Helmets and the Soling Class

written by Rudy den Outer  on  July 22  of  2023 and read by 574

Sailing with the helmet

During the 2019 Worlds with heavy sees and sufficient winds I tried several times head back the boom while gybing. This is a part of our sport that I do not recomment! As result I lost my sence of smell (at least I did not have to wait till this side effect from COVID-19 occurred).

Without your sence of smell you miss a lot of pleasant and unpleasant experiances but the worst part of it is that your alarm system is not working any more. You can walk into a room with toxid vapours while you think that you are in the cleanest air in the world. Luckelly my sence of taste is unharmed so I can still enjoy food and Coca Cola.

The next years I was in doubt wetter I would start wearing a helmet or not. Afterall the boom in the Soling is not on an easy height for the helmsman and my flexibility is not increasing the last couple of years. But there was not too much sailing from 2020 – 2022 and one tent to keep things as they are. During the Boterletter in 2022 however my boom struck again and I finished the event with a mighty headache while I was not drinking.

Then I took the decicion to start wearing a helmet. I was in good company since Ben Boogaerdt (NED) and Marco Colombo (ITA) were leading the way. Also, increasingly sailing schools and dinghy sailors started using helmets mandatory. An extra argument was that there are good, light, and waterproof helmets available at this moment so that you do not have to sail with a gigantic motorcycle integral helmet.

So this year I start sailing with a helmet. Because you are a little taller than normal you bump your hat many times more than usual. But you hardly feel it. I was expecting that sailing would become unconfortable, that you do not feel the wind puffs sufficent on you face, or that it was very hot during summer. Non of that became true. I used the helmet with heavy and light air races,in almost freesing conditions as well as in 30+ centigrade and I was not hindered by it.

My concluson of this all is that I should have made the decision years earlier (at least in 2018 when I still had my sence of smell).

Because of the mast rake the Soling helmsmen is very vulnerable for boom hits. Therefor I strongly advice to concider wearing a “helmsmet”. I also do recommend it for crewmembers however the boom is much higher. I do not plea for a mandatory helmet, a free choice is better. However maybe some ruling could be concidered in our class rules. Im thinking of the CE certification (there are three types: wintersports, watersports, and biking), floating, and maximum weight but I leave that to the ISA technical committee. The recommended certification by World Sailing is: CE EN1385.

Keep sailing, keep traveling and stay safe!
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Rudy trying the Helmet