SAFA Skysailor Magazine

4 SKY SAILOR June-July-August | WINTER 2026 Iain Clarke’s article in this issue gives that commitment some sobering context, and I’d encourage you to read every word of it carefully. I want to add a personal perspective. As a Senior Safety Officer, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what actually causes accidents in our sports. The data Iain presents tells a consistent story: It’s rarely the equipment, and it’s almost never bad luck. It’s decisions. Decisions made at the hill, on the beach, in the paddock. Decisions often made under subtle pressure from within ourselves. Two dimensions of decision-making matter most: conditions, and capability. Conditions change constantly, and our ability to read them accurately degrades under fatigue, excitement, and social pressure. The wind that looked fine on the drive in, can be telling a completely different story at the launch. A window in the clouds that looks ‘flyable’ to an optimis- tic eye, is not the same as a window that actually is. We owe it to ourselves to make that distinction honestly, every single time. Capability is the one that’s harder to admit. None of us like to acknowledge that President’s Update by Alistair Dickie Safety is the reason SAFA exists. Without it, we don’t get to fly. This is the foundation of our Strategic Plan, where Safety Excellence sits as Strategic Objective 1, ahead of everything else we want to achieve as an organisation. The plan commits us to a proactive safety culture built on care, diligence, and shared responsibility. Photo: Heidi Krueger