Sailing Education Adventures

Collisions And The Question Of Liability

Finding fault can be tricky at sea. The bottom line is to be conservative; take evasive action, even if you think you’re in the right. Here’s why.

With some collisions, fault is obvious, like the collision that occurred when the skipper of a 45-foot powerboat in Florida slammed into the stern of a 31-foot boat late one night in a narrow waterway. The skipper of the larger boat had been drinking heavily and his boat was traveling at almost 50 mph, over twice the posted speed limit.

But with many collisions, perhaps most collisions, assessing liability isn’t so easy. Last summer, for example, a small fishing boat and a trawler collided on a clear day on the Chesapeake Bay after having each other in sight for almost 10 minutes. Seas were calm and the open stretch of water near the mouth of the Potomac River was remarkably free of other boat traffic. The first boat, a 26-foot center-console, was heading north, off Smith Point Light, and its skipper said later that he thought his boat was moving faster and would pass in front of the trawler. He admitted that his attention was focused elsewhere.

The second boat, the trawler, was headed northwest toward the Potomac River. The trawler’s skipper said that he was well aware of the smaller boat but his boat had the right of way and he held his course until a few seconds before the collision — far too late to move out of harm’s way.

Read More at Boat US.