| RI-07-03 SAILS FOR CHARTERED BOATS (2007-10-01) |
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| Q1: | Increasingly, charter arrangements include agreements where the charterer pays for one or more new sails for the chartered boat as part of the charter fee. The intention of these arrangements is that the sails count against the sail allotment of the owner of the chartered boat, rather than that of the charterer. Is this permissible? |
| A1: | Yes, but subject to certain conditions. First, the owner of the chartered boat must be entitled to purchase the sails under the 3/2/3 rule of rule 6.8. Second, the sails must be truly owned by the owner of the chartered boat. In the view of the TC, this is only the case if the owner of the chartered boat, rather than the charterer, bears the risk of loss of those sails. Anything else indicates that the charterer is merely renting the owner’s “sail card”, which is contrary to the clear intention of rule 6.8. For example, any arrangement whereby the sails get sold after the charter and the charterer makes the owner of the chartered boat whole for all or any part of the difference between the new price and the amount realized on sale of the sails would indicate that the charterer, rather than the owner of the chartered boat, is the owner of the sails. In that case, those sails would count against the sail allotment of the charterer. |
| Q2: | If an owner has two boats, is the owner permitted to “charter” one boat to himself so he can use the sails of the other boat on the “chartered” boat? |
| A2: | No. Since the owner already owns the “chartered” boat, it’s obviously not a charter. RI 02-08 clearly prohibits the transfer of sails or sail purchase allotments between the two boats. This includes any arrangement to achieve the “transfer” result, by “charter” or otherwise. |