On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 22:05:51 -0400, "Glenn Ashmore"
wrote:

Hi,
Since lauching our 41 foot sloop in March 1993 we have not had
insurance at all apart from personal effects and house owners. The
reason we never took out insuranace on the boat is that in New Zealand
and elsewhere it is extremely expensive but most importantly does not
cover one where one wishes to go. For instance, a US boat we spent
some time with in Spain could only get cover for the Western Med.;
those that had comprehensive policies were informed that they were not
covered for the Red Sea whilst they were in Oman getting ready to sail
and so on.

To counter for not having insurance on our boat we have spent money on
good and more than adequate anchor and chain and always take extra
care. The only time insurance would have been any use was when we took
a lightning strike to the top of our mast in October 2003 which took
out all the instruments, radar, radios etc - cost about $12,000.
Sounds expensive but amortise it over 10 years and even ignoring the
large excess, it still works out in our favour and we are not excluded
from going where we like. It is not the cost that stops us now, it is
the exclusions and lack of coverage for different areas.

However, in Europe marinas and officials such as Coastguard require
you to have third party which seems to double each year in cost and
yet still has a large excess. The Greeks now require you to have a
policy taken out in Greece and with a Greek translation, the Italians
require one translated in Spanish. Consequently a lot of normally very
honest people resort to forging these papers. Could be a problem if
you caused damage to one of the ever present huge gin palaces
though.... But, as they say, on the other hand................you have
five fingers.

Peter
N.Z. Yacht Herodotus