The US Sailing report makes several specific recommendations to prevent future accidents such as the one that involved WingNuts, among them:
Race Standards
Race organizers should establish minimum standards for both the skipper’s and crew’s experience of each boat as well as the boat’s suitability and seaworthiness.
Stability
US Sailing has already heeded the report’s recommendation that a more conservative formula be used to determine the stability index, the number representing a boat’s ability to recover from a capsize.
Safety
The Safety at Sea Committee should conduct a study of different tether/life jacket/harness designs to determine whether an optimum combination of security and ease of release can be found. The committee should consider rewriting the Offshore Special Regulations to make them easier to understand.
Training
US Sailing Safety at Sea seminars should demonstrate the possible difficulty of releasing a tether once the life jacket has inflated, and encourage sailors to practice releasing tethers using their own gear. Stress the importance of boat stability.
Weather
Race organizers should make a high priority of promulgating weather awareness and information in close coordination with the National Weather Service.
Inspections
Organizers of distance races should have a committee of knowledgeable inspectors to conduct pre-race inspections of at least one-half of the fleet and random post-race inspections, with widely publicized penalties.
