Captain lands in hospital after jumping off yacht

Stupid but I doubt it was illegal especially if the yacht was at anchor. If it were illegal the Capt. would basically be a prisoner on the yacht. A 200' yacht undoubtedly has other officers onboard who could move the yacht in an emergency situation.

Are his injuries considered "on duty" injuries on these facts? Dunno

I only hope that he pointed his toes upon entry and the guests marked their score cards correctly! Three point deduction for having to be helped back onto the swim platform!!

The skipper of the Lady Ghislaine (now Lady Mona K), 180' Amels once owned by the late, disgraced Robert Maxwell, fell off the rear-end of the boat in Spain. Face down in the water and full of beer, he was not well for a very long time afterwards.

Accidents happen. No blame, no claim.

You pose this as a rhetorical question, but it prods a real question: is there such a rule? If so, where is it written?

Ever hear of swimming?

Work Ethics comes to mind.

If it were illegal for the captain to leave the vessel while it was away from the dock with owners and their guests (not guess by the way) onboard then he would basically be a prisoner on the yacht unless it was at an approved dock. I really doubt there is any regulation anywhere forbidding a captain from leaving an anchored yacht with guests onboard. At least as long as there is someone left onboard able to take command. I mean, I have taken guests out in the dingy from an anchored boat while other guests were left onboard and it never occurred to me I might be breaking the law.

It's the same thing as if you employ a driver. You can leave the car, but you have to take care that you are always capable and able of driving. SO if the boss goes skiing, you should not go skiing, but wait at the station and drink some coffee...

I was a driver when I was a student, and if my boss when for jogging, I had to wait near the car, so that I did not run danger to hurt my ankles ...

So, I'm sure that same applies to marine captains. And even if off duty, you have to act responsible so that you can resume duty any time (see airline pilots, should not drink too much before flight...)

Hi,

I am pretty sure that from a legal standpoint being at anchor is the same as being at sea as far as the Safe Manning Requirements go.

I have been on a vessel where an audit took place , the Master was not onboard, a non conformity was issued because of this even though the yacht was securely tied up at the dock.

If the Chief Officer has the qualifications as Master, the 2nd Officer the qualifications as Chief Officer and bosun as 2nd Officer then there would be no problem with one of them being off the yacht.

Seems like something Captain Schettino would do.

Flag State Safe Manning reqs pretty well spell everthing out in plain english as far as commercial vessels are staffed (officer wise) BUT, They certainly can't regulate "Plain Stupid" because thats what doing a swan dive ,Or any dive in your speedo off the top deck of a 200 ft yacht has to be deemed . It has to be min. 45 -55 ft off the water & certainly would be risky for all but the boys in Acapulco. I think the real question would be are there any regs that forbid masters from doing anything that would knowingly put their safety at risk while the vessel is in operation I.E. full compliment of passengers or on charter or just plain underway? Diving off the top deck of a 200 ft yacht might be considered a "Grey Area" as far as knowingly putting your safety at risk & I can't find the answer but common sense say's there has to be one buried in the regulations some where.

If there's a video of that event I'm very interested

You know things aren't going to end well when the captain said, "Hey, everybody watch this!".