Svalbard SAR INSURANCE

[voyager35]

Hi, i am planning to sail to Svalbard in 2024 and after applying for permission know that i have to provide either a bond or insurance cover for Search and Rescue costs.
Does any one have any recent experience/advice on how/ where to obtain insurance or how a bond would work.
Also if you have been recently how did you get on with insuring your boat
please message me if you dont wish to discuses on the forum
Thanks in advance

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Hi, i am planning to sail to Svalbard in 2024 and after applying for permission know that i have to provide either a bond or insurance cover for Search and Rescue costs.
Does any one have any recent experience/advice on how/ where to obtain insurance or how a bond would work.
Also if you have been recently how did you get on with insuring your boat
please message me if you dont wish to discuses on the forum
Thanks in advance

That's new; when I was active in those parts (the 1980s) there was no SAR and if you went off the beaten track, it was at your own risk!

I'd be surprised if you can get insurance; there just aren't enough boats going up there to generate the statistics insurers rely on. It would certainly be specialist insurance and not the usual suspects. Perhaps the Sysselman's office can make suggestions? It's probably more likely that a Norwegian company will be able to provide insurance than a UK-based one.

Posting a bond means exactly what it says - you deposit money to cover the potential costs of SAR. If it isn't needed you get it back. Probably not really an option for most of us. It's basically a form of self-insurance, but it really only applies to organizations with substantial funds behind them.

Changing insurance requirements for aircraft caused us to have to modify one of our field seasons drastically in 1985; the cost of insuring the aircraft we had planned to use suddenly went through the roof, and we had (at very short notice) to reduce our plans to a ground-based expedition only.

 

[ylop]

I’m not sure if this is what you need (I’ve only heard of SAR insurance in a mountaineering sense) but Garmin were promoting a policy for people with an InReach device.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

There seems to be a reasonable number of yachts visiting each year, a quick look on You Tube will show that none mention bonds or SAR insurance.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

A quick google has thrown this up

Post Scandinavian Mariner Magazine.

You can see the cost is between 75,000 and 200,000 NOK at about 12 NOK to the Euro

 

[voyager35]

A quick google has thrown this up

Post Scandinavian Mariner Magazine.

You can see the cost is between 75,000 and 200,000 NOK at about 12 NOK to the Euro

yes we have been quoted 150,ooo NOK by Svalbard's governors office ,. i am not sure at the moment if this is fir the boat or per person

 

[Mistroma]

I believe a friend sailed around the North of Svalbard many years ago. I think he reached 81 deg. North and was the first yacht to do that as there was usually too much ice in previous years. It must have been around 2007-2008 and I certainly remember him saying he had to leave a bond to cover rescue costs. Something around £15,000 for the boat rings a bell but I could be remembering wrongly. It was certainly a fair chunk of money and he got it back on his return. Makes sense that you'd still need to cover costs with a bond or insurance.

I still remember him saying he had to contact the Russian authorities to use facilities at their abandoned settlement to fix a problem with steering gear. I think he started a generator, used a lathe and made the required parts.

 

[Sumara of Weymouth]

Hi, i am planning to sail to Svalbard in 2024 and after applying for permission know that i have to provide either a bond or insurance cover for Search and Rescue costs.
Does any one have any recent experience/advice on how/ where to obtain insurance or how a bond would work.
Also if you have been recently how did you get on with insuring your boat
please message me if you dont wish to discuses on the forum
Thanks in advance

This might be of some help? High Latitude Expedition Insurance – Sumara of Weymouth

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Attainable Adventure Cruising is a subscription service, so you will need to pay a fee to access. They have articles on insurance and discussion on the matter. About a couple of years old. Also lots of other i formation for high latitude sailing.

Also Facebook has a group Cruising Greenland-Faroes-Iceland, that could help if you ask.

Good luck. Do let is know the outcome.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Thinking about it a bond is just a guarantee that a payment will be met essentially an insurance for which you pay a premium. If your insurance company is willing to underwrite the risk of you sailing to Svalbard they are probably not going to balk at a £15,000 bond for a small increase in premium to include it in your general insurance policy or a separate policy. It would be worth asking them.

 

[Minerva]

On the 59°North podcast, they are doing a series on “cruising” destinations. As they are up in Svalbard regularly they have an hours podcast with one of their experienced high latitude skippers. Think they touched on insurance. Worth a listen if you haven’t already.

‎The QUARTERDECK Sailing Podcast: Cruising Series - Svalbard on Apple Podcasts

 

[jdc]

We were asked for a bond of 150,000 kr or £15,000. We got insurance for this from IRCM. They got what we were after at once, and the Sysselman were v happy with their certificate. I think the actual insurer was another company, but I can't recall the name.

 

[rahra]

I am required to have an insurance about 300000 NOK (information by the Sysselmesteren from June 2023).
I contacted Garmin and they replied that their SAR100 is applicable to Svalbard if you own any Garmin IERCC device.
I have a inreach mini 2, so I bought the SAR100.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

How much?

 

[rahra]

How much?

45€/year

 

[PhillM]

Perhaps talk to the cruising association, this seems exactly the sort of thing they could help with.