This week Greg-Your 1st Mate returns after several weeks off to announce new expansion plans for the World of Boating radio show. Plus the crew navigate the latest boating news and information.
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NEWS FLASH: PROPS ARE SHARP!
Comments sought on propeller-strike report
The Coast Guard and the American Boat and Yacht Council released a draft report, “Human Factors Analysis of Propeller Strikes,” prepared by CED Investigative Technologies Inc.
The report concludes that no universal solution exists to mitigate the risk of injury from accidental contact with boat propellers — an issue that the Coast Guard has studied since as early as 1988.
“While no universal solutions exist for this problem, propeller guards have been shown to offer limited protection under certain conditions with particular hull types and engine combinations and are one method of mitigating this risk of injury,” the report states.
“Other mitigation methods should be studied to extend the opportunity of mitigating injury from propeller strikes,” according to the report. “These methods can include training, the use of alert technology, and even modifications to boat layout, such as the location of boarding ladders.”
The report is open for comment until April 11.
People injured by boat propellers have brought lawsuits against several boatbuilders in recent years.
The National Marine Manufacturers Association has formed a task force to review the report and provide comment. NMMA members who would like to participate or would like additional information are asked to contact Cindy Squires at csquires@nmma.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (202) 737-9766.
Our view from the helm:
A universal solution is the utilization of common sense. You don't open the door of a moving car, jump out, get run over and sue the car or tire manufacturer because there wasn't a warning posted in the car stating that if you engaged in such activity it could cause serious injury or death.
There is an inherent risk in everything we do, from the time we get out of bed in the morning to, well, the time we get out of bed the following morning and so on.
It's high time that we as a society take responsibility for our actions and accept that fact that the majority of products out there are safe but can be dangerous and cause injury or death if not used properly.
Do we really need a warning on the side of a styrofoam cup that the hot coffee we ordered is “hot”? Or that propellers on boats, whether spinning or not, are sharp and can cut you? Specifically what is it about the marine industry that makes the consumer want to sue for their own lack of judgement?
There are laws regarding the mandatory use of seat-belts in cars. If a driver or their passengers choose to not use a seat belt and then are injured in an accident whose fault is that? The car manufacturer? The seat belt maker? Of course not. It's the fault of the person who chose to not secure a seat belt across their body just as it's the fault of the person that chooses to jump out of a boat with the engine still running, or the person who backs a boat up into one of their passengers, or the drunk boater who operates their boat in such a manner that their passenger falls overboard and is struck by the propeller.
It's been often said that there ought to be a law. It's a shame to think that for boaters there may just have to be.
Department Of Common Sense?
State threatens suit against boat hobbyists
Posted: Feb 08, 2012 6:27 PM EST Posted by Nancy Amons
MURFREESBORO, TN (WSMV) -The Tennessee Department of Revenue is threatening court action against a Murfreesboro man who built a small wooden boat in his garage with his 7-year-old son.
The state says that makes him a boat dealer and subject to paying extra taxes.
The boat is 14 feet long and made of wood. The family ordered the plans over the Internet because 7-year-old Carter loves to fish with his dad.
But when the Kings registered their boat and paid the boat registration fees, the nightmare started.
Letters from the Tennessee Department of Revenue say that because the Kings are boat dealers and manufacturers, they have to pay $539 dollars in taxes on the boat.
Johnathan King thought there was a mistake, so he called the auditor assigned to his case.
“I explained to them that this is just a wooden craft built in the garage, and they indicated that they knew that that was what this was,” King says.
Revenue didn't back down from insisting they were dealers, and warned the family the state could get injunctions or even pursue misdemeanor charges if they didn't pay the taxes.
“If we don't, they could file liens and levies against the craft,” King says.
“To say it politely, I think it's quite silly,” he says.
How could something you build in your own garage for your own use make you a dealer?
We asked the Department of Revenue for an interview. They said they couldn't discuss the cases of individual taxpayers, and said that no one was available to speak about the issue, even in general terms.
Johnathan King says there's no way he's a dealer; this boat is intended to be a family heirloom that will be passed to his son's children.
“It'll never be for sale,” he says. “He would be very upset, yes.”
Our view from the helm: We all know how this story will end. The Tennessee Department of Revenue will back down from their ridiculous position and the King family will not face any legal action from the state.
What we always wonder about with stories like this is what government nimrod thought that they would actually get away with trying to enforce a law that is clearly intended for situations other than a family building their own boat from a mail order kit and using it for their own personal enjoyment?
The 1st Ridiculous Boating Injury Lawsuit of 2012 Has Arrived!
Woman sues boat operator, renter
Deondra Scott was seriously injured by a propeller at Lake Norman event in June.
By Gary L. Wright
gwright@charlotteobserver.com
By Gary L. Wright The Charlotte Observer
Posted: Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012
A Charlotte woman who lost one of her arms and her breasts after being struck by a boat propeller on Lake Norman last June has sued the boat operator.
Deondra Scott – who also is suing the boat manufacturer and the person who rented out the boat – claims she was struck twice by a propeller after she'd jumped into the water at the Lake Bash on Lake Norman.
Scott alleges that Dennis F. Allen, the boat's operator, had never operated a motorboat before the accident and did not have the skill to handle a motorboat in a public area, especially during one of the most crowded events on Lake Norman.
Scott, 25, claims that she was injured while Allen was maneuvering the motorboat in an attempt to tie it to another boat and participate in the Lake Bash. Allen had rented the motorboat to go to the Lake Bash with a group of friends, including Scott, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that a few of Allen's passengers, including Scott, had jumped into the water while Allen was trying to tie up the boat.
The lawsuit alleges that Allen, because of his inexperience, lack of training and inability to see people in the water, failed to turn off the engine and continued to try to tie up with another boat.
“As (Scott) was swimming towards the ladder attached to the stern of the boat so that she could board the swim platform, Ms. Jennifer Pagliaro (a passenger in the boat), along with other people in the area, screamed at defendant Allen to cut (immediately turn off) the engine,” the lawsuit says.
Allen “panicked” and “slammed” the throttle into a reverse gear, striking Scott with the boat's propeller, the lawsuit alleges. Scott claims Allen then put the boat into a forward gear, causing the propeller to strike her again.
Scott alleges in the lawsuit that she suffered severe injuries, including lacerations to her right arm and breasts. The arm and breasts have been amputated, she says. She claims she also suffered serious lacerations to both legs, a punctured lung and a severed sternum.
Scott alleges that as a result of Allen's “reckless and negligent actions,” she has suffered damages – “medical bills, lost wages, permanent injury, scarring, loss of limb, loss of other essential body parts, pain and suffering in excess of ten thousand dollars.” She says she also has “suffered extreme emotional and psychological problems.”
Allen, 30, was charged with operating a boat in a reckless manner. The misdemeanor charge is pending.
Scott also has sued David D. Orzolek and Chaparral Boats Inc. Orzolek rented the motorboat to Allen and Chaparral Boats designed, manufactured and marketed the boat, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that Orzolek was aware or should have been aware that Allen had never operated a motorboat and knew or should have known the danger Allen posed to the public.
Orzolek “erroneously entrusted, poorly supervised and inadequately trained defendant Allen, subjecting (Scott) to great risk,” the lawsuit alleges.
Scott claims that Chaparral Boats sold the motorboat to the public despite its unsafe design for a 14-passenger boat. She claims that seven passengers are necessarily seated behind the operator, potentially obstructing his or her vision.
The boat's swim platform and ladder, the lawsuit alleges, are only a few feet from the boat's propeller.
Allen and Orzolek could not be reached for comment Monday.
Bob Ellis, a customer service specialist with Chaparral Boats in Nashville, Ga., said the company's lawyers are investigating the incident. “We were not aware this had occurred until we got the lawsuit,” Ellis said.
Staff researchers Marion Paynter and Maria David contributed
Our view from the helm is this: Dennis F. Allen who was driving the boat and Deondra Scott who was struck by the boat both share responsibility for this accident. Mr. Allen for failing to properly control his passengers and Ms. Scott for jumping out of the boat and then swimming back to it while the motor was still running. It is not the fault of Chaparral Boats or the business that rented the boat to Mr. Allen.
Case closed!
BoatUS estimates vessel damage at $500 million
BoatUS estimates vessel damage at $500 million
Posted on 30 August 2011
Hurricane Irene likely caused an estimated $500 million in damage to boats, according to Jim Holler, senior vice president of underwriting for BoatUS.
That figure, he said, does not include damage to boating facilities, and includes all boats, whether insured or not, in all states affected by the storm. What made Irene so powerful, he said, was not the wind, but the large geographic area it affected, the rain, the flooding and the storm surge.
Despite the losses incurred up and down the East Coast, inland areas of New York and New England and in the Bahamas, BoatUS officials said boaters and marina owners seemed to take heed of the storm warnings and take precautions to protect their boats.
“Our members and our insurers who took advantage of our named storm haul-out provision of the policy, where we will reimburse them 50 percent of the cost of hauling their boat out up to $1,000 … have fared much, much better and in most cases had no damage. The boats that are damaged, almost exclusively, are boats that were left in the water and boats that were left in the water on moorings,” Carroll Robertson, senior vice president of claims for BoatUS, told Soundings Trade Only this morning.
So far, Boat US has received about 1,000 calls from those it insures letting it know that they are taking advantage of this provision. Robertson said she expects that number to grow.
Some of the most significant pockets of calls are coming from the Hudson River Valley and Lake George, N.Y., as well as Cape Cod, Mass., she added.
“I think not only did our members take heed in protecting their boats, I think the marinas to a large extent up and down the East Coast took heed of these warnings and prepared their facilities well, as well,” Holler said.
“The [Chesapeake] Bay did not see the surge and the high waters that it saw during Isobel, and I think that’s one of the things that saved a lot of the boats on the bay, and we don’t see the damage on the Chesapeake Bay like we did with [Hurricane] Isobel [in 2003],” he added. “There was not the high surge.”
Jerry Cardarelli, vice president of BoatUS Towing Services, said the least amount of damage was reported by TowBoatUS locations where there were mandatory evacuations, such as along the Jersey shore and North Carolina.
The worst damage reported so far has come from New Bedford, Mass., he said. A new hurricane barrier had recently been built there, and it’s believed that many boaters thought that would protect them from the storm.
Only about 50 boats were hauled out prior to the storm. TowBoat US has since done 15 salvages in the area, and an estimated 50 to 100 boats sustained damage, Cardarelli said.
“They said it was crazy,” he added. “They had such high exposure, and people just didn’t move their boats. It seemed the Northeast, especially Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, seemed to be the least prepared and so far has reported the most damage.”
Cardarelli estimated that TowBoatUS had a 10 percent surge in calls for haulouts last week before the storm and, although it’s quiet now, he expects to get a lot of calls this weekend.
“We expect a high surge of towing breakdown cases this weekend because people are going to go back to their boats in the Carolinas and the Jersey coastline and Long Island,” he said. “They’ve been inland, but they have their boats on the coast, and they’re either going to launch them on their trailers or go back to the marinas to survey what happened and then take them out, and there’s a good chance they’re going to break down this weekend – and it’s Labor Day weekend, the third-highest towing weekend of the summer.”
– Beth Rosenberg