Its a hard one, isn't it? And I don't have the answer.
I'm a sailor - I know the risks. By and large, you're on your own when you're out on a big trip.
I love to hear peoples questions about the trips.
So, what do you do at night on a transatlantic? Oh, we pull into services.........Daw!
Does your phone work? Yeah, right, where are the masts in mid Atlantic for phone signals?
What happens if your keel falls off? Well, you're buggered frankly and the likelihood is that you drown - unless you're lucky enough that it falls off within shouting distance of the rescue services or a passing ship picks you up - and the chances of that are negligible once you're in dense fog, heavy seas and you barely made it off the craft without a chance to send a Mayday call.
I think it comes down to - we're an island nation, we have fishermen and sailors who go out to sea. The RNLI is a totally voluntary organisation - funded by donations, largely by sailors. The air / sea rescue is on stand by for these situations. Do we categorise the people we will rescue - only fishermen at work?
Do the organisers cover this? No - its a choice that sailors make. We're always told - you do this at your own risk.
Should the owners be billed? Well, you're billed now for fire brigade call outs - so, yes, probably is the answer.
mf