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Mooring or lazy line breaks: who pays for the damage?
Short answer
Whether it is a swinging mooring in a UK harbour or a lazy line in a Mediterranean marina,
you are trusting gear you never laid.
When a mooring or lazy line breaks,
who pays for the damage depends on the cause and on how well the gear was maintained.
In British and Irish harbours many boats lie to swinging moorings: a sinker or anchor on the seabed, ground chain, a riser and a buoy, often laid and serviced by a mooring contractor or the harbour authority. In the Mediterranean you go stern-to the quay and pick up a lazy line, also called a slime line, that runs from the bow to a heavy chain or block on the bottom. Either way you are relying on gear you cannot see and did not lay, and it is worth treating it with a little suspicion.
Before you settle down for the night, haul the lazy line up with a boathook, take it forward and make it fast at the bow, not on a midships cleat, and look at what comes up: chafe, rusted shackles, heavy growth. Keep it well clear of the propeller when berthing and leaving, because a line wrapped round the shaft can wreck a drive. On your own swinging mooring, ask when the chain, swivel and riser were last lifted and inspected, and keep the record. If a gale is forecast, rig a second line or move somewhere more sheltered.
When a mooring breaks, the boat drifts onto the quay, its neighbours or rocks. Damage to your own boat falls to your hull cover, and the wording matters: some policies treat breaking adrift in a storm as a named weather peril and a drift in calm conditions as an accident, with different cover on each level. With us, storm is covered in every tier, in Basis from force 8; a mooring that breaks without a storm counts as an accident, covered from Basis Plus. Damage you cause to other boats is a liability question. Whether the marina or mooring operator is responsible depends on maintenance, so photograph the broken line or chain and get the harbour office to confirm the incident in writing.
Worth remembering
Before you tie up
haul up the line and look at it
When it breaks
photos and a written note from the harbour
Two minutes with a boathook saves weeks of correspondence.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
What is the difference between a mooring and a lazy line?
The mooring is the ground tackle on the seabed: a sinker, block or chain. The lazy line is the rope that runs from that tackle up to your bow when you lie stern-to a quay.
Who pays when a marina's lazy line breaks?
Your hull cover deals with your own boat first; with us, without a storm, from Basis Plus. If the marina failed to maintain the line, your insurer can pursue it afterwards, which is why photos and a written confirmation from the harbour office matter.
What should I do if the line fouls the propeller?
Put the engine in neutral and stop it at once so the line cannot wind on further. Secure the boat, assess the situation and ask the marina for help rather than diving under the hull.
Related
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