Dive Boat Unattended By Dive Op With Divers Below - Safe Practice?

[Centrals]

I like finding boats adrift offshore with no one on them. Sadly, they are usually crap.

I am just curious.
What would yo do if the boat is intact? Can you claim it? What is your salvage right in this case?

 

[Wookie]

Law of salvage applies. Problem is, when I'm offshore I'm on charter. Charter guests aren't paying for me to salvage boats.

 

[Centrals]

Law of salvage applies. Problem is, when I'm offshore I'm on charter. Charter guests aren't paying for me to salvage boats.

If you are running your own boat and found an unattended boat. What would you do?
Do you have the right to toll it and claim it afterwards?
Would the law of salvage applies?

 

[RyanT]

Sorry if this has already been brought up, but there were two coasties rescued recently off NC when their boat parted with the anchor while they were diving and no one was on board. They said in the future they will use two anchors. SAR...interfering with natural selection!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Sorry if this has already been brought up, but there were two coasties rescued recently off NC when their boat parted with the anchor while they were diving and no one was on board. They said in the future they will use two anchors. SAR...interfering with natural selection!

I remembered that. I would expect (but I've been wrong before), that they got a fairly good ass chewing as that made the USCG look foolish.

 

[Wookie]

Yes, with rare exceptions, finders keepers. Unnatended and adrift. You'd have a hard time enforcing a lloyds open form on a moored vessel.

 

[stuartv]

As I see it, there are potentially two separate ways PADI could be implicated: (1) if PADI imposed some requirement on DMs relating to boats (or even a more general duty of care to the DM's clients could be the key), and a PADI DM employed by the dive op did not follow the requirement; or (2) if PADI imposed some duty on PADI-affiliated dive ops relating to boats, and the captain or crew employed by the dive op did not follow the requirement. Stuart's comments have pointed to the first possibility

To be clear, it doesn't sound to me like the DM did anything wrong at all. It sounds like the DM was in the water with customers when the captain and crew went snorkeling. So, presumably, the DM didn't even know about it.

My post was simply to address the question of "if there was no training going on, why does PADI have anything to do with this?" If there was a PADI Pro present, then they have a code of conduct (I think!) to follow at all times, whether there was active training happening or not.

If the captain or crew member were PADI Pros, then MAYBE there is some general duty of care thing in PADI's rules for pros that they might think applies and had been violated (but I doubt it). Again, I'm not saying anyone did anything wrong, actually. I'm just saying that having a PADI Pro on the boat makes PADI have some interest or jurisdiction, if you will, over that person or persons. And they almost certainly have something in their rules for pros that is vague and general enough that they COULD take someone to task for just about anything that person does, if they really want to. "Our rules require you to conduct yourself in a professional manner at all times and farting in front of a customer is not the way a professional behaves. 50 lashes!!"

 

[muzikbiz22]

I would argue that;
1 - Regardless of a PADI DM on the boat (either off duty or on duty), that has nothing to do with a Captain of a commercial vessel wanting to hop of the boat for a dip or a dive. The Captain has made the conscious decision to do so, and that's on HIM. It seems that the jury is still out whether this is permissible (or how) under Maritime Law.
2 - There was no dive accident here, there was no boating accident here.
3 - PADI DM's make money in ways other than assisting with training.

Summation - A Captain in control of a chartered vessel with paying passengers was at anchor, made a decision to jump of the boat to cool off and do some snorkeling, get back on the boat, dry off, and get ALL of his passengers back to shore safely.

 

[KathyV]

I checked the DAN website to see if they have any safety recommendations about it. They stress over and over that you have to check-out and check-in with someone at the start and end of the dive - and that infers that somebody should actually be on the boat to check with. It is only for private boats that I've found the statement that someone competent should remain topside, see below.

DAN safety recommendation:

"Check out and check in. Prior to entering the water, make sure you notify someone and check in with them when you return. If you are on a private boat, make sure someone knowledgeable of boat procedures and dive safety stays topside to tend to the boat."

 

[KathyV]

I found this article from 2008 from Undercurrent discussing this topic in Cayman and the US and it references PADI...

"....While the U.S. doesn’t spell out lookout requirements as specifically as the Cayman Islands, the Coast Guard and dive boat insurers make it clear they want a trained professional on the boat with divers in the water. Federal regulations for commercial dive operations state: “The person-in-charge shall ensure that: 1) a means of rapid communications with the diving supervisor while the diver is entering, in, or leaving the water is established; and 2) a boat and crew for diver pickup in the event of an emergency is provided.” Also, “the person-in-charge shall ensure a boat and crew for diver pickup is provided.” In its dive-boat insurance policy brochure, PADI states, “Dive vessel coverage excludes divers while they are in the water and requires an insured professional on board. To best protect the vessel owner, diving accidents in the water should be covered by a professional liability policy carried by professional instructors and divemasters..."

Cayman Dive Operators Protest Safety Regulations: Undercurrent 08/2008