Understating Qualification on Charter Boats

[dumpsterDiver]

Unless the boat sank and injured someone on he way down, how could anybody claim you're liable for anything that happens underwater?

He could chop them up in the props.

He could allow them to dive in a storm that was "too rough".

He could fail to look at his radar, fail to analyze the information properly and allow divers to enter the water as a storm approaches and then if a diver is lost... what lawyer is not going to say that the captain should have exercised good judgement and not allowed the dive to proceed - cince he was the only one who could see the weather on his radar- not to mention he has XX years of experience that should have given him more insight than the casual diver from Omaha.

What if the current is screaming and he allows a 55 yr old fat, smoker who is de-hydrated and has been puking for two hours do a dive, could not someone say the captain and or DM's should have told the diver not to enter the water and the divers heart attack might well have been avoided?

What if someone slips on the ladder and a rung of the ladder is missing some friction tape? What if a diver falls off a ladder onto another diver, and the captain did not scream at the victim to back away from the ladder seconds before the accident (instead he was in the head when this critically dangerous operation was occurring)?

I can imagine a million things that can happen that might or might not be under the captain's control that a lawyer could claim that he should have been in control or should have known..

 

[Wookie]

In the September and October 2009 issues of Undercurrent, read the articles Anatomy of a Diving Lawsuit by Bret Gilliam.

Anatomy of a Dive Lawsuit: Undercurrent 09/2009

Anatomy of a Diving Lawsuit: Part II: Undercurrent 10/2009

Aggressor Fleet won the case. Their insurance company hired the lawyers, expert witnesses, etc. Their in-water liability coverage paid for the defense. I'd hate for that to come out of my wallet.

 

[flots am]

Aggressor Fleet won the case. Their insurance company hired the lawyers, expert witnesses, etc. Their in-water liability coverage paid for the defense. I'd hate for that to come out of my wallet.

Yeah, that would do it. It's for paying the lawyers, not actual liability.

 

[Keith.M]

Your profile doesn't say where you're located. A lot of boats here in California don't check certification at all. For liability reasons: if we check then we're responsible for sanctioning that the person is qualified to do the dive. The thinking is that the sites are posted on the website and you decided you could do that dive so you paid your money and came along.

In general - and speaking from experience, not speaking for any boat that I've worked or dove from - I've seen folks here ask for proof of certification to buy nitrox or to register for a technical dive, but even then I'd say it's the exception and not the rule. Nitrox kind of makes sense because we're giving you the gas. If you brought your own nitrox, I probably wouldn't need to see your card.

California boats are maybe a little different in that they're taxi services. We pick you up at a dock and then drop you off in the middle of the ocean. Our crew and DM stay on board the boat. You dive your plan and you come back. If you get into trouble it's really on you and your buddy to sort out. Like I said, we handle the aftermath. So in a lot of ways, yeah: your training is your problem.

I would agree that in California the dive boats are basically a taxi service, just taking you to and back from the dive site.

I have not been on a ton of different boats here, but I have been on a few, and every single one of them checked your certification.

The Marissa, Humboldt, Vision and Beachopper II, all check your certification at check in.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

The Marissa, Humboldt, Vision and Beachopper II, all check your certification at check in.

It seems all the boats require a waiver but few if any are doing any verification. That includes two of the four boats mentioned that I have direct experience with. Maybe in depends on what the individual and your group looks like. It seems pretty silly to ask someone showing up with a set of doubles, a drysuit and a housed DSLR if they are certified. Then too those people are usually known to the crew. So if you look like one of "those people" you usually do not get asked either.

No one that I am aware of cares about cert levels locally. Maybe that applies where the original poster lives but not in California.

 

[Tigerman]

I wont turn up with doubles, but I could well show up with a dslr and a drysuit.. I still get asked for "a certification" though. Generally the one saying I can have voodoogas in my tank is the one they want..

 

[Keith.M]

It seems all the boats require a waiver but few if any are doing any verification. That includes two of the four boats mentioned that I have direct experience with. Maybe in depends on what the individual and your group looks like. It seems pretty silly to ask someone showing up with a set of doubles, a drysuit and a housed DSLR if they are certified. Then too those people are usually known to the crew. So if you look like one of "those people" you usually do not get asked either.

No one that I am aware of cares about cert levels locally. Maybe that applies where the original poster lives but not in California.

Whatever...

My experience with all four of those boats was waiver and certification. Required from every diver. No one singled out and no one left out.

Now maybe if it was a tec charter, which I know several will do, they are already familiar with all the divers coming on.

 

[Jaydubya]

I got asked to see a card before my last charter. A MasterCard.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tigerman]

I got asked to see a card before my last charter. A MasterCard.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As a change of pace, before my last trip they DIDNT ask to see that. They always have before but not this last trip...
They still asked to see "a cert" though and as mentioned, since I wanted nitrox thats the card they wanted to see

 

[Bob DBF]

I am curious how in California, USA the boats can act as a taxi service and not even check a certification card and yet in Florida, USA it is like the Gestapo are in charge and the prospective diver is interrogated without mercy? The Florida boats claim it is their insurance requirements, is it? really?

I may have more to do with the clientele. They are not going to get some clown in swim trunks that just found some gear go out for some kelp diving. It is common knowledge that the diving is cold, low viz and larger swell than the tropics, it puts people off. Also I have watched a boat DM's intervention when a diver or dive team is not ready for the conditions, so I know it is not just a taxi, otherwise why would he care.

I do not generally provide my highest cert, only the one required for the dive.

N

I use my OW card, it has less numbers to write. If they want another I can drag it out.



Bob
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I think that advocating unsafe and dangerous practices is both stupid and foolish. That is why I don't tell people to do what I do. Dsix36