After getting drenched in a heavy downpour last week and on my way
home, I notice a fellow off to the side of the ICW *walking* his boat
up the waterway. He waves and appears to be in distress so I turn
around to see what's up.

Turns out,

His battery is dead. I hand over my battery booster which doesn't help
much. (Im wondering if I shouldn't have bought a larger one) He then
asks me to tow him to the wildlife ramp. (approx. 3-4 miles)
to which I reluctantly replied ok. He said a couple other guys had stopped
but refused to give him a tow. I have never had to tow anyone but was
willing to help the guy out.

I did irk me that he had no back up of any kind. i.e. extra battery, paddle.
battery booster.

When we got to the ramp, he offered no *thank you* but a "what do I owe
you"?
A thank you would have sufficed, I guess that's what he meant.

Afterwards, I starting thinking about what my obligations are in similar
situations.

I think Im only legally obligated to lend assistance only if it is a dire
situation or
someone is hurt. Maybe someone could clear this up.

Isn't a sad commentary on our times when we have to worry about our
"obligations and legal liabilities", when we decide to stop and lend a
hand?


"D-unit" cof42_AT_embarqmail.com wrote in message
...
After getting drenched in a heavy downpour last week and on my way
home, I notice a fellow off to the side of the ICW *walking* his boat
up the waterway. He waves and appears to be in distress so I turn
around to see what's up.

Turns out,

His battery is dead. I hand over my battery booster which doesn't
help
much. (Im wondering if I shouldn't have bought a larger one) He then
asks me to tow him to the wildlife ramp. (approx. 3-4 miles)
to which I reluctantly replied ok. He said a couple other guys had
stopped
but refused to give him a tow. I have never had to tow anyone but was
willing to help the guy out.

I did irk me that he had no back up of any kind. i.e. extra battery,
paddle.
battery booster.

When we got to the ramp, he offered no *thank you* but a "what do I
owe
you"?
A thank you would have sufficed, I guess that's what he meant.

Afterwards, I starting thinking about what my obligations are in
similar
situations.

I think Im only legally obligated to lend assistance only if it is a
dire
situation or
someone is hurt. Maybe someone could clear this up.

I think Im only legally obligated to lend assistance only if it is a dire
situation or someone is hurt. Maybe someone could clear this up.

You're obligated to help people, not boats. If he was at risk of loss of
life you'd be obligated to help him. But not to drag his unprepared boat
anywhere. Had anything gone wrong during that towing it's likely you'd get
stuck financially. Your insurance policy would probably not cover it *at
all*.

On Sep 4, 9:27?am, "D-unit" cof42_AT_embarqmail.com wrote:
After getting drenched in a heavy downpour last week and on my way
home, I notice a fellow off to the side of the ICW *walking* his boat
up the waterway. He waves and appears to be in distress so I turn
around to see what's up.

Turns out,

His battery is dead. I hand over my battery booster which doesn't help
much. (Im wondering if I shouldn't have bought a larger one) He then
asks me to tow him to the wildlife ramp. (approx. 3-4 miles)
to which I reluctantly replied ok. He said a couple other guys had stopped
but refused to give him a tow. I have never had to tow anyone but was
willing to help the guy out.

I did irk me that he had no back up of any kind. i.e. extra battery, paddle.
battery booster.

When we got to the ramp, he offered no *thank you* but a "what do I owe
you"?
A thank you would have sufficed, I guess that's what he meant.

Afterwards, I starting thinking about what my obligations are in similar
situations.

I think Im only legally obligated to lend assistance only if it is a dire
situation or
someone is hurt. Maybe someone could clear this up.

Check your individual state law.

In most jurisdictions, offering rescue services or other assistance is
legally optional. Might be morally or ethically compelled, but seldom
legally required. In fact, some people are reluctant to lend
assistance due to well-founded fear of lawsuits. There have been many
well publicized cases where a passer-by performs CPR on somebody
having a heart attack, the victim dies anyway, and the person who
offered the assistance is then sued by the deceased's heirs for an
enormous amount of money.

States now typically have "Good Samaritan" laws in place to protect
volunteer rescuers from such lawsuits, but some states have a variety
of standards that appply and in many the voluntary rescue must be
performed with a certain level of competence for the legal protection
to be fully effective.

The USCG actually refers to boaters who stop and render assistance as
"good Sams" or "good Samaritans". In the original parable of the Good
Samaritan, a foreigner from Samaria stopped to assist a person injured
on the side of the road when the person's actual neighbors were
pretending not to notice him. Being a good Samaritan is a voluntary
action.

When monitoring Channel 16, its normal to hear the Coast Guard "ask"
whether there are vessels in the vicinity of a situation that might be
willing to help...."any vessels in the vicinity willing to render
assistance or provide additional information......". If there were
some law requiring compliance, I think we would hear "all vessels in
the vicinity are directed to proceed to the scene....."

On Tue, 4 Sep 2007 12:27:23 -0400, "D-unit" cof42_AT_embarqmail.com
wrote:

After getting drenched in a heavy downpour last week and on my way
home, I notice a fellow off to the side of the ICW *walking* his boat
up the waterway. He waves and appears to be in distress so I turn
around to see what's up.

Turns out,

His battery is dead. I hand over my battery booster which doesn't help
much. (Im wondering if I shouldn't have bought a larger one)

If it starts *you* up, that's all you need.
For all you know, he was out of gas, or flooded, or had other problems
with the engine, which is why he ran his battery down.
Can't tell you how much time I wasted trying to jump somebody's
car in the winter before I learned to recognize that it just wasn't
going to start with my jump, and to tell them flat out to call a truck
with the amps to start it or the cable to tow it.

He then
asks me to tow him to the wildlife ramp. (approx. 3-4 miles)
to which I reluctantly replied ok. He said a couple other guys had stopped
but refused to give him a tow. I have never had to tow anyone but was
willing to help the guy out.

I did irk me that he had no back up of any kind. i.e. extra battery, paddle.
battery booster.

When we got to the ramp, he offered no *thank you* but a "what do I owe
you"?
A thank you would have sufficed, I guess that's what he meant.

That's a little tricky. I would have tried to convince you to buy a
case of beer on me or buy one of your kids a model boat or something
on me. If you refused twice, a heartfelt thanks would do.

Afterwards, I starting thinking about what my obligations are in similar
situations.

I think Im only legally obligated to lend assistance only if it is a dire
situation or
someone is hurt. Maybe someone could clear this up.

Don't know the legalities, but you did right if you feel right.
I've done such acts (not boats) and sometimes felt like a sucker
afterwards, but suspect I would have felt worse if I hadn't done it.
Might check with your insurance company and see what they say.
That could give you an out if you're not entirely comfortable with the
circumstances.


--Vic

On Tue, 4 Sep 2007 12:27:23 -0400, "D-unit" cof42_AT_embarqmail.com
wrote:

Afterwards, I starting thinking about what my obligations are in similar
situations.

I think Im only legally obligated to lend assistance only if it is a dire
situation or
someone is hurt. Maybe someone could clear this up.

It's a judgement call in my opinion, with a lot depending on
circumstances. In this particular instance with no ones safety at
stake I think you would have been well within your obligationss to
just call SeaTow or TowBoatUS on the radio or cell phone. On the
other hand if you did not put yourself at risk, and were not overly
inconvenienced, you did the right thing by helping him out. A boat in
that situation is unprepared in some way, almost by definition.

We rescued a boat several weeks ago under much different
circumstances. I put my own boat at some risk to rescue folks that
were drifting into the rocks and breaking surf, but in my judgement
there was much greater risk if I did nothing, and there was no time to
wait for USCG or anyone else. It could easily be argued that they
were totally unprepared but that's how they got into trouble to begin
with. If we had done nothing however, the memory of watching these
two families getting capsized in the surf would have stayed with us
for a long time.

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...

When monitoring Channel 16, its normal to hear the Coast Guard "ask"
whether there are vessels in the vicinity of a situation that might be
willing to help...."any vessels in the vicinity willing to render
assistance or provide additional information......". If there were
some law requiring compliance, I think we would hear "all vessels in
the vicinity are directed to proceed to the scene....."



I've never heard such a thing.

I *have* heard, "boaters are requested to keep a sharp lookout and to
provide assistance ...".

Must be a different Coast Guard out on the west coast.

Eisboch

"D-unit" wrote:

After getting drenched in a heavy downpour last week and on my way
home, I notice a fellow off to the side of the ICW *walking* his boat
up the waterway. He waves and appears to be in distress so I turn
around to see what's up.

Turns out,

His battery is dead. I hand over my battery booster which doesn't help
much. (Im wondering if I shouldn't have bought a larger one) He then
asks me to tow him to the wildlife ramp. (approx. 3-4 miles)
to which I reluctantly replied ok. He said a couple other guys had stopped
but refused to give him a tow. I have never had to tow anyone but was
willing to help the guy out.

I did irk me that he had no back up of any kind. i.e. extra battery, paddle.
battery booster.

When we got to the ramp, he offered no *thank you* but a "what do I owe
you"?
A thank you would have sufficed, I guess that's what he meant.

Afterwards, I starting thinking about what my obligations are in similar
situations.

I think Im only legally obligated to lend assistance only if it is a dire
situation or
someone is hurt. Maybe someone could clear this up.


I've towed in a few boaters with dead engines over the years. I don't
believe there is any legal obligation to do so. If the boat is otherwise
sound and its captain sober enough to handle his end of the tow line, I
don't see any serious problem.

I think if you see a boat in distress (fire, sinking, man overboard, et
cetera) you are obligated as a fellow human being to render whatever
assistance you can. I rarely ask who the guy voted for in the last
presidential election.

Incidentally, on a small boat such as I have, the odds are just as
likely the battery wire has come loose and that's why there's no juice
and why a jumper won't help. It's happened to me.

"HK" wrote in message
. ..

I think if you see a boat in distress (fire, sinking, man overboard, et
cetera) you are obligated as a fellow human being to render whatever
assistance you can. I rarely ask who the guy voted for in the last
presidential election.


Subject to certain conditions (inability, danger to you or your passengers,
and a couple of others) I believe you also have a legal obligation to
provide assistance if a bona fide distress call (Mayday) is received and/or
you are directed by appropriate authority such as the Coast Guard to assist.

It would obviously be hard to prove that you avoided this responsibility,
but IIRC, those are the rules.

Eisboch

On Sep 4, 10:50?am, "Eisboch" wrote:
"Chuck Gould" wrote in message

oups.com...



When monitoring Channel 16, its normal to hear the Coast Guard "ask"
whether there are vessels in the vicinity of a situation that might be
willing to help...."any vessels in the vicinity willing to render
assistance or provide additional information......". If there were
some law requiring compliance, I think we would hear "all vessels in
the vicinity are directed to proceed to the scene....."

I've never heard such a thing.

I *have* heard, "boaters are requested to keep a sharp lookout and to
provide assistance ...".

Must be a different Coast Guard out on the west coast.

Eisboch

Over the years in this group we have observed that radio and
communications practices do vary tremendously from one USCG district
to another. Heck, the districts don't even all use the same frequency-
some are on 16 and others are on 9.

Our district's "script" for "marine assistance broadcasts" neither
states nor implies that boaters are obligated to assist. In fact,
there seems to be a great emphasis placed on getting stranded boats
hooked up with Sea Tow, etc. I suspect that's one reason that the USCG
tries to get stranded boaters (not those in a life threatening
situation) off the radio and onto a cell phone when possible- too many
cases of "good sams" showing up to provide a free tow 5 minutes before
Sea Tow finishes burning $40 in fuel to arrive at the scene.