How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

[tashasdaddy]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

i have lost track of the number of boats i have helped. the ones i loved most were when i would be out in my 1960 open fishing boat, with a 1955 15hp tiller Rude, and tow one of those high payment new boats in.

i did get towed in by my bro in law, a month ago, i was testing a new to me motor, and he had taken another boat, just to tow me in if necessary.

 

[brown_one]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

my neighbor called on a sunday night around 8pm early this summer. he asked if i wanted to go boating. i said sure and he said then bring yours and come get us. they were on their way back to the ramp after a full day on the lake and the engine quit on their sea ray. so i hook up to the pontoon that i had at the time and drove 20min to ramp, made the 30min ride to their location, transfered wife and daughter to my boat, and made the long tow back to the ramp.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

I'm smiling at TD's comment about towing the expensive rigs in with his old Rude, because I've had the same experience more than a few times.

I think the most amusing was on the first day of a SAR involving multiple agencies. I reported to the command center at the boat launch involved, which was in one of the typical law enforcement agency specialized motor coaches, to volunteer. I had never worked with that agency before, so they didn't know me. The guy in charge was nice enough, but had a bit of an attitude about volunteers, so he was a kind of negative about non-official boats participating in the search. I answered all his questions about my experience, how much fuel I had onboard, etc., and launched soon afterwards.

I didn't get more than a few miles out of the boat launch when I ran across a sheriff's dept. boat that had broken down. The guys on board were sort of embarrassed and insisted on playing with the motor for about another 15 minutes, before they finally accepted a tow back to the ramp. As we pulled into the launch there were several other agency boats at the docks, all of whom had crew members eyeballing the guys I was towing in.

It sure was fun to talk to the skeptical Lt. at the end of that day - he had heard about what happened and thanked me. He was very nice. but I got the impression that he felt sort of silly!

 

[dingbat]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

One thing that you need to beware of is once you tie that tow rope to the other boat you?re liable for all and all damages incurred, both personal and physical.

If I come upon a vessel in need of assistance I?ll do everything under my power to help remedy the situation including off loading the occupants to my vessel but I?m not going to tow their vessel anywhere without a signed release of liability.

I know this may sound cruel but I know of 3 people who have now been sued for being a Good Samaritan. Don?t let yourself be the next one.

 

[AguaSki]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

I have towed others at least 6 times, and that includes a boat just last weekend.

I was towed a long distance earlier this spring by my brother in-law. We went to Lake Powell and headed to Dangling Rope marina from Antelope marina. Those that are familiar with Lake Powell know that Dangling Rope marina is just a floating gas station and convenience store in the middle of the lake. After gassing up at Dangling Rope marina I could not restart my motor because a bolt that holds my starter to the block was broken. Fortunately the marina was able to give me a new bolt, but in the process of installing the bolt I must have shifted the position of the wiring harness under the flywheel. With a new bolt installed, the motor started fine, but the spinning flywheel quickly wore off the insulation to the wiring harness and eventually caused a short. Of course I did not realize this until I was about 800 yards from the marina. My bother in-law and I intentionally waited to go to Lake Powell until we could find a time when we both could go together because we wanted to use the "Buddy System". I am sure glad we did it this way. He ended up towing me most of the haul from Dangling Rope marina back to Antelope marina. Others have mentioned you need some sort of alternative power for emergencies, so I suppose the "Buddy System" can qualify as alternative power.

 

[whiskywizard]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

One thing that you need to beware of is once you tie that tow rope to the other boat you?re liable for all and all damages incurred, both personal and physical.

If I come upon a vessel in need of assistance I?ll do everything under my power to help remedy the situation including off loading the occupants to my vessel but I?m not going to tow their vessel anywhere without a signed release of liability.

I know this may sound cruel but I know of 3 people who have now been sued for being a Good Samaritan. Don?t let yourself be the next one.

This is contrary to what is taught in officially-sanctioned safe boat training in my area, so I need to confirm for sure what is correct. What's your source of info?

 

[Beefer]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

One thing that you need to beware of is once you tie that tow rope to the other boat you?re liable for all and all damages incurred, both personal and physical.

If I come upon a vessel in need of assistance I?ll do everything under my power to help remedy the situation including off loading the occupants to my vessel but I?m not going to tow their vessel anywhere without a signed release of liability.

I know this may sound cruel but I know of 3 people who have now been sued for being a Good Samaritan. Don?t let yourself be the next one.

This is contrary to what is taught in officially-sanctioned safe boat training in my area, so I need to confirm for sure what is correct. What's your source of info?

I have no clue about this either way, but it makes me wonder if part of the release could include that if your boat (the towing vessel) is damaged, or suffers mechanical failure due to the added load, the vessel being towed would be responsible. How many times do we hear/read about someone who's boat broke-down during or immediately after a tow?


As for me, on our maiden voyage, we died either due to bad gas, or my inability to realize I needed to open the vent on the gas can (honestly not sure which), and we were towed in by some really nice folks. I've been wanting to return the favor to someone else, but haven't had an opportunity so far. I'm also not sure what my boat is capable of towing, and I worry about the added strain on the little thing. It's only a 16' Bayliner with a 70Hp Force...

 

[dingbat]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

This is contrary to what is taught in officially-sanctioned safe boat training in my area, so I need to confirm for sure what is correct. What's your source of info?

The minute you attach the rope to the other vessel you're liability for any or all damages to both the vessel and its occupants. It?s no different than if you?re where towing a skier behind the boat or taking a friend out for a day on the water.

Should something happen you could be sued under the pretenses of negligence or even gross negligence in your seamen ship, operation of the vessel or a variety of other reasons.

You may have some protection under Good Samaritan laws but the protection varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and an over zealous attorney wouldn?t have to hard of a time finding a loop hole to make his case.

 

[thestonedude]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

on Oneida lake this summer I jumped in to rescure someone who fell overboard,.. Unfortunitly the man died...here is the story

http://www.uticaod.com/news/x392056785/Boat-crash-reported-near-Sylvan-Beach

 

[coolguy147]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

i was mostly the one being towed

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

The question of liability when rendering aid is an interesting one. I think some of the confusion stems from the fact that laws and trends are changing in regard to the issue.

My understanding of the situation has always been that boaters can actually find themselves to be in violation of law if they don't render aid when coming upon a distressed vessel. That said, the previous posts in this thread caused me to look up Louisiana law earlier today. What I found was interesting - I believe that our boating laws used to require other boaters to render aid, upon becoming aware that a vessel is in distress. It now says that anyone involved in a boating accident must remain on the scene and render, if needed.

Louisiana also has a "good samaritan law," but it is written in a way that is not clear with respect to non-medical emergencies. When a medical emergency is occurring, people can render aid without fear of liability in some circumstances. In other cases (which seem to be tied to wehther or not a person is operating in a professionl capacity such as an EMT, physician, etc.), anyone who renders aid in such a way as to cause further injury, could be held liable. What I think is open to interpretation, however, is that the law says that anyone (non-professional) rendering aid in response to an emergency, is relieved of liability for their actions. The question, of course, is what constitutes being an emergency? Is a mere breakdown or shoaling of a boat an emergency? Is a boat found to be distressed at 7:00am not an emergency situation, because the boaters involved have all day to figure out a way to get back to the launch, while the same boat would be considered to be in an emergency situation 20 minutes before sundown? Who knows?

If y'all are game, I'm thinking this topic might be worthy of its won thread. What do you think?

 

[rlk]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

This was a interesting year for us rescuing others.

Wife and I got a new pontoon at the end of June. First week with the new boat, we came across a very large boat that was dead in the water. That boat had 2 Yamaha 150 hp engines, and both were dead. The owner only had about 50 hours on the engines, and neither he nor we could figure out why they would not start.

They were about a mile away from their camp site and asked to just be towed to the shore, about a quarter mile away. I offered to tow to their camp site, but they said if I could get them to shore, then give the man a ride to their camp site to get their truck and trailer they would be fine. I don't know how he thought he could load his boat from the shore, but I agreed. Unfortunately when he boarded my boat, he had mud on his shoes, and left a very nasty stain on our new carpet. He apologized, etc, and we told him not to worry about, but the stain is still there.

A couple of weeks later, we were about to our cove when we see 4 little kids swimming in the middle of the cove while pulling a canoe. One of the kids waved us over. They had been riding in the canoe when the propeller came off of their electric motor. They were about a hundred yards from their house, and decided to swim across the cove and pull the canoe. They had on PFDs, but one kid was too tired to go any further. We got that kid on board, and asked the other kids to get onboard also. They didn't want to, they said they would swim. They did let me take the canoe though.

I stayed right beside them until we got to their dock.

These kids were 6 - 7 years old, and no parent was in sight. I was tempted to walk up to their house and let the parents know what had happened to the kids. My wife calmed me down and told me just to make sure the canoe was secured to the dock, and the kids were on dry land.

We did not see the kids again, but the canoe is still tied up to their dock.

The third and most interesting rescue: Wife and I were about a half mile from our dock. Coming down the cove, I kept seeing something in the water, but could not make out what it was. About that time, we meet a sailboat. Everyone waves and we continue on our way. As we get closer to the object in the water, I see it is a dog. The dog was swimming after his owners who were on the sailboat. The dog had swam a long way, and was too tired to go any further. It was all he could do to stay afloat.

Once we recognized it was a dog and it was struggling, I circled back around to see what we could do for the dog. By then, the sailboat we had passed had turned around and was also headed towards their dog. They shouted that they would pick up the dog. When they got beside the dog, a daughter jumped in the water with a PFD for the dog. The sailboat kept on going - never slowed down. I thought that was strange until I saw there was another dog in the water between us and the shore. The sailboat was headed for the other dog.

The girl in the water got the PFD on the dog and they were floating there waiting on the sailboat to pick up the other dog and come back for her. Naturally the other dog did not want to cooperate so the sailboat had to chase it.

We talked the girl into trying to push her dog up our boarding ladder. The dog was so tired that she had to push while I pulled. Finally we got the dog and her onboard, and naturally the dog has to shake and get his black fur all over our new boat. (When we pulled the boat out this fall, we found more of his fur, even though we have cleaned the boat several times.)

Anyway, we got the girl and dog back to their dock, and the other dog decided to swim to shore and run along the shore back to their dock. The sailboat family said they hate to leave the dogs in the pen while they enjoy the water, but I think they realize they either have to do this, or put both dogs on the boat with them.

Never done this many rescues before, and never rescued a dog either.

Bob

 

[scipper77]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

Ok, since I started this thread for me to learn about helping people and there has been some question as to liability I've decided this.

If I come across a disabled vessel I will ask if they need help. I will not offer to tow, but rather give the vessel a chance to ask for a tow. I will then let them determine how to set up the rigging, and if I feel that the rigging is adequate, proceed to tow. If the rigging is something I am not comfortable with I will have to decline to tow because if I tell them I would rather rig up the boats another way and it backfires I would be at fault (even if there way was worse).

One good thing about my boat for towing is that it is a 17 foot chris craft that originally had a 4 cyl merc. at some point in its life the power plant was upgraded to a 185 HP Mercruiser V6. This is a good amount of power for such a small boat. (I think the boat is actually 16'8"). The added power gives me a little confidence that I can tow with a little less risk of damage. Of course I'll still take it easy when towing.

 

[dingbat]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

The question of liability when rendering aid is an interesting one. I think some of the confusion stems from the fact that laws and trends are changing in regard to the issue.

My understanding of the situation has always been that boaters can actually find themselves to be in violation of law if they don't render aid when coming upon a distressed vessel.

You are legally obligated by law for the safety of the passengers. Nowhere does it say you are responsible for the safety of the vessel. The towing of the vessel by an untrained Captain may actually be putting the Passengers at greater risk than if left a drift.


Here is a the Coast Guards Aux. view of the situation

http://www.auxguidanceskills.info/press/towing.html

 

[CATransplant]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

This season, I towed only two boats. Since I fish from a 12' aluminum boat, I am never on the water when the weather is bad, so all my towing experiences have been in calm waters.

The first tow was a 19' bass boat. The operator had no power, for some reason.

The second was a 16 Lund fishing boat, again with no power from the main engine and a dead trolling motor battery.

In both cases I was on the smallish lake (1100 acres) where I fish most often.

I use my 35' launch bow line for towing. I tow at trolling speed with my 6hp outboard. It takes a good long while to get back to the dock, but the low speed puts the least stress on my equipment.

Since I operate the boat with a tiller, I allow the towed boat to tie up as they choose with the line. I ask them to straighten the outboard or outdrive. Then, I take a turn around a stern cleat and hold the tow rope's bitter end in one hand as I go. If anything untoward happens, I release the rope, which slips off the cleat and falls off into the water.

Works fine on calm days and at that trolling speed. I refuse to go any faster than that while towing.

As for approaching the dock or ramp, I do not dock the boat in tow. I will get them as near the dock as is safe for me. Before initiating the tow, I make sure the towed boat has a paddle. If not, I loan them one of my oars. Once near the dock, it's their deal. I also dock, and retrieve my line and oar, if I've lent them one, then go back to my fishing.

 

[thestonedude]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

Speaking of towing. I just signed up for something called SEATOW...cost me 150 bucks a year and they will tow you in when your broke down. Sounded like a pretty good deal since I take my boat in the ocean as well as the river here. anybody else have any experinece with them

 

[Hitech]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

I'm still waiting to find someone in need.

 

[elhombre]

Re: How many boaters have you helped on the water this year??

This year one. He's a neighbor, the irony is that he towed me last year! In a water community when someone calls you go, no question that what comes around, goes around. Same applies to to strangers on the water, being stranded is no fun-