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Insurance

Wow, hopefully Geico does not troll this forum else in addition to getting screwed on my insurance premium every year, I might get cancelled.

Thanks for the great news Cliff Shaw!!

With regard to Transpac insurance, is this just the boat or is there some sort of crew/environmental/other boat liability involved? The reason I ask is that it seems a knowledgeable sailor with some decent funding, appropriate skills in the insurance arena and a taste for some risk could make some money insuring boats the suits won't. Course the premiums would be pretty steep.
 
I have been successful getting insurance for Hawaii races for my Cal 40 thru Novamar. But it takes a bit of planning. First putting your annual insurance thru Novamar at least a year before you need the race rider. Its a lot of extra work for them to get you the rider which they will do if you are a regular ongoing customer. Then asking for the rider several months before the race - and you will need a "clean survey" as well as strong crew resumes for both directions. Assume no rig or sail coverage - and a sizable deductable The real insurance need is crew liability. And get the survey done early so you can address survey findings and get the surveyor to resurvey and give you a clean report (negotiate ahead of time with the surveyor that you need this second visit and report. And the rider is not cheap. Over $1k.

As an aside... I did my first Hawaii race in 1986... racing in the same division as Jonathan and Gary on Lightn Up. This is before GPS... before GRIBS... Loran would skip so be 30 miles off (broadcast antennas too "inline")... RDF sort of worked... when making landfall was quite emotional because you had significant doubt about your location... though easy compared to folks like Skip in the '60s when it was DR and celestial (LOPs in Hawaii in the summer are small acute angles so accuracy is pretty low).
 
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I just saw the email for the temporary mooring permits. One of the requirements is item #5.
Current Insurance in Vessel owners name.
A. Must list State of Hawaii as additional insured.
I won't have insurance starting June 30 as my insurance expires and the underwriter will not provide any more coverage while in Hawaii. My impression is that most people are having difficulty with insurance this year.
How are we going to get temporary mooring permit? Is the mooring permit a requirement for this race? Or is this only for sailors who are going to dock/moor their boats in Nawiliwili? If we just leave our boat in Hanalei Bay, do we need a mooring permit?
 
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"Begining March 1st 2020, all vessels 26' in length and greater operating on State waters will be required to have vessel insurance."
The times they are a changing.
 
I'm sure all those derelict boats at the Ala Wa'i are fully-compliant.

Edit: I was just told that derelicts in the Pearl Harbor area and Lahaina are the primary target of this permit effort. I'll delete the rest of my post so this can get discussed (and hopefully resolved) off the record.
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Ouch, I don't see how I can participate in this race without getting insurance coverage in Hawaii. My underwriter just told me that no carrier she knows would underwrite such policy after the SHTP race, not even just a simple liability coverage to satisfy the State of Hawaii. Any ideas? This must be a problem for all participants of SHTP?
It would be a huge shame for all the efforts of preparing for this race and to withdraw because of the lack of insurance in Hawaii.
 
seawisdom said:
I just saw the email for the temporary mooring permits. One of the requirements is item #5.
Current Insurance in Vessel owners name.
A. Must list State of Hawaii as additional insured.
. . .
Click to expand...

FWIW, here is my recent experience with this issue here in Hilo. I did not notify GEICO/BoatUS I was sailing to Hawaii when I departed So Cal at the end of October 2020. Upon arrival I picked a spot in the Reed's Bay anchorage and contacted the local harbor agent to advise of my arrival. After submitting the application for temporary mooring permit for that location I contacted BoatUS to request that they cancel the additional insured rider previously issued for my San Diego marina and issue a new additional insured rider in favor of the "State of Hawaii, DNLR-DBOR." This was done by telephone and the issue of how the boat got from San Diego to Hilo did not come up. There was no hint or suggestion that if I had sailed here they would have cancelled me. Instead, they re-calculated my premium based on the new location, charged my credit card the pro-rated adjustment to the end of the policy term, and promptly emailed me the additional insured statement, which I then passed on to BOR two or three days after submitting the application. I believe that if I returned to San Diego at this point and requested that they change the the additional insured back to a marina there, they would simply do so and credit me a refund on account of the lower premium for a boat in SD vs. HI.

Don't know if this is any help to anyone . . .
 
So for many of us doing the SHTP, this race could turn into a LongPac with the turning point at Hanalei Bay? Or Bernard Moitessier's "The Long Way"... kind of inspiring if I think of it that way.
 
A few months back I was also thinking if the race was cancelled... yes Extra Long LongPac... start and finish at GGB and take Kauai to either side (kinda like an extended Farallones race :-) ). Not much further than SF to Tahiti.
 
seawisdom said:
Ouch, I don't see how I can participate in this race without getting insurance coverage in Hawaii. My underwriter just told me that no carrier she knows would underwrite such policy after the SHTP race, not even just a simple liability coverage to satisfy the State of Hawaii. Any ideas? This must be a problem for all participants of SHTP?
It would be a huge shame for all the efforts of preparing for this race and to withdraw because of the lack of insurance in Hawaii.
Click to expand...

A couple of behind-the-scenes e-mails reminded me that when you are not the target of Hawaii officialdom, enforcement is mostly determined by whether the waves are surfable.

If you're sailing down to Nawiliwili to haul out for shipping, you might call Larry Conklin and ask him about all this. It may also be an issue if you plan to cruise the islands after the race.

Re insuring the boat, most of us recognize that the SHTP is not an insurable activity. Will, your situation is complicated by your need for liability insurance for the return crew. I'd look for a delivery skipper who isn't as concerned about the insurance situation and may do it solo or with one other person (who also isn't worried about the insurance situation). I know of one who delivered a boat back to SF after its keel fell off. That kind of guy.
 
seawisdom said:
So for many of us doing the SHTP, this race could turn into a LongPac with the turning point at Hanalei Bay? Or Bernard Moitessier's "The Long Way"... kind of inspiring if I think of it that way.
Click to expand...

You could do it as a two-legged race, allowing provisioning at the turning mark. Everyone would get their 3 days free anchorage, no permit or insurance required, and Morning Star will be on station in Hanalei Bay with her Torqeedo-powered dinghy for water taxi service. And we could take finish times for leg one and start times for leg 2. I'm planning on sailing to Kauai this summer whether there is a race or not, and will be happy to see any of you who want to drop by while I'm there.
 
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