toad_oftoadhall
Well-Known Member
The owner ought to have taken note of the weather & discussed it with his skipper, who was taking on crew who were actually paying to delivery the boat.
there is a "Duty of care" that seemingly was ignored
The owner employed a skipper to make those judgements. In this case the owner seems to have been a sailor. Supposing the owner was not a sailor. Would a qualified RYA skipper have to ok his plans with an non-sailor owner?
What if the owner was off sick or on holiday? Would a random non-sailor person in the office have to tell the qualified skipper if it's ok to sail or not?
It's perfectly reasonable for a firm to hire someone to take responsibility for these kinds of decisions. The skipper is the sole person who needs to be involved in the decision.
If I hire a qualified guy to work on my gas and he blows my house up, it's not my fault, it's his.
Who certified the skipper as qualified to make these judgements? Who certified the crew? Ahhh, the RYA. No wonder they're so desperate to make HL a scapegoat.
Looks like there will be a trial. We'll have some facts then.