Something to ponder...

[chrisr]

saw this in media today. accident happened a while ago but just now hitting the court

implications on so many levels...insurance...maintenance...lending / chartering

qte

The lead guitarist of INXS stared down in horror at the bloody stump of his left ring finger after it was hacked off by a boat’s anchoring equipment in 2015 and screamed: “It’s taken my finger off!”

A shocked Tim Farriss – who feared he was about to faint – then gathered the finger in the palm of his hand and held it against his chest.

The Perth-born musician is now suing the Sydney rental boat’s operators – John William Axford and Jill Mary Axford of Church Point Charter – for damages.

He claims they’re responsible for the injury that ended his career.

“I will NEVER forget what I saw next as long as I live,” Farriss, 61, said in his evidentiary statement for the NSW supreme court civil case.
“My hand was covered in rust, blood and mud, but I could see one of my fingers had been severed and the others were disfigured, badly lacerated and bleeding.”

Farriss’s legal team argues there was a foreseeable and not insignificant risk of injury to someone handling the anchoring equipment on the Omega Clipper 34 boat.

The guitarist hired the boat for a leisure cruise on Pittwater Bay over the Australia Day weekend in 2015.

The statement of claim argues the defendants failed to properly instruct Farriss how to use the equipment and didn’t maintain a fully functioning anchor system.

The Axfords and Church Point Charter insist Farriss was given proper instructions but failed to take due care and failed to operate the anchor appropriately.

“If [Farriss] suffered injury, loss or damage [which is not admitted], the defendants say such loss and damage was caused or contributed to by the first plaintiff’s own fault and negligence,” the defence states.

The musician argues that on 24 January 2015 he and his wife, Beth, sailed into Akuna Bay but struggled to set anchor because the chain was “prone to ‘kinking’”.

They telephoned a Church Point Charter employee for assistance after the anchor motor stopped operating and then reset the circuit breaker.

The motor restarted but it didn’t halt the kinking of the chain.

Farriss says he attempted to realign the chain only for it to start spinning out of control.

He suffered a severed left ring finger and serious injuries to his index and middle finger. There was a minor injury to his pinky finger.

He needed 11 hours of surgery to reattach the severed finger, which is no longer functional.

Farriss is seeking special damages – which aren’t quantified – for loss of earnings and future loss of earnings, as well as out-of-pocket expenses.

Montana Productions – which is owned by Farriss and his wife and controls his publishing rights and royalty income – is also seeking damages.

“I find my reattached ring finger to be an annoyance and unsightly. I have considered having it amputated,” Farriss said.

“I am no longer able to play guitar other than a few beginner-level chords.”

The plaintiffs on Tuesday sought to amend their statement of claim in the supreme court but the defence opposed the move.

Associate Justice Joanne Harrison reserved her judgment with directions to be issued on Friday.

uqte

[NevilleCat]

Well that is a shitty situation indeed. And easy to see how that could happen with limited experience on a vessel.
Equally applicable to any specialist requiring full use of fingers, a surgeon springs to mind.
Even if the client had very good specialised loss of earnings/loss of limb insurance then I guess the underwriters would come after the hire company anyhow.
I wonder how often it actually happens on bareboat charter vessels?

[SV DINGO]

I have hired a Bareboat 3 times in the Whitsundays and nothing has happened except we lost one anchor and the boat had no spare anchor.
Now that i sail my own boat i have looked back at the 1 hour quick introduction which we received each time we chartered and i do often wonder how this can in fact be allowed to happen as i NOW believe i was in no way fit to take the helm of a 48 ' boat at that time not even in the limited cruising area. I just want to say it again , nothing has happened and we had a jolly good time every time but may be we also had a lot of luck.

[NevilleCat]

Yep the Whitsunday charter companies seem pretty relaxed about how much experience you have. Especially considering that area is really a bit demanding for sailing around... biggish tides, currents, wind against tide situations, frequent 180* wind shifts when you're anchored, crowded anchorages and plenty of coral to hit.

[JPA Cate]

Y'know, Chris, I read the article about it. And I'm really sorry his finger doesn't work right; Jim, too has injuries, and can no longer play his guitar. It is part of life. The suit sounds kind of messed up to me. Aiming for something perhaps legal, but unrealistic. Stuff happens. And I don't think the charter companies really will survive stricter regulations. It is a time of hard times, for many different, and sometimes related reasons.

Ann

[Sailmonkey]

What was the last time anybody heard music from INXS?

[Joh.Ghurt]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

What was the last time anybody heard music from INXS?

"Devil Inside" came up yesterday evening on my random playlist.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Y'know, Chris, I read the article about it. And I'm really sorry his finger doesn't work right; Jim, too has injuries, and can no longer play his guitar. It is part of life. The suit sounds kind of messed up to me. Aiming for something perhaps legal, but unrealistic. Stuff happens. And I don't think the charter companies really will survive stricter regulations. It is a time of hard times, for many different, and sometimes related reasons.

Ann

yep, i think you're right. the aussie legal system will consider contributory negligence but even so the payout is likely to be pretty high

yet another big hit for an insurance company, which they will pass on to you & me

btw i'm a bit like jim & his guitar...although my problem is lack of ability, not injury !

cheers,

[skipperpete]

Originally Posted by NevilleCat

Well that is a shitty situation indeed. And easy to see how that could happen with limited experience on a vessel.
Equally applicable to any specialist requiring full use of fingers, a surgeon springs to mind.
Even if the client had very good specialised loss of earnings/loss of limb insurance then I guess the underwriters would come after the hire company anyhow.
I wonder how often it actually happens on bareboat charter vessels?

I have no stats on bareboats but anchoring incidents generally are not rare. I met a dutch yachtie who had all the fingers on one hand cut off..... he was checking manually to see if the anchor had set and stood on the UP button which pulled his hand into the gypsy. He was rescued by the crew of a nearby boat and taken to Urangan for urgent hospital surgery.
A french sailor at Koh Lipe near langkawi had his leg “de gloved” when it got caught in the anchor warp.
A crew member on Ocean Victory was horrendously killed while anchoring in the Similan group of islands.
And me.... I had a close encounter with my own windlass in strong tidal and windy conditions at Port Stephens but only got a bad haematoma and some broken bones in my foot.
Pete