When the 94-foot (29-meter) superyacht Nakoa ran aground on reefs and rocks in Hawaii earlier this year, a tricky salvage operation ensued. The yacht was so firmly stuck that it took three attempts before she finally freed. However, she sank within minutes of the towboat clearing the grounding area. Ultimately, the yacht salvage wasn’t successful.
The situation raised a host of questions, besides what the owner of Nakoa was doing in the area, and what he should have done to prevent needing assistance in the first place. In this episode of The Yacht Law Podcast, maritime attorney Michael Moore and yachting journalist Diane M. Byrne review some of the most commonly asked questions about yacht salvage.
For example, who’s responsible for initiating a request for help? Who’s responsible for covering the costs? As you’ll learn, matters can get complicated, requiring arbitrators to decide who gets paid what—and whether they receive payment for certain fees at all.
The one thing, though, that all parties in a yacht salvage situation agree upon: Time is of the essence.
If you have a yacht-law question, email it to us or to Michael Moore for your chance to have it answered on the podcast. The podcast recording team will respect requests for confidentiality and/or anonymity.
The Yacht Law Podcast theyachtlawpodcast.buzzsprout.com
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