Single handed insurance

[Guest]

I'm in the process of buying an old wooden 36ft sloop and sorting insurance etc. for my dream trip (med, carribean then who knows?).
Some of my passages may be single handed but I'm struggling to find an insurer who'll cover me (comprehensively) - any suggestions?

 

[Guest]

Pantaenius told us that they had insured a one armed man to (literally) singlehand but they are a bit more expensive than some insurances but their reputation is second to none.

 

[Martini]

I agree with Norma. Pantaenius is second to none. I am berthed in Gib. but have insurance covering me from UK and nearly all of the Med. The premium was not that bad. The parts that are not covered I don't want to go too so no problem. There is no stipulation of being singlehanded or not. BUT I would love to know if I could get insurance to cross the pond singehanded or with a green crew, or have you got to have X amout of crew experiance to achieve insurance???

Anybody know????

Martini

 

[Guest]

Crossing the pond

Yes Martin, we insure with them and are doing ARC this year, cost to insure the boat just for the crossing is £250.00 (a one off payment). There are only two of us on board. It is more to bring back the other way but once through Panama the premiums are back almost to normal.

 

[lindsay]

Pantaenius has my vote too. They give you solutions rather than future problems and whatever problem you can think of they seem to have done it before. They also paid me out very promptly for motor damage caused by collision with a floating object. By contrast, for insurance in the Med a couple of UK firms were complicated and expensive. As you cruised eastwards from Gibraltar the premium rose for every 15 degrees longitude, and the written conditions for singlehanding were unreasonable, not so Pantaenius, who actually did not have any conditions (by the way I do not work for them, dont even have shares!) Quotation for an Atlantic crossing was a once off premium.

 

[Guest]

I sailed my boat here from south africa, regarding single handed insurance my understanding is that as you are technically breaking the law when single handing (not maintaining a proper watch at all times) no insurance company could cover legally cover the risk and even if it is not mentioned in the policy they would not honour any claim.

 

[Guest]

Pantaenius has insured Katoema since 1979, when it was built for someone of 2m in height with a wooden leg!!! He was a German and this company has it's roots in Germany. Their office in Plymouth, tel:01752 223656 (Mary Boyle) should be able to give you any information that you require. Single handed sailing no problem, but if you have the Yachtmaster Offshore qualification you can insure for anywhere on this Planet.

Bonne Chance!!!

 

[Guest]

"you are technically breaking the law when single handing (not maintaining a proper watch at all times) no insurance company could cover legally cover the risk ". I dont think this is correct, firstly because my insurance quite specifically mentions that i am covered for single handing, and secondly because this principle quite clearly does not apply with motor insurance. Ever heard of anyone not being covered for a road accident because he was doing 35 in a 30 limit?

when I wanted cover for single handing and for all areas of the med bar war zones, i had no problem in getting it from CNA maritime - a UK company. Never had a claim, so cannot comment on what they are like at paying out. Pantaneus wouldnt cover me because my boat is a cat.

 

[ccscott49]

Pantaenius won't cover catamarans? Didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

 

[pwfl]

I'm not sure I like the idea of giving any company free advertising, specially when they've just had so much already, but yes - imagine your ideal insurance company, then go & talk to Pantaenius - I suspect they will come pretty close. Absolute breath of fresh air after our last lot. At no significant increase in price either. Have a look at their policies compared to other companies. Our previous one had some absolutely crazy stuff in it - when we looked at it in detail - it turned out we weren't actually insured for anything much at all! e.g - No liveaboards, No singlehanding, & get this - tucked away in small print - CRAFT NOT INSURED IF LEFT UNATTENDED WHILST AFLOAT!!!!!!!! How about that!! As for moving the boat away from the UK - what a flap they got into over that!

I think Pantaenius did look reasonably closely at me, my experience, the boat, the survey, levels of equipment, etc, with regards to the sailing we wanted to do, and made judgements accordingly. So if all you've done is a Level 1 dinghy sailing cousrse 12 years ago, you've gone out & bought yourself a leaky old tub & are planning a singlehanded circumnavigation, then I suspect they might suss you out & tell you to look elsewhere.