this makes no sense to me...normally you bill for search and rescue in situations where the person *deliberately* put themselves in harms way, disregarding advice or warnings to the contrary. for example, billing a skier who goes out of bounds on a ski resort mtn...if you have to send in a heli to go get them, or a patrol team - bill for the manpower and resources. fair enough. are we going to start billing all the relatives of people lost at sea? is it their fault they got in a boat?