Are you the “operator” of the boat as far a legal entities on shore are concerned? The answer in some jurisdictions may surprise you.
There is no question in Canada for any recreational vessel that is not required to have a licensed master. The operator, the person responsible for everything that happens on the vessel and the one who will be blamed if there is a collision, grounding, or injury is the person whose hands are on the wheel. This responsibility shifts as helmsmen are changed. Turn the helm over to a guest , tell them , “Steer straight for that house.”, and, if the boat runs aground and there is an injury, it will be their fault. The guest must have a Canadian recreational vessel operator’s card to legally manipulate the wheel. The only thing you might be held accountable for in this case as an owner might be letting a person without a card steer.
U.S. State jurisdictions are increasingly moving towards this approach, driven by modeling laws after motor vehicles. The overwhelming number of boats they are concerned with are outboards where this actually makes some sense and it is simply beyond legislators and regulators to think about how things might be different on a large cruising boat.
I wrote an article about this and other regulatory foolishness for one of our New England boating magazines.
http://www.cruisingonstrider.us/PEarticles.htm
What if the helmsman is just doing the same job as an autopilot?
Both Canada and Connecticut stopped answering my phone calls and emails about that question without giving me an answer.
I later confirmed the Canadian position with a Transport Canada inspector over dinner. I asked her the autopilot question. She rolled her eyes and said that the idea of a recreational vessel having an autopilot was as incomprehensible to the legislators forcing these rules on them as a fish having a bicycle. The idea that someone might be navigating, looking at charts, watching the radar, while another person steered in a straight line was also equally outside their ken. As far as they, and many U.S. states are concerned, all recreational craft are outboard boats.
If you are in Canada or states that have adopted this interpretation, part of being responsible is also telling guests that they may be dragged into any post accident mess if they touch the wheel.
If you are compulsively responsible, no more letting kids steer. They are minors and can not legally make a decision about taking on such a responsibility. It's illegal to do so in Canada anyway unless they have their card. When I was flying, I could let my sons hold the yoke under my supervision but I can't legally let a person with 40 years of cruising and circumnavigation experience but no operators card touch the boat's helm in Canada and some states. Go figure.
In Connecticut it is even weirder. The experience cruiser, even if not a CT resident, if they own real estate in CT but haven't taken the eight week boating course, can not legally touch the wheel with you standing right there. A person who had never been on a boat before in their life but doesn't own any CT real estate and is resident of another state could be given the deck watch unsupervised at night to navigate the vessel through all the traffic up to the NY border.
All of this could have been avoided by Canada and the states including one simple concept in the rules. Whoever has legal custody of the vessel by virtue of ownership, charter, or rental, is entirely responsible for whatever happens aboard. This would have been consistent with the tradition of the sea. It contributes to safety by there being one person who knows the buck stops with them and will therefore think more carefully about who should be allowed to steer and who should not.
Even if you are willing to take full responsibility after an accident, it may not be up to you. In Canada, they aren't even going to ask or care whose boat it was, just whose fingers were on the wheel.
Certainly the captain/owner will have some responsibility and culpability if the helm is turned over to someone not up to the task. However, the fact that the person steering under your direction and command could be considered at all responsible is something that you must disclose to anyone before letting them steer. You could lie later and say you were steering but then we're talking possible perjury.
The way it as always been at sea, and the way it should be, is that an inappropriate action with the helm that results in damage or injury is an issue between the master and the person at the helm. For all other parties, including any other guests or crew who may be injured, the captain is totally responsible and at fault. Part of the responsibility of command is assessing the capability of crew members and how much direction they need. If you get it wrong, you are responsible, even if the person you turned the deck over to decides to make a 90 degree turn in a straight channel he's navigated many times before. Ask Captain Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez. The mate's actions were incomprehensible but Hazelwood stepped up as if he had turned the wheel himself and paid the price.
You don't have that option under this emerging concept. If you told a guest to just steer for that island, directed them over a shoal, and their pockets are a lot deeper than yours, you can be sure they will be drawn into the lawsuit even though they had no more responsibility than an autopilot.
Given the widespread understanding of traditional responsibility at sea, it is irresponsible not to inform people you let take the wheel of this fact.
There is no question in Canada for any recreational vessel that is not required to have a licensed master. The operator, the person responsible for everything that happens on the vessel and the one who will be blamed if there is a collision, grounding, or injury is the person whose hands are on the wheel. This responsibility shifts as helmsmen are changed. Turn the helm over to a guest , tell them , “Steer straight for that house.”, and, if the boat runs aground and there is an injury, it will be their fault. The guest must have a Canadian recreational vessel operator’s card to legally manipulate the wheel. The only thing you might be held accountable for in this case as an owner might be letting a person without a card steer.
U.S. State jurisdictions are increasingly moving towards this approach, driven by modeling laws after motor vehicles. The overwhelming number of boats they are concerned with are outboards where this actually makes some sense and it is simply beyond legislators and regulators to think about how things might be different on a large cruising boat.
I wrote an article about this and other regulatory foolishness for one of our New England boating magazines.
http://www.cruisingonstrider.us/PEarticles.htm
What if the helmsman is just doing the same job as an autopilot?
Both Canada and Connecticut stopped answering my phone calls and emails about that question without giving me an answer.
I later confirmed the Canadian position with a Transport Canada inspector over dinner. I asked her the autopilot question. She rolled her eyes and said that the idea of a recreational vessel having an autopilot was as incomprehensible to the legislators forcing these rules on them as a fish having a bicycle. The idea that someone might be navigating, looking at charts, watching the radar, while another person steered in a straight line was also equally outside their ken. As far as they, and many U.S. states are concerned, all recreational craft are outboard boats.
If you are in Canada or states that have adopted this interpretation, part of being responsible is also telling guests that they may be dragged into any post accident mess if they touch the wheel.
If you are compulsively responsible, no more letting kids steer. They are minors and can not legally make a decision about taking on such a responsibility. It's illegal to do so in Canada anyway unless they have their card. When I was flying, I could let my sons hold the yoke under my supervision but I can't legally let a person with 40 years of cruising and circumnavigation experience but no operators card touch the boat's helm in Canada and some states. Go figure.
In Connecticut it is even weirder. The experience cruiser, even if not a CT resident, if they own real estate in CT but haven't taken the eight week boating course, can not legally touch the wheel with you standing right there. A person who had never been on a boat before in their life but doesn't own any CT real estate and is resident of another state could be given the deck watch unsupervised at night to navigate the vessel through all the traffic up to the NY border.
All of this could have been avoided by Canada and the states including one simple concept in the rules. Whoever has legal custody of the vessel by virtue of ownership, charter, or rental, is entirely responsible for whatever happens aboard. This would have been consistent with the tradition of the sea. It contributes to safety by there being one person who knows the buck stops with them and will therefore think more carefully about who should be allowed to steer and who should not.
Even if you are willing to take full responsibility after an accident, it may not be up to you. In Canada, they aren't even going to ask or care whose boat it was, just whose fingers were on the wheel.
Certainly the captain/owner will have some responsibility and culpability if the helm is turned over to someone not up to the task. However, the fact that the person steering under your direction and command could be considered at all responsible is something that you must disclose to anyone before letting them steer. You could lie later and say you were steering but then we're talking possible perjury.
The way it as always been at sea, and the way it should be, is that an inappropriate action with the helm that results in damage or injury is an issue between the master and the person at the helm. For all other parties, including any other guests or crew who may be injured, the captain is totally responsible and at fault. Part of the responsibility of command is assessing the capability of crew members and how much direction they need. If you get it wrong, you are responsible, even if the person you turned the deck over to decides to make a 90 degree turn in a straight channel he's navigated many times before. Ask Captain Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez. The mate's actions were incomprehensible but Hazelwood stepped up as if he had turned the wheel himself and paid the price.
You don't have that option under this emerging concept. If you told a guest to just steer for that island, directed them over a shoal, and their pockets are a lot deeper than yours, you can be sure they will be drawn into the lawsuit even though they had no more responsibility than an autopilot.
Given the widespread understanding of traditional responsibility at sea, it is irresponsible not to inform people you let take the wheel of this fact.
