I would appreciate advice from forum members on an issue we have with a Captain we hired to assist in bringing our newly purchased Mainship 40 Sedan Bridge to Port Aransas, TX from Tarpon Springs, Fl. My wife and I purchased the boat in Florida and, while I have a decent amount of sailing experience, I did not feel comfortable bringing the boat back via the GICW without someone more experienced aboard. So I researched and found a Captain in Florida with a good reputation and experience with this route and signed a contract with him to do the delivery with me and a friend of mine aboard to assist.
The trip was a challenge from the beginning with mechanical issues, fog, and cold weather but we kept up good spirits and got along very well. On what should have been the final day of the trip things completely fell apart. As we went to go through the West Colorado River Lock the port transmission failed to engage. I will write more about this in another post but sea water had gotten into the transmission and we lost pressure. We discussed it and at the Captain's suggestion we decided to press on and get to Rockport where there is a great Yanmar mechanic.
That day we had a stiff north wind of about 25 mph and air temps of about 40 degrees. All was proceeding fine as we limped on one engine. When we got into Matagorda Bay the chart plotter showed an alternate route to starboard for the intercoastal. Both the chart plotter with new chart software and my iPad with new Navionic charts were not very clear about the proper route to take but the markers followed the alternate route to starboard and did not continue straight ahead in what was marked on both charts as the intercoastal. I questioned the Captain and said that I found it strange that there were no markers anymore marking the intercoastal. He indicated that he was in the right channel and continued on in the unmarked channel. I went down below to get some work done since we had internet coverage. About 20 minutes later we ran aground in the middle of the channel he was following. When I came up to the bridge it was clear that we were surrounded by very shallow water. I had a BoatUS membership and we were able to get pulled off after about an hour and a half of banging off the mud bottom. We limped the boat into Port O'Conner, TX and my wife picked us up. The next morning we dropped the Captain off at the airport for his flight home and we started the process of getting our damaged boat home.
After we got the boat to Rockport we had it hauled and found that the grounding damaged the starboard rudder and port prop. The contract I signed with the Captain stated he was not responsible for any damage due to weather or mechanical issues but IMO neither of these were the cause of the damage. The cause was that he chose to take a route where dredging had been discontinued in 2008 due to continual shoaling. Both Active Captain and the 2014 Waterway Guide that I provided showed this as an area to be avoided and explained that the alternate route should be used.
I am not a litigious person and have never sued anyone in my life but I am considering filing a suit since he is not stepping up to take any responsibility. So my question for the the forum is what would you do in the situation i described? Go after him for the cost of the damage or let it go?
Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
The trip was a challenge from the beginning with mechanical issues, fog, and cold weather but we kept up good spirits and got along very well. On what should have been the final day of the trip things completely fell apart. As we went to go through the West Colorado River Lock the port transmission failed to engage. I will write more about this in another post but sea water had gotten into the transmission and we lost pressure. We discussed it and at the Captain's suggestion we decided to press on and get to Rockport where there is a great Yanmar mechanic.
That day we had a stiff north wind of about 25 mph and air temps of about 40 degrees. All was proceeding fine as we limped on one engine. When we got into Matagorda Bay the chart plotter showed an alternate route to starboard for the intercoastal. Both the chart plotter with new chart software and my iPad with new Navionic charts were not very clear about the proper route to take but the markers followed the alternate route to starboard and did not continue straight ahead in what was marked on both charts as the intercoastal. I questioned the Captain and said that I found it strange that there were no markers anymore marking the intercoastal. He indicated that he was in the right channel and continued on in the unmarked channel. I went down below to get some work done since we had internet coverage. About 20 minutes later we ran aground in the middle of the channel he was following. When I came up to the bridge it was clear that we were surrounded by very shallow water. I had a BoatUS membership and we were able to get pulled off after about an hour and a half of banging off the mud bottom. We limped the boat into Port O'Conner, TX and my wife picked us up. The next morning we dropped the Captain off at the airport for his flight home and we started the process of getting our damaged boat home.
After we got the boat to Rockport we had it hauled and found that the grounding damaged the starboard rudder and port prop. The contract I signed with the Captain stated he was not responsible for any damage due to weather or mechanical issues but IMO neither of these were the cause of the damage. The cause was that he chose to take a route where dredging had been discontinued in 2008 due to continual shoaling. Both Active Captain and the 2014 Waterway Guide that I provided showed this as an area to be avoided and explained that the alternate route should be used.
I am not a litigious person and have never sued anyone in my life but I am considering filing a suit since he is not stepping up to take any responsibility. So my question for the the forum is what would you do in the situation i described? Go after him for the cost of the damage or let it go?
Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.