Ask people to identify the objective of racing and most will agree that it is the search for greater performance that drives designers, builders and competitors but in recent years and with safety as a priority, the definition of performance has changed. It is no longer enough to get the best from an engine for now, alongside performance on the water, the target is the parallel pursuit of higher performance from the structure of the boats themselves when something goes wrong and this is a consideration in offshore, circuit and formula racing alike. The human body is fragile, particularly when subjected to physical battering in an accident or collision and the structure of the cockpit/canopy is the only protection from impact damage so construction and attachment is critical.

The problem was highlighted in early 1998, when following a fatality in a canopied Class II offshore monohull, the UAE Marine Sports Federation decided to cancel all Class II and Class III 6-Litre racing in the Middle Last until the question of cockpit protection had been investigated and designs improved. With the advent of canopies ten years ago in offshore, the problem appeared to be more psychological than practical, as drivers apparently believed that they were invincible once behind and below a perspex screen but almost all boats shared the common failing that their cockpits were often not properly engineered as part of the boat’s structure and this shortcoming has been addressed.

Despite previous testing and development, formula boats suffered from the same problems so all branches of the sport have concentrated on looking behind the cosmetics of canopies and safety cells. Tasked in 1998 by the UIM and Cees van der Velden, Benetton Formula’s Steve Davies instituted a detailed and onerous programme evaluating existing El cockpits with the objective of producing a single test standard by which all future manufacturers would be measured High speed side impact was considered to be the worst case encountered on the water and the material evaluation used was a 3-point bend test on 300mm x 50mm sample panels submitted by three top builders. Davies’ conclusion was that the tests he had performed highlighted the need for a more extensive and specific programme but that optimistically, boat cockpits could be massively improved with more diligent research by the builders.