Dave wrote:
On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 18:18:08 -0500, Jeff Morris
said:


The t-bone incident had an surprising aspect: because my friends
admitted they didn't see the other boat, they were assessed 24% of the
blame - the port/starboard rule only applies "when in sight" and thus
was somewhat voided because of the lack of a proper lookout.


That has to be the worst reasoning I've heard of in years. Sounds like a
good reason not to use BoatUS.

So what's wrong? Are you claiming that that the port-tacker was 100%
at fault? Or are you questioning the actual distribution? I can only
guess at the logic behind it, but clearly "We weren't looking to port
because we have right of way over those boats" isn't a good excuse.

Remember that Boat/US paid a considerable amount to repair the starboard
tacker - new roller furling (not cheap on a 41 footer) plus a serious
hole in the bow repaired. All of the work was approved immediately -
IIRC within a few days after the accident they were saying, "do the work
and send us the bill."

So the liability issue only had to do with the deductibles. According
to the settlement, my friends were responsible for 24% of both, or a few
hundred dollars. Not too bad, considering the situation.

I've heard that representatives of the various insurance companies get
together to determine how to divide up the various liabilities. I
assume this 24% number comes down from that.