List of fatal accidents in sailboat racing

Oceanic yacht racing is one of the most dangerous sports in the world. ^[1] It was particularly dangerous in the early days, when oceanic racing was more like early mountain climbing in terms of sense of adventure and achievement. Modern safety and communication equipment has improved safety; however, like any sport in the natural environment, risk is always present. In many races, participants have changed from amateur explorers to professional athletes.

Deaths during crewed round-the-world races and record attempts

Race Name	Date	Name	Place	Boat	Description
Whitbread / Volvo Ocean Race	1973–1974	Paul Waterhouse, Dominique Guillet, Bernie Hosking	Southern Ocean	Tauranga, 33 Export, Great Britain II (respectively)	Each swept overboard (Hosking twice) [2] [3]
Whitbread / Volvo Ocean Race	1989	Tony Phillips	Southern Ocean	Creighton Naturally	Swept overboard and recovered too late
Volvo Ocean Race	18 May 2006	Hans Horrevoets  (NED)	Off Land's End	ABN Amro Volvo 70	Washed overboard and recovered
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race	5 Sep 2015	Andrew Ashman  (GBR) [4]	Atlantic Ocean	IchorCoal / Clipper 70	Head Injury Boom/Mainsheet
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race	1 April 2016	Sarah Young  (GBR) [5]	Pacific Ocean	IchorCoal / Clipper 70	Swept overboard
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race	18 Nov 2017	Simon Speirs  (GBR) [6]	Indian Ocean	Great Britain / Clipper 70	Swept overboard
Volvo Ocean Race	26 Mar 2018	John Fisher (GBR) [7]	Southern Ocean	Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag Volvo Ocean 65	Swept overboard

Deaths during solo round-the-world races and record attempts

Race Name	Date	Name	Place	Boat	Description
BOC Challenge	1986	Jacques de Roux (FRA)	Southern Ocean	Skoiern IV
Vendée Globe	1992	Nigel Burgess  (GBR)	Atlantic Ocean	Nigel Burgess Yachts
Vendée Globe	1992	Mike Plant  (USA)	Atlantic Ocean	Coyote	Lost at sea prior to departure
Vendée Globe	1997	Gerry Roufs  (CAN)	Southern Ocean	Groupe LG 2

Deaths during offshore races

Race Name	Host Club	Date	Name	Place	Boat	Description	Ref.
1976 OSTAR	Royal Western Yacht Club	June 1976	Mike Flanagan (USA)	Atlantic Ocean	Galloping Gael	38 ft Monohull; Sailor and Boat Lost at Sea	[8]
			Mike McMullen (GBR)	Atlantic Ocean	Three Cheers	Sailor and Boat Lost at Sea
1978 Route du Rhum		16 November 1978	Alain Colas	Azores	Manureva	Unknown
1979 Fastnet race	Royal Ocean Racing Club	14 August 1979	15 competitors and 6 observers	Celtic Sea
1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race	Cruising Yacht Club of Australia	27 December 1998	Phillip Charles Skeggs, Bruce Raymond Guy		Business Post Naiad	drowned heart attack
		28 December 1998	John Dean, James Lawler, Michael Bannister		Winston Churchill	all drowned
		27 December 1998	Glyn Charles  (GBR)		Sword of Orion
Doublehanded Farallones Race		27 March 1999	Harvey Shlasky (USA), 51		White Lightning, J/29		[9] [10]
Transat Jacques Vabre		21 October 1999	Paul Vatine (FRA), 42		ORMA 60	Boat Capsized Paul was ondeck and lost other crew member was below deck	[11]
Doublehanded Lightship Race	Island Yacht Club of Alameda	16 March 2008	Matthew Gale (USA), 68  Anthony Harrow (USA), 72		Daisy, Cheoy Lee Offshore 31		[12]
Cowes-Cherbourg Race	Royal Ocean Racing Club	17 June 2011	Chris Reddish (GBR), 46		Lion, Reflex 38		[13]
Chicago-Mackinac Race	Chicago Yacht Club	17 July 2011	Mark Morley (USA), 51  Suzanne Bickel (USA), 41		WingNuts, Kiwi 35	head injuries during capsize	[14]
Farallones Race	San Francisco Yacht Club	14 April 2012	Alexis Busch (USA)  Jordan Fromm (USA)  Alan Cahill (USA)  Elmer Morrissey (IRL)  Marc Kasanin (USA)		Low Speed Chase, Sydney 38	Capsize killed 5 from crew of 8, near a rocky coast.	[15] [16]
Newport (Calif.) to Ensenada (Mexico) yacht race		28 April 2012	Theo Mavromatis (USA), 49  Kevin Eric Rudolph (USA), 53  William Reed Johnson Jr. (USA), 57  Joseph Lester Stewart (USA), 64		Aegean, Hunter 376	nighttime crash into a rocky island	[17] [18]
Islands Race	Newport Harbor and   San Diego Yacht Club	9 March 2013	Craig Thomas Williams (USA), 36		Uncontrollable Urge, Columbia 32 Carbon		[19] [20]
Chicago-Mackinac Race	Chicago Yacht Club	21 July 2018	Jon Santarelli (USA), 53		Imedi, TP52	overboard resulting from wave strike	[21]
2024 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race	Cruising Yacht Club of Australia	26 December 2024	Roy Quaden (AUS), 55		Flying Fish Arctos	hit by boom	[22]
			Nick Smith (AUS), 65		Bowline	hit by mainsheet

Deaths during yacht races

Race Name	Host Club	Date	Name	Place	Boat	Description	Ref.
Big Boat Series	St. Francis Yacht Club	18 September 1994	Larry Klein (USA), 42	San Francisco	Twin Flyer, 38 foot sloop		[23]
Commodore Perry Race	North Cape Yacht Club	3 June 2007	Bruce Goldsmith  (USA), 71	Lake Erie	J/29	Boom head injury
America's Cup Testing	Golden Gate Yacht Club	9 May 2013	Andrew Simpson  (GBR)	San Francisco	Artemis Racing, AC72, Boat 1	Entrapped after the boat broke apart and capsized.
Antigua Superyacht		8 March 2022	Sam Richmond (GBR), 38	Antigua	102 ft S/Y Farfalla	Training incident with rigging failure causing a head Injury	[24] [25]

References

1. "Yachting: No sport for the faint-hearted - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
2. "Volvo Ocean Race 1973-1974"
   (Bernie Hosking's name misspelled as "Hocking" in the Leg3 tab; spelled properly in the Leg1 tab.)
3. Race 1 Summary Archived 2017-04-12 at the Wayback Machine (volvooceanrace.com)
4. "Andrew Ashman: Fatal Injury Official Statement" . Retrieved 30 November 2016.
5. "Fatality Statement - Sarah Young" . Retrieved 30 November 2016.
6. "Clipper Race fatality: Great Britain crewmember washed overboard" . Retrieved 18 November 2017.
7. "An Update on John Fisher". Volvo Ocean Race. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
8. "OSTAR History". Royal Western Yacht Club of England.
9. "Sailor Struggles With 'What-Ifs' of Boat Race / His friend died after being swept overboard". SFGate. 30 March 1999. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
10. "Scuttlebutt: Sailing news with a North American focus" . Retrieved 30 November 2016.
11. "Transat Jacques Vabre - Paul Vatine Missing".
12. "Experts mystified by loss of sailboat and 2 aboard". SFGate. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
13. "Sail World - The Worlds largest sailing news network: Sail and sailing, cruising, boating news". Sail-World.com. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
14. "Chicago Mackinac 2012 – Now it's Windquest leading #CYCRTM". Sail-World. 22 July 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
15. Chong, Bryan (24 April 2012). "Farallones Survivor's Full Account". Latitude 38. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
16. Fish, Jake (7 August 2012). "Full report on Farallones Race tragedy released". Sail-World. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
17. Wilson, Bernie (30 April 2012). "Sailors Saddened by Recent Yacht Race Deaths". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012 – via Weather.com.
18. Hardesty, Greg (12 June 2012). "Panel: Newport-Ensenada yacht ran aground". The Orange County Register. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
19. Daisy Nguyen, Associated Press (9 March 2013). "1 dead, 5 rescued in Calif. sailboat race accident". USA Today . Retrieved 20 December 2014.
20. "Latitude 38 - 'Lectronic Latitude" . Retrieved 20 December 2014.
21. "Chicago Yacht Club Statement on Recovery of Jon Santarelli". www.cycracetomackinac.com. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
22. Langenberg, Adam (26 December 2024). "Sydney to Hobart organiser says race won't be cancelled following two deaths overnight". ABC News. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
23. "Routine Race Ends Tragically : Sailing: Perch collapses and ends life of Larry Klein, one of America's brightest hopes, during event in the Bay Area". Los Angeles Times. 23 September 1994. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
24. "Sam Richmond passes away".
25. "Home". yachtfarfalla.com.