Australian Sailing chair Matt Allen said the myriad of issues that arose in the race led to changes nationally and internationally. 

In 1998 he said emergency management plans were limited, life jackets were not fit for rescue purposes, and there was no training in weather and distress terminology.

“I don’t think anyone had ever envisaged such a large and complex search and rescue operation, and there was obviously an enormous amount of information coming in,” Mr Allen said.

“People really didn’t know what gale and storm warnings were, there was confusion about whether people should be issuing a mayday or a pan call … Officials had very little knowledge of how many people were in the water, which boats needed saving, and even the identification of boats was extremely difficult,” he said.

“Now we have numbers on the hulls of all yachts, and photographs of the boats so if they need assistance they can actually be properly identified.  These basic things didn’t happen in 1998.” 

Mr Allen said now half of all crews are required to have an internationally mandated safety survival certificate, and there are regulation life jackets.

“A helicopter arrived with a sling for rescue and the person in the water had to take their life jackets off because you couldn’t get the sling over the life jackets.  Taking a life jacket off in those sorts of conditions is so incredibly dangerous,” he said.

Mr Allen said weather technology had vastly improved, where in 1998 the enormous storm was not known until few hours into the race, whereas today it could be predicted ahead of time and the race postponed.

Further, rough weather information was culturally kept a secret between boats during races, and now safety overrides everything.

“The sad legacy of those six deaths, including Bruce Guy and Phil Skeggs, is that a lot of changes were made throughout the sailing world.  There is no doubt in my mind that all those safety initiatives that were detailed have saved many lives since then,” he said.