8
/tritonnews | www.The-Triton.com | March 2018
Industry gasps after $70 million rape award Jury finds in favor of crew, says owner negligent By Dorie Cox Three years ago, a brutal crime changed the life of a yacht stew forever. Last month, many pondered whether it would change the yachting industry forever as well. The woman, who is in her early 20s, was violently raped while living and
No cut and dry way to handle drunken crew
working on board M/Y Endless Summer, a 150-foot Feadship. The Triton is not naming the victim because of the nature of the incident. The assailant was a deckhand, also living and working on board. The yacht’s project manager was the only other person on board as the yacht was undergoing refit at Universal Marine Center in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 25, 2015. The assailant was arrested and sentenced to two years in jail, then deported home to Poland. That part of the case is closed. In February 2016, the stew filed a
civil lawsuit against the yacht and project manager for damages. That suit was soon amended and the project manager was dismissed as a defendant, leaving the owner of the yacht, Island Girl Ltd., as the sole defendant. The company was sued under the Jones Act on the basis of negligence, unseaworthiness, and denial of maintenance and cure by the vessel after the attack. The jury found that the woman was “acting as a crew of a vessel in naviga-
News Miami show on the move? May head to downtown after 30 years beachside.
Operations Cruising the Great Lakes
See LAWSUIT, Page 36
MEGAYACHT CREW SHINE AT MIAMI YACHT SHOW 2018 Eight states, two nations and 35,000 islands to explore. 30
Obituaries
From the Bridge
Don Patton remembered
Dorie Cox
Friends and colleagues say longtime Miami yacht surveyor changed the industry with his integrity. 7
“What shall we do with a drunken sailor?” Captains have dealt with this issue for centuries. Lyrics from the old sea shanty detail punishments that yacht captains can’t do today, such as “put him in the scuppers with a hosepipe on him.” But what can they can do, “when they have a drunken crew?” Some captains at this month’s From the Bridge discussion said they have a formal written alcohol policy, and others use verbal instructions to spell out the rules. Some allow drinking on board, and some forbid it. But all the captains have one thing common: Regardless of the rules, each has been forced to make a judgment call. “I have personally taken a drunk crew on board on a Caribbean island,” said a captain whose policy is to not let drunk-
See BRIDGE, Page 39
4
At two locations from downtown Miami to Miami Beach, the Miami Yacht Show featured more than 50 large yachts on display Feb. 15 -19. See more beginning on Page 26 and at www.the-triton.com. PHOTOS/TOM SERIO AND DORIE COX
Alloy’s Tony Hambrook dies Former head of now-closed Alloy Yachts International in New Zealand dies
6
Events Triton networking Yachting calendar
44 42