Boarding someone elses boat

[blinkerfluid]

I was down working on our boat yesterday at the marina and the wind unexpectedly kicked up. I don't think they were really calling for any wind but I flipped the instruments on and saw a steady 22-23 knts with gusts to about 33.

A boat in a slip a few down from ours had their headsail unfurl slightly so that the wind was getting between the rolls of the sail and causing it to flog badly. I went up to the marina office to let them know so they could call the owner and was told they'd already called an hour ago and left a message. Not wanting to see their headsail get shredded I asked the office if I should jump on the boat and fix it. Their reply was that they'd left a message and it was up to the owner to fix it now. I was a little disappointed in their lack of caring if someone's boat is damaged, though I guess not really surprised.

Anyway, I walked down to the boat hoping maybe I could reach the headsail from the dock and could re-wrap it without actually getting on the boat (I couldn't). Ends up the owners had emergency contact numbers in one of the ports so I was able to get ahold of them, which was a good thing because they weren't even in the same state at the moment. I let them know what was going on and asked permission to board the boat and fix the sail, which of course they happily allowed me to do.

I was glad that I was able to get ahold of them, but I think I would have boarded the boat anyway to fix the sail. Does this seem like a reasonable thing to do to everyone else? I wouldn't go inside the boat (unless maybe if it were sinking), but walking on deck to fix a flogging sail seemed ok to me. I'd be much more upset if I found out that people stood by and watched my boat destroy itself than if someone jumped on board to perform such an easy fix.

Thoughts?