Sea Tow Refusal / Insurance question

[shemandr]

CarlN's post seems very knowledgable and I believe is correct. All I can add is that by making a mayday call of the VHF, I think the imperiled mariner is saying that lives are at risk. Having acknowledged that, if I were the skipper, I would take the first assistance available. To do otherwise could potentially be a criminal act - if there were a tragic outcome. It certainly would open the skipper to civil litigation that would make the drubbing from the INSC look cheap.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Part of the problem here that the OP introduced is the Mayday call. Nearby vessels are obligated to respond to a Mayday if they can b/c it might be a life or death situation for the folks on the distressed vessel. Dispatching of towing vessels from nearby harbors is consistent with that obligation—responding to a Mayday. One arrives before another which is a few minutes behind. The skipper “declines” the first offer of assistance. Is that de facto evidence of a false Mayday?; it’s not life or death, while it is potentially dangerous.

I suppose that if the skipper had issued a pan-pan, SeaTow would still have arrived first and offered assistance. The difference is that the skipper might be justified in refusing in favor of the trailing rescue vessel in his membership program w/o facing any immediate liability risk—the question at hand. No immediate life or death crisis. But it’s all situational, of course. If the boat sinks while waiting for the trailing vessel and somebody drowns, the skipper would be “in deep Sununu.”

 

[CarlN]

Kings Gambit is right. Boats should respond to a Mayday but their purpose is to save lives not the boat. The normal CG response to a Mayday is to take the crew off by lifting them aboard a chopper or ship and abandoning the distressed vessel. They can - and have - forcibly removed crew who wanted to stay with the vessel. Far offshore, the CG will often order the hose be cut to insure it sinks and not become a hazard to navigation. When you issue a Mayday you should assume you will lose your boat. If lives were at risk, insurance companies pay with no questions about attempts at “loss reduction” - although they will also hire a salvor to try and recover the boat. It’s illegal to issue a Mayday in the first place if lives are not at risk. Always use Pan Pan if you want to keep your boat.

 

[Kings Gambit]

When you issue a Mayday you should assume you will lose your boat. ... Always use Pan Pan if you want to keep your boat.

Well, maybe, if the boat is sinking or in some other peril. But a skipper can issue a Mayday if a crew member or passenger is “stricken” in some manner and is in need of emergency (life saving) medical assistance. The CG will take off only the person needing assistance with perhaps a friend or family member. But if you are alone and are the stricken one issuing a Mayday, then the CG after fetching you might leave the boat; not take it in tow. Instead, report her position and recommend (call for) a salvage rather than scuttle her. Of course, if arriving by helicopter, which would come with a severe urgency, then a tow would not be an option.

 

[capta]

It has been a very long time since the USCG had any responsibility to save the vessel; they are in the life saving business. A USCG Commander MAY choose to tow the boat or offer pumps, but most often his responsibility ends at saving the people, which is why Sea Tow el al came to be.
Most of my insurance policies for the boat include a towing clause, because it benefits them to not have a total loss, over a few grand in towing. I'd think yours would too.
I find it hard to imagine a situation where the boat is sinking fast enough that you can't stop it, but you still have 15 or 20 minutes to wait for help. Kind of an oxymoron in my mind. She's either going to go down within a couple of minutes, or she's going to stay afloat long enough to find the leak and do something about it, even if it is just slow it down to a point the pumps can handle it.

 

[JamesG161]

From personal experience, although my case was not one of "sinking", I can tell you this...

The Towing business is competitive and they will attempt to keep your boat afloat.

Evidently the USCG determined that it was NOT a life threatening "Mayday".
I have heard USCG tell Boaters to call a Towing business, and even give them a Cell phone number to call Towing.

A good analogy is the Ambulance business...

First to arrive takes the patient to the Doctor.
A reputable insurance company will pay both the Ambulance and the Doctor.

In this case, there was NO critically ill patient.
_____
SeaTow had to confirm that no life was in danger.
The Captain, of the boat, refused SeaTow assistance, and the radio call let SeaTow's boss hear the refusal.

The insurance company will not quibble over who saved the boat.
Jim...

 

[ontherocks83]

So I called my insurance company (Markel) last night. I was asking the representative questions as best I could about coverage for these different scenarios. Not to anyone's surprise, but a lot of her answers were the standard (it is up to the adjuster after an incident occurs). However here is what I could ascertain.

At least with my policy (and please forgive me if I am using the wrong terminology) There are 2-3 categories they put claims under. 1 or 2 of them are covered under damage less than hull value and "full total" (hull coverage) i.e. lightning strike, collision, sinking, fire, etc....

The other category is towing/assistance services coverage. My policy had a coverage of up to $750 for towing/assistance, I asked how much I could up the coverage to and their limit for my boat was $5,000 towing/assistance coverage for an extra $83 per year. I had them add the extra coverage so 5k is my new limit. Figure for 80 bucks I will feel more comfortable about getting assistance from a non-contracted provider.

I also asked about if they worked with any company in particular and they explicitly stated they do not endorse or work with anyone, hence forth the towing coverage part of the policy. If I were to need assistance from someone just contact them and submit the bill/report after everything is done.

 

[CarlN]

Many will remember the 2014 rescue of the Kaufmans in mid Pacific by an Air National guard team who parachuted from a C130 to treat the Kaufman's 1 year old baby for a high fever. (the Kaufmans had been talking to their doctor and CG by sat phone and had medicine aboard but the sat phone stopped working without warning because the sat phone company had issued a new SIM and mailed it to their home without telling them). Three days later a US destroyer picked them all up. Here's a picture of Eric leaving his boat having removed the teak steering wheel as a memento. He cut the thru-hull hoses. The most memorable part of Eric's story was that 6 hours after they had activated the EPIRB knowing this would mean losing their boat-- - Eric was alone in the cockpit when the C130 appeared out of the clouds low to the water and started dropping 4 paramedics and an outboard RIB. Eric said his thought at the time was "I sure live in the right country". When you issue a Mayday you are asking for rescuers to risk their lives to save yours. It's not a time to be thinking about insurance.

 

[Hello Below]

When you issue a Mayday you are asking for rescuers to risk their lives to save yours. It's not a time to be thinking about insurance.

 

[thinwater]

• Is it a May Day, or actually a Pan Pan? Is the boat or crew in immediate jeopardy? In most cases, I suspect it is a Pan-Pan situation.
• How fast are you taking on water? There is a HUGE range. Have you figured out the source and really tried to slow it, since it is possible no one will show up. Or is someone panicking?
• You may not be sinking, but every inch of water can mean more (expensive) damamge. Hmm... towing or pumping sooner may save money.

Not one answer.I'm sure we've all hear May Day calls on a nice day for either engine failure or a soft grounding that the tide will fix (but make them late).

 

[CarlN]

An interesting wrinkle is that a salvage claim from SeaTow or BoatUS would not be handled under the towing limits of a marine insurance policy. Salvage claims are paid up to the full value of the policy (at which point the insurance company treats the boat as a total loss and the salvor gets the boat). One of the most important reasons to insure your boat with a reputable company is that they WILL pay salvage claims rather than leaving you with the bill. A bill that must be paid or the Admiralty Court will determine a salvage award and sell your boat at auction to satisfy it. I had a friend who got a call from his marina in Gloucester MA during a storm. They told him that the dock his (expensive) boat was on was ripping loose so it was moved to a mooring. He went down to the boat the next day and all was fine. It all seemed a bit suspicious. A week later he got a salvage claim from the guys who moved the boat who didn't even work for the marina. He forward it to his insurance company and they ended up paying $50,000. When he found out how much was paid he called his insurance company but they said not to worry about it and it wouldn't impact his future policy costs.