I am constantly amazed at how passive some people are. They can't get
insurance so they don't take a cruise on their boat. Kind of a stupid
decision in my opinion. Don't people realize insurance is you betting
against yourself and the insurance company betting on you. If an
insurance company is willing to bet on you I have to wonder why you
think it's an unacceptable risk to bet on yourself.

Get this through your thick skull. Insurance is socialism. It has
nothing to do with safe boating. It has everything to do with grabbing a
portion of your wealth. What to do about it? Self-insure. Yes, put some
money aside and insure yourself. Since any accident or negligence that
results in a loss will be coming 100% out of your own pocket you will
become a safer boater and less likely to come to grief. The next time I
hear some fool tell me, "Oh, don't worry, I have insurance." after
leaving their boat on one inadequate anchor, I think I'm going to spit
right in their face. Why should I have to be exposed to having my boat
damaged because some irresponsible slob with an insurance policy drags
down on me and damages my boat? If more people didn't have insurance
boating would be a whole lot safer. I hear people all the time using
that phrase. "Don't worried, it's insured!" They leave their boats
unprepared in a slip when a hurricane is on the way. "Don't worry, it's
insured!" They go around without a chart or a clue and say, "I don't
worry about it. My boat's insured." Give other boaters a break why don't
you. Stop with the insane attitude. Take responsibility for your own
actions. Stop using insurance as an excuse for your own stupidity.

Wilbur Hubbard



"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
It's not looking too good for getting to Nova Scotia this year.

I got forced out of aviation by the constantly tightening noose of
insurance and I can see the early signs of the same processes at work
when talking to agents about the necessary insurance. The hurricane
losses and the propensity for people doing boneheaded things in
expensive boats have got the underwriters turning the screws.

There's no question that I can get the insurance but another survey
and significantly higher premiums put the cost up to where it seems
pretty steep for a week or two of cruising. I'd hoped to spend most of
the summer along the Nova Scotia coast but it now looks as though I'll
have too much going on with work to do that. Canada will have to wait
until next year when I can justify the insurance cost with a couple
months of use.

It's not a huge disappointment though. I wanted to go east since I've
seen most of New England over the years. However, I have a new
cruising partner who has not and showing her Maine more thoroughly and
leisurely (after all, you could spend a lifetime on this coast) with
some trips down to the Cape to swim in warm water and visit old haunts
will be pretty nice.

I contacted insurance agents suggested in response to a posting here
as well as some others. It was pretty discouraging to have a couple of
them tell me not to give up my current insurance if at all possible
because I might find it impossible to get insurance soon on a 1980
boat. The underwriters are evidently using age as a primary criteria
for squeezing down their total insurance exposure to a level they are
comfortable with. It seems crazy because my boat is a lot more solid
than most of the brand new ones I see. It may be just economics. It
costs them the same to service and administer the policy for my
$25,000 boat as one of the new quarter million dollar daysailers that
probably get used twice a season. At ten times the premium and less
usage exposure, it makes sense for them. From what I'm hearing, it's
going to be very hard to get insurance for 1980 vintage cruising boats
in a few years.

Other things I learned.

You do not want to have two policies covering the same area. If you
do have a claim, you have an excellent chance of winding up with
nothing because the two companies will point fingers at each other
forever. Some policies will even let them deny a claim if you have
other insurance that you have not disclosed to them. So, keeping my
current inexpensive insurance that lets me sail as late in the year as
I want and buying another policy for Canada is not an option.

The one Canadian company I spoke to said they could not insure a US
registerd yacht unless it is in Canada permanently. This was after
questioning their underwriters so would probably apply to all
companies up there.

--
Roger Long