Boat Captain on trial

After reading this sad incident, I would vote to find not guilty, only in that it appears he was not impaired, not behind the wheel. Sure he made a bad mistake in letting someone else take the wheel, but what is the point of also ruining his life. Two people are already dead, why make the situation worse.

Is that the one who crashed into Mountain Point last year?

Yes, well more specifically, Cow's Mouth. Very sad.

"Eaten by sharks from the waist down"...I wasn't aware that man eating sharks were that prevalent in the BVI, especially in the North Sound.

She was found floating the next day out in open water.

Tigers, Makos, Black Tip, Hammerheads Etc are near shore throughout the Caribbean.
I believe he should be freed because it wasn't a boat for hire.

Just to play alittle armchair investigator...

A lot of unanswered questions. Seems like there is more to this story.

A lot of possible explanations, disagreement about who's gonna steer? Wrestling match ensues, boat veers into rocks?

Is there assumed liability in being either a declared or defacto designated driver? If so, that would seem to put a damper on anyone's enthusiasm to be one.

Good mystery movie story line there somewhere

I say..let the evidence tell the tale..whatever the outcome..a tragedy and a warning to many of us ...things happen fast on the ocean..

Right. No " do overs". A sad lesson here. No winners

Hard to say since we don't have all the facts and I'm not versed in BVI law.

However, gross negligence is traditionally a pretty high standard. More than carelessness; the phrase commonly used is "reckless disregard"

Did he act in reckless disregard for the safety of that group? I don't know, but based solely on the limited information in the story, I don't see it.

The story has the prosecution stating he was :

"a negligent captain who operated the boat at an unsafe speed, drove while under the influence of alcohol, and failed to ensure that his passengers were wearing life jackets."

Ok. Let's look at those allegations.

1). Operated at an unsafe speed. Show me what speed the boat was operating at. The story doesn't mention it and I'm nearly 100% confident the government lacks the ability to prove the speed the boat was traveling when the collision occurred. The fact that an accident occurred is not evidence in and of itself that the speed was unsafe.

2). Drove under the influence. Really? If true that would certainly be strong evidence of reckless disregard. However, the witness has stated he didn't appear to be intoxicated and it doesn't appear the investigators bothered to draw breath or blood to get a BAC. You don't get to just assume he was drunk and if they had a BAC that's important enough I think the story would have mentioned it.

3) his passengers weren't wearing life jackets. maybe it's my ignorance, but this one I just don't get. Is there a law or reg I'm unaware of that requires passengers to wear life jackets? Good idea or not virtually nobody wears life jackets. If not making passengers wear jackets amounts to a reckless disregard for their safety there are a lot of grossly negligent captains running around the BVI. Including the CCC's and the professionals.

4) there appears to be some question as to who was actually driving the boat. The prosecution doesn't think it matters, which means they feel simply allowing the other lady to drive was gross negligence. I'm not sure how that works unless they can prove that he somehow knew she was incapable of operating the boat safely. I doubt they can do that.

Based on what I know, if I'm the judge or a juror: not guilty.

A tragic and unfortunate accident to be sure, but from what I've read not criminal.

My own personal opinion I hate the idea of ruining someone's life or even paying for them to sit in a jail if the guilty meant no harm in the accident. I am no where near as sympathetic to those who went out with crime or harm on their mind. I also have no clue on BVI law but if you possess a captains ticket in the US. You own what happens on the boat if you are anywhere on the boat. Even if you a just a guest hitching a ride and never near the helm. Due to those strick no exceptions rules I have and likely never will turn in the paperwork for a USCG license. Somehow the boat ended up way up on the rocks. That means high speed. There are a number of survivers that know whether that large boat was on plane or not. Somehow the licensed professionals on the boat failed to maintain situational awareness along with a proper lookout. That was likely compounded by speed and alchol. In US waters anyone with a ticket would have no defense. I wish for the best for everyone.
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It will be very interesting to see what happens here in light of the incident years ago at JVD where the Moorings chase boat killed the female tourist kayaker. The defense maintained that it was the Moorings fault as the bow of that particular boat limited visibility forward, compounded by waves. It did not appear that the court took maritime law into account (maintaining a proper lookout - pretty basic) and the two West Indians got off scot free.

The boat was not for hire, I don't see how they can place blame on anyone it was just a terrible accident.

Where do you get all this information???

Again I am not a fan of jailing people as a result of an accident where there is no evidence of intent to harm or malice. Not all will agree with that.

Here is one picture of the large heavy 30 foot boat the next day.



Further passengers were ejected and multiple passengers were injured all of that points to high speed collision and rapid deceleration. Back the real simple forensics. What speed did that boat plane at and was that boat on plane. No matter who was steering. The law of the sea. The master in command owns it. There is no getting out of that.

We'll just agree to disagree. Looks to me like the boat could have been going 10 knots but I am not an expert. Is that "high speed"? I also can't agree that someone holding a Captain's license is fully responsible for a boat that they may be on as a guest. I do agree that in this case the Captain, that was acting as Captain, is responsible and I would think that this will be very hard for him for the rest of his life. Especially so since it appears these were his friends.

Should he lose his Captain's license? Maybe. Should he go to jail? I don't think so

All due respect, but this is a commonly-repeated myth that is simply not true. If you have a CG license, and you are operating under the authority of that license--that is, you were hired to be the "captain," or have any paying passengers on board the boat that you are operating--then, yes, absolutely, anything that happens is going to be on you. But just because you have a CG license, that does not mean that you cannot ever go on any boat without being liable for everything that happens.

If I go out on my buddies boat with him, just for a fun day of riding around, the fact that I have a CG license does not enter into it. If something happens while he is in command then he is at fault, not me.

In this particular case, it sounded to me like he was hired to be the captain. I could be wrong about that. If I am not wrong, if he was hired to be the captain then, yes, whatever happens, whoever is at the wheel, he is still responsible.

So deeper into the weeds. The "Captain" was the regular master of the Oil Nut resorts large private yacht. At the time of the accident he also held the title of head of marine operations with Oil Nut. The boat was owned by his employer. On the night of the accident the boat was out "socializing" with subordinate and other lower level employees. The "captain" is no longer employeed by Oil Nut or its owner. You could look at it this way the boss took some of the crew out in the company truck and the truck ended up badly wrecked along with some of the junior employees.

Found guilty of two counts of manslaughter yesterday; sentencing today.

Steve Fossi given non-custodail sentence and fined $45,000.00 for each count of manslaughter.

See story here

They gave him 5 days to cough up $90,000 or face 2 years in prison.

I didn't watch the trial obviously. But I did read the article and a statement from the judge to the effect of, " Fossi had consumed alcohol on the day of the accident and had to have been impaired."

I sincerely hope there was more evidence of intoxication than the judge's personal presumption.

Sad for all. I would hope that Oil Nut Bay pays the fine.
Then this sad case can be put to rest. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

That's what I was wondering, whether he would have the money to be able to pay it...

Since Oil Nut Bay severed all ties with him, I seriously doubt they'll pay the fine for him.

The electronic ignitions sometimes fail on outboards which would cut the power instantly one the motor affected.
That's something that is easily checked.