That's the thing. If you take the view that strangers are only friends you haven't met yet, the racing boat fraternity are fine. But, if you/someone/the authorities try to lay down a definition of friend that relies on knowing someone for more than a few minutes, that could have a major impact on yacht racing in the UK.
Mike Thrussell Jnr, owner of www.worldseafishing.com, recently wrote to the MCA to try and get their take on this matter before proceeding with starting a Boating Buddies Forum. This was their reply:
The definition of a "pleasure vessel" is laid down in our Merchant Shipping (Vessels in Commercial Use for Sport and Pleasure) Regulations 1998, SI1998/2771, and is also repeated in MGN280 the Small Commercial Vessels Code.
I'm not a lawyer, and I can't therefore give you formal legal advice, but a system set up to so that anglers can go out on a stranger's boat would, as far as I can see, come under the requirement for commercial operation and the vessels would need to be coded under MGN280.
There is no practical difference between what you are suggesting, and a commercial operation allowing people to charter a sea-angling boat over the internet. In both cases, people would be going out on an unknown boat with an unknown person. The regulations are intended to ensure that you can be confident that both the boat and the skipper meet certain minimum standards. Your proposed web page could also undermine legitimate commercial sea angling operators.
The absence of payment does not of itself mean that an operation is not commercial. Similarly, friends and family can pay for fuel and trip expenses - eg berthing fees - on a pleasure trip without it becoming commercial.
At stake is not just the legality of the operation; in the event of an incident, if you were found to be operating uncoded, then insurance might not pay out - or you could have a long court case to get them to pay, and you could be liable to be sued by affected parties in a civil court.
I think it would be inappropriate for you to create this web page, which would in effect be encouraging people to break the law; you could not absolve yourselves of your responsibilities just with a covering point about the legalities (or lack of them).
I appreciate that is not really the answer you were looking for, but I'm afraid that the regulations are there to protect the public and your proposals, whilst clearly well intentioned, would have some important negative consequences for safety.
