Australian registered s.v. "Kealba" Reg. no. 860711

Hi,
It is with regret that we feel that we must pass on our concerns regarding the Australian registered s.v. "Kealba". They were part of Sail Indonesia 2013 (as we were also) and as far as we know they have registered for Sail Malaysia.
They were in collision with us at Kupang, W. Timor, Indonesia on July 31st. 2013 when they dragged their anchor while unattended and collided several times with our bow and starboard side. Hopefully the damage is not great but we won't know the extent until we can have it properly quantified when we are at Pangkor.
The main point we wish to make is that "Kealba" is NOT insured, or at least wasn't when the incident occurred. This is we believe the reason that they will not sign a statement stating what happened and neither will they meet our costs of repairs, in spite of the fact that they are clearly liable and responsible. We have made a claim on our insurance company but we will have to pay the excess unless they admit their liability.
We consider that it is totally unethical to join a rally and especially to expect to enter marinas with no insurance - to say nothing of the way they have dismissed our claim against them. Fortunately we have a written witness statement and we have also been in touch with the Australian Registrar of Ships who will provide their address in Australia. All of these details will be passed on to our insurance company.
Incidentally we were recently told that we could have reported the incident to the Port Captain at Kupang with the result that "Kealba" would not have been allowed to leave Indonesia until the matter had been resolved to our satisfaction. However, unfortunately we did not know this and so the matter remained officially unreported - apart from the insurance claim.
We are drawing your attention to the foregoing because we believe that there is a real issue of concern with vessels which are uninsured from the point of view of any marina they may enter, and also from the point of view of the organisers of any rally they may be part of because there could be substantial legal ramifications arising out of any accident causing not only damage to other vessels, but also to the marina, to say nothing of the possibility of negligence claims against the marina itself. This latter situation could arise out of the marina not having used due diligence in making sure that ALL vessels in the marina have adequate insurance.
We hope that our unfortunate experience provides a wake-up call to all concerned to ensure that all vessels meet their legal and ethical responsibility in having adequate insurance for their own protection as well as protection for any owner of other property that could be damaged.
We trust that in respect of any uninsured vessels you will in future refuse admission to your marina and registration for any rally you may be part of to ensure that all parties and stakeholders are adequately protected
Regards,
Jim Donald
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Danga Bay Marina
Johor Bahru
Malaysia
----- Original Message -----
To: "Kealba - Simon, Kym & Jolan" <spurdell66@gmail.com>
Subject: (no subject)
Date: 30 Oct 2013 13:28:01 -0000
From: zmq5985

Hi Simon,
It is indeed disappointing that you have so far seen fit to refuse to sign the report of the dragging incident that damaged our boat at Kupang, Indonesia. It is after all just a confirmation of what did actually occur.
We will be proceeding with our insurance claim and it is fortunate that we have independent witnesses who will verify what happened - even if you won't. We have also been in touch with the Australian Registrar of Ships who will provide your contact details which we will pass on to our insurance company.
We hope that you will reconsider your position and again point out that had we not been on board our boat that day, it is our opinion that your boat would have drifted into deep water and therefore stood an excellent chance of being lost. In view of the fact that you have no insurance we consider that you owe us a debt of gratitude for that at least.
Finally, we ask where is the justice in our having to stand the insurance excess for something that was caused by you? The damage we are sure isn't great but this needs to be quantified. As the responsible party you need to front up to your responsibilities.
We hope to hear from you in the near future.
Regards,
Jim Donald
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Danga Bay Marina
Johor Bahru
Malaysia.
----- End of Original Message -----

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