Every dollar counts So why give it to someone else

WHEN we purchased Chaotic Harmony we insured her with an Australian mob but it was only good for 250 nautical miles off the coast. Seems an odd distance and we could never quite figure it out as you are well and truly at sea by this stage.

We had never insured any of our vessels prior, but some countries insisted on sighting a valid insurance document.

We had placed all our non-maritime worldly belongings into storage or into the hands of family and friends. There was not much to take aboard except ourselves and enough clothes, spares, tools and provisions to go anywhere we wanted, excepting cold climates.

But we had a vessel worth a fair amount of dollars, four lives and lots of gear; so the hunt for an offshore insurance company, to place our hard earned dollars into, began.

With a few weeks of research under the belt we found that the Americans and the British seemed to have cornered the market, but with exorbitant and prohibitive premium costs. It appeared to us that the market is only really set up for those with a grandiose bank account or those with insider knowledge.

The research then turned towards what is actually covered, moving then to what is not covered and why.

We soon made the discovery that most insurance companies aim for the lowest common denominator in aspects such as: the craft itself, the crew’s experience, when the voyage would be undertaken, where the voyage would begin and go, ports of call, the impact of major world events and even possible events such as piracy and the outbreak of hostilities.

There also appeared to be a large weatherrelated component where the skipper needed an understanding of weather conditions for the entire period of the policy. That is, they need to fully cover their ass against everything you could encounter.

So we thought we should address all these issues in the form of two documents that would accompany our applications for a policy to several insurers. They were a highly-detailed passage plan and a weather-based risk analysis that took into account: named storms, major weather events and further conditions were there may be a chance to encounter.

If we could show we could reduce the odds of the insurance company making a payout in the event of some form of catastrophe, then we may get cheaper premiums and, indeed, might even be able to afford to insure.

These plans and concepts may look tedious and time consuming but resulted in our premiums falling each year with an initial 50 per cent reduction in premium cost that fell over four years to around 70%. We had ‘ticked all the boxes’ and presented ourselves as well-planned and, therefore, minimal risk which was proven over time.

THE PASSAGE PLAN

Everyone should have a passage plan and broadcast it to all and sundry unless they want to go completely off the grid. Good idea when young and carefree but, when sailing with a family, others expect to know your movements.

Our plan was sent to family and close friends, plus to the immigration people at the point of departure; they probably binned it, but it made us feel good anyway. We also sent it to anyone else who was interested.

What it detailed was a plan for the entire insurance year. It did not include exact dates, only seasons and projected departures and arrivals, but we reasoned that insurance companies were not interested in exact dates but they do like to know if you are sailing into a hurricane/cyclone season or madly scrambling to reach a port by a given date meaning you might increase their risk.

In some countries you are required to submit a passage plan before entering the country and again before leaving it. It need not be as lengthy as the plan submitted to the insurance company, but it needs to have sufficient detail to satisfy the authorities.

The plan for Chaotic Harmony included the following sections.

PART 1: THE VESSEL

A full description of the vessel including name, hull number, AIS and MMSI numbers, country of registration, ships call sign, date of manufacture, major work carried out, sail plan, engines and serial numbers, liferaft type and serial number with date of last inspection and any extras carried, amount of potable water and types and amounts of fuels carried, type of rigging and