Some aspects of the safety of high speed catamarans

A high speed catamaran was involved in an accident off Jersey. No one was injured as a result of the actual accident itself but there were a number of serious injuries sustained by passengers during the evacuation of the vessel. A number of deficiencies in the design of the vessel were identified as a result of the accident and the evacuation of passengers and crew. Access routes and the number of exits were important causes of concern. Lifejackets and life rafts were found to have problems in their use and their specification seemed not to be well adapted to their possible use. Life rafts in particular were found not to be sufficiently robust. The low crew to passenger ratio required passengers to take on roles for which they had neither the expertise nor the training. Crew and passengers all responded to the best of their ability but unnecessary strain was placed on all due to lack of sufficient trained people being available. Hypothermia was not a major problem but if the rescue had taken much longer then there would have been a rapidly increasing number of people affected. Rescue equipment should be improved to cope with this life threatening condition.