To an experienced sailor like Mark Rice, the collapse of his yacht mast in a stiff Block Island Sound breeze last September required nothing more than an AAA-style tow.
For the Rhode Island rescue outfit Safe/Sea, it amounted to a marine salvage operation ”“ and that is the $90,000 question.
Rice, a Citigroup Inc. executive who lives in Wilton, is asking a federal judge to vacate an invoice for that amount Rice received from H.R.M. Inc., which operates Safe/Sea from its base in Wickford, R.I.
On Labor Day weekend last year, Rice was sailing with his wife on his 44-foot Alden Yacht sailboat S/V Pilgrim, when an eyebolt failed in 20-knot winds, with the result that the mast buckled in two into the water.
In his lawsuit, Rice indicated he had a power saw on board capable of cutting free the crumpled mast, and could have motored to port. As a member of the Boat Owners Association of America ”“ which like the American Automobile Association offers towing insurance to members ”“ Rice elected instead to exercise that coverage and request a tow.
The Boat Owners Association of America, popularly known as BoatU.S., funneled the request to H.R.M., which says it has 4,000 local boaters in its own Safe/Sea membership program that provides free towing and routine assistance to members whose vessels become disabled.
According to Rice”™s lawsuit, H.R.M. did not regard his predicament as routine in the least. Before agreeing to dispatch a vessel to assist, Rice said H.R.M. demanded he agree to pay for the cost of a salvage operation ”“ in this case $60,000, or 20 percent of the insured value of Pilgrim. In court documents submitted by Rice, he includes a salvage contract signed by him and the pilot of the vessel sent to tow him to port.
Rice declined to discuss the lawsuit, and Safe/Sea owner John Andrews did not immediately return a call for comment. At deadline, H.R.M. had yet to file a response in court.
Safe/Sea itself, however highlights the case on its Web site as a demonstration of its capabilities, including a photo showing the stricken vessel. In a description of the events, Safe/Sea states Pilgrim “was in serious danger of further damage and perhaps penetration of the hull.”
A key question for any judge or jury could revolve around whether Pilgrim”™s progress to port was a standard tow job or a salvage job to save a crippled vessel and its occupants from peril, according to Scott Croft, a BoatU.S. spokesman, who said he could not comment on specifics of Rice”™s lawsuit.
“There have been disputes in the past, because whose version of ”˜peril”™ are you looking at?” Croft said.
In his lawsuit, Rice depicts himself as an experienced sailor who has twice sailed Pilgrim to Bermuda, and maintains he could have navigated safely to port. A graduate of Hamilton College where he was quarterback of the football team, Rice worked 11 years at Banker”™s Trust before joining Citigroup Private Bank in New York, where he holds the title of director.
According to Rice, H.R.M. Inc. is demanding he pay $90,000 or it will have the yacht impounded in Old Lyme, where as of mid-April it sat in dry dock. The additional $30,000 claimed by H.R.M. would cover interest and other costs it indicates it has incurred.
Rice has a standard insurance policy on Pilgrim with New Hampshire Insurance Co., a division of New York City-based American International Group Inc.
