Ask a Maritime Attorney - Page 25 of 66

David Weil has been the proud author of the “Ask a Maritime Attorney” column in The Southern California Log Newspaper and Sea Magazine since 2006, with over 300 installments of the column. We have provided links in this section to those articles, covering a wide range of topics of interest to the California maritime and boating communities.

Rules of the Road: Part III

September 25, 2015

What are the right of way rules for standup paddle boards and kayaks encountering power boats and boats under sail? I always thought that a row boat had right of way over both sail and power. Are SUPs and kayaks considered to...

Mind the Rules of the Road

September 11, 2015

What does it take for a sailboat to be considered a “power driven vessel?” I am an active participant in a sailboat owners’ forum and this question is presented and argued over from time to time but we have never...

Rules of the Road apply to commercial, recreational vessels

August 30, 2015

My wife and I own boat that we keep at a marina in San Pedro. We are in the middle of a large port and, as such, we seem to encounter commercial traffic whenever we take the boat out. I usually operate under the policy of...

Is a ‘notice’ of a lien really a maritime lien?

August 14, 2015

I own a commercial vessel that I operate from a harbor in Southern California. I was recently notified that a company that worked on the boat over 10 years ago filed a notice of claim of lien with the Coast Guard. I did some...

Who is responsible when anchored boats collide?

August 1, 2015

The incident described by our reader is familiar to anyone who has tried to anchor in a crowded cove or harbor. One of the traditional cornerstones of anchoring etiquette requires a new arrival to a harbor to stay clear of...