Coast Guard Fee's for Rescue???

[fitzmair]

Does the U.S. Coast Guard charge a fee if they respond to rescue persons off a boat? I would imagine there would be a fee if there was a medical emergency requiring transport, but what about a boat in distress that needs to be evacuated? The reason I ask is I read an article last night about a guy and his crew sailing from Long Beach to Hawaii on a 34' Catalina that had to be rescued 200 miles off-shore and left his boat adrift after rescue and got to wondering if the Coast Guard billed him.

[David M]

The Coasties have that option. If it is a legitimate rescue then they probably won't charge you. If you called in a false distress, then they will charge you money and criminally prosecute you as well.

I think the philosophy is that if they start charging for rescues then people who really need help would be less inclined to get help when they really need it.

As for the grey area in between where someone calls in a rescue when they don't really need a rescue, then I would guess that whether or not to charge, is decided on a case by case basis.

[camaraderie]

There is NO charge for a rescue by the US Coast Guard.
(Other than your taxes!)

There are times when I wish there was some sort of large "negligence" fine for captains whose actions or inaction substantially contribute to the NEED for a rescue.

[ssullivan]

I think it would be a good idea if *everyone* who was rescued at sea everywhere had to pay an hourly charge for the helicopters, service people, etc...

It's a ridiculous thing to rely on your nanny (the nanny state) to babysit you if you take on personal risk. I say, charge everyone full price of the rescue.

As I've said on here before: Every time the govt has to spend money on boaters, they will eventually find a way to restrict our current freedoms to curtail that spending.

Boating is a luxury. Everyone rescued should pay up - even me, when my boat is 400% of my net worth.

I feel firmly that if you aren't prepared for the risk, or aren't willing to ride it out on your boat, or even (dare I say) prepared to die if you haven't dotted all the i's an crossed all the t's, you should pay for that rescue.

Me? I'm actually prepared to die if I screw up and end up out there with no means to get back on a sinking boat. Should have thought it out better if it comes to that.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

I think it would be a good idea if *everyone* who was rescued at sea everywhere had to pay an hourly charge for the helicopters, service people, etc...

It's a ridiculous thing to rely on your nanny (the nanny state) to babysit you if you take on personal risk. I say, charge everyone full price of the rescue.

As I've said on here before: Every time the govt has to spend money on boaters, they will eventually find a way to restrict our current freedoms to curtail that spending.

Boating is a luxury. Everyone rescued should pay up - even me, when my boat is 400% of my net worth.

I feel firmly that if you aren't prepared for the risk, or aren't willing to ride it out on your boat, or even (dare I say) prepared to die if you haven't dotted all the i's an crossed all the t's, you should pay for that rescue.

Me? I'm actually prepared to die if I screw up and end up out there with no means to get back on a sinking boat. Should have thought it out better if it comes to that.

I could not afford it so I would not make the call. I would die with you.
Now..........rescue insurance...........a new insurance business........hmmmm

[Bill G]

Many climbers, esp. in the Alps, have insurance to cover the cost of rescues. I guess that historically a salvage claim has been the way that marine rescuers can recover costs.

[JohnWms]

Rescue insurance isn't new, GEOS Search and Rescue (SPOT), and isn't that expensive.

The SPOT device calls them Spot Messenger > Home.

I have both.

I also have an EPIRB. There's quite a bit of overlap between the SPOT and the EPIRB but I use the SPOT every day that I'm under way. I know it works. Can't say that for sure about the EPIRB.

The SPOT folks just added the ability to link to a "public" page with your position overlaid on Google Maps.

[hellosailor]

Sean, we all have compulsory USCG rescue insurance. Even the non-boaters are required to join and pay, just in case they do something stupid like take a ferry or a plane and it splashes. The insurance program is called "TAX PAYER".

That's one of the reasons that the US is properly called a socialist democratic capitalist republic, or something like that. And all in all, I think funding the USCG is more important than fighting the British (boy, has "empire" come back to bite their asses!), coining currency (MasterCard anyone?) or the Indians (laughing from the casinos and tobacco stands).

Fitz, the USCG CANNOT charge anyone for their services, they have no authorization to do so. Prosecutions for false distress calls and the like are something entirely different.

[David M]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Sean, we all have compulsory USCG rescue insurance. Even the non-boaters are required to join and pay, just in case they do something stupid like take a ferry or a plane and it splashes. The insurance program is called "TAX PAYER".

That's one of the reasons that the US is properly called a socialist democratic capitalist republic, or something like that. And all in all, I think funding the USCG is more important than fighting the British (boy, has "empire" come back to bite their asses!), coining currency (MasterCard anyone?) or the Indians (laughing from the casinos and tobacco stands).

Fitz, the USCG CANNOT charge anyone for their services, they have no authorization to do so. Prosecutions for false distress calls and the like are something entirely different.

I have read the opposite that they do have that discretion but they choose not to.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by JohnWms

Rescue insurance isn't new, GEOS Search and Rescue (SPOT), and isn't that expensive.

The SPOT device calls them Spot Messenger > Home.

I have both.

I also have an EPIRB. There's quite a bit of overlap between the SPOT and the EPIRB but I use the SPOT every day that I'm under way. I know it works. Can't say that for sure about the EPIRB.

The SPOT folks just added the ability to link to a "public" page with your position overlaid on Google Maps.

Sounds good to me.
I wonder if their lawyers have used this very much -

PLEASE NOTE This benefit does not apply if:-
a) your situation is caused by circumstances such as a forecast change of weather conditions, which could reasonably have been anticipated at the date you started your trip
b) you have NOT made adequate provision of resources or training or competence needed to complete your planned trip.

Words like "reasonably","adequate" and "competence" are open to gross interpretation - just read any forum.

[hellosailor]

David-
Where have you read that the USCG can charge US civilians for rescue services? As opposed to, say, a salvage on the high seas of non-citizens, or some other circumstance? (Or even that.)

I'd expect to find authorization in the USC, if it had been granted to them. Haven't looked lately but don't recall it ever being there.

[DeepFrz]

So far as I know there is no charge for rescue anywhere in the world by any country's rescue services. Some countries (such as Canada) use volunteers to bolster the Coast Guard or the Search and Rescue Service.

[knottybuoyz]

Any payments for future Search & Rescues (paying it forward) in Canadian waters can be forwarded to:

Senior Information Staff Officer
Station 6S042
200 Kent St.
Ottawa, ON
K1A0E6

Cash is preferable and plain manilla envolopes only please!

[LtBrett]

I think the confusion comes from the penalty phase of prosecutions for false alarms. Once a person is fould guilty, I have heard the Coast Guard estimate the cost of the rescue. I think it may be used to help bound the penalty. I wonder if that money actually goes to the CG, to wherever federal fines end up, or just to the locality where the trial was held.

Brett

[David M]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

David-
Where have you read that the USCG can charge US civilians for rescue services? As opposed to, say, a salvage on the high seas of non-citizens, or some other circumstance? (Or even that.)

I'd expect to find authorization in the USC, if it had been granted to them. Haven't looked lately but don't recall it ever being there.

Hello,
I don't remember where I read it. It was quite some time ago. I think we need to differentiate between the Coasties charging for false distress calls, where they do charge....and real calls where they have the option to charge but never do...not because they can't but because they won't.

It would be interesting if someone could come up with a definitive answer. I could be wrong, but that is what I remember reading.

Didn't one of our moderators recently write the Coast Guard about an issue? Perhaps that same moderator could write the same person in the Coast Guard concerning this issue and get a definitive answer straight from the horses mouth?

David