steering can be read in an article published on 17 August 2023.

Both changes relieve the burden on boat owners and their crews.

Amendments to the Special Regulations are here.
All things safety are on the Safety Hub.

By Chris Zonca