Insurance and the RNLI

[ashanta]

I have just returned from an enjoyable trip tp America. On the Journey home I read in the paper that a 70 year a old man had to be rescued close to Shanklin IOW.
The report said that he intended to take a journey of a couple hours max in the Christchurch area. He did not have a chart or VHF radio. He left in the morning of day one and was eventually picked up by the rescue services in the early hours of day two. He had a mobile phone which he used to contact a friend who called the coast guard. The man thought his position was in a location far far away from his actual poition and due to this mis calculation the RNLI spent a long time in the wrong area.
We have read many postings on this subject. However my insurance policy is expensive and each year the insurance comapny try to add more restrictions or more fee. The question of qualifications and only boats which are fit to go to sea allowed to do so becomes more relevent if people who have no idea what they are doing are allowed to endanger others and cost our valuable rescue services a fortune.
Didn't someone write that it cost 2700 Euros to be rescued by the French recently? Well worth it if the the circumstances are beyond your control.

Regards.

Peter.

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[[3889]]

Its easy to see why people get frustrated when negligent acts result in expensive intervention by rescue services. The problem is that if you have to pay either directly or through insurance some people won't / can't? What then - leave them to die? I know car insurance is compulsory but that only has to cover 3rd party losses. Should there be a compulsory lifestyle insurance covering everything we do?
Who would police qulifications for boat owners? I suspect that people willing to act recklessly in the first place will disregard rules - that certainly seems the case with driving with a disproportionatly high number of accidents involving uninsured / unlicensed drivers.

 

[milltech]

I assume that since the RNLI is paid for by voluntary subscription, including mine and hopefully yours, the act of being rescued itself will have no effect on your insurance policy.

If the vessel is a write off then of course it would.

<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>

 

[Mirelle]

Technical footnote

At present the MCA do not have access to cellphone companies cell data, so they do not know from where a cellphone call is being made and have to request a search of a wide area - at vast expense. They are applying for permission to access cell phone cell data for the purposes of locating 999 calls on cellphones, only. They have almost 100 such cases annually - not just people trying to use mobiles from boats, but people on beaches and cliffs who also don't know where they are.

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