Saturday, July 9, 2011

Legality of single-handed sailing?

From wikipedia

Questionable Legality

The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) is the international agreement between 168 UN member nations forming the 'rules-of-the-road' to be followed by ships and other vessels at sea. Any citizen of a signing nation is bound by these rules when in international waters. As they pertain to single-handed sailing:

Rule #1(a) -- These Rules shall apply to all vessels upon the high seas and in all waters connected therewith navigable by seagoing vessels.

Rule #5 -- Every vessel must at all times keep a proper look-out by sight, hearing, and all available means in order to judge if risk of collision exists.

Since a single-handed, long-distance sailor will need to sleep at some point, the activity is in violation of international law. Currently there is no evidence of authorities pro-actively enforcing the look-out rule on non-commercial craft. However, in the event of an incident at sea, if the master of a vessel is found to have violated one or more COLREGS, they may be found completely liable for the costs of rescue efforts, property damages or loss, loss of income, salvage costs, environmental cleanup costs, and so on. In the event of loss of life, criminal gross negligence charges are possible.

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