Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Fleet of Resentment

This home owner didn't want any $#%& cruisers anchored in his line of sight so he purchased 20 ratty little dismasted sail boats to block the space.
Glad I don't have to live inside his angry, angry brain.

2 comments:

  1. Very curious. So: Do each of the boats need to be registered/licensed/whatever paperwork is needed in the local area? Are they each required to have appropriate Coast Guard equipment, etc.? If one of them breaks loose during a storm and damages something else, how is responsibility determined?

    All in all, a thoroughly annoying situation...

    Thanks for sharing your pictures! Keeping up with your travels is a highlight of my day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Phil, the boats are not motorized and are small. Therefore they do not require any registration numbers (just like, for example, a kayak). They are required to comply with the navigation rules, which require an anchor light at night, and if you look closely you can see that each boat has a short "mast" made of PVC pipe with a solar light on top.

      As for other "required equipment," that can only be an issue if there are souls aboard. So the CG or other law enforcement can't cite him for, say, lack of life preservers unless and until there are folks aboard to need them.

      If they break loose and damage something, then the owner is responsible, of course. But under admiralty law, the maximum liability of a boat owner for any damage to anyone else is the value of his own boat. I'd guess those Lasers are a couple hundred apiece, so that's all he could be sued for unless circumstances can be proven to take it out of that category.

      Interestingly, the same part of admiralty law works both ways. So anyone could anchor right in the middle of that field of boats, and bounce into each and every one of them, but he'd have to prove damages. So if Vector sunk a half dozen of his boats, I'd maybe owe him a thousand bucks -- some might say it would be worth it. That being said, I would not want an admiralty judgment on my record...

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