Travel insurance for sailors Rubicon3 Adventures

Travel insurance for sailors

Which insurance should I get?

It’s vital that you have the right travel insurance for your sailing holidays. We generally recommend getting specialist sailing travel insurance. This is because your standard personal travel cover or sports insurance may not include cover for sailing. This will mean that your sailing insurance cover’s T&Cs should cover all the eventualities that a sailing accident or incident might bring and ensure you have the cover, medical assistance or treatment you need. You will generally only need single trip travel insurance. If you do a lot of sailing then annual multi trip travel insurance policy may be best.

United kingdom

For those based in the United Kingdom, we find that either Topsail or Bishops Skinner are great providers with a cheap insurance policy, designed specifically for sailing.

Ireland

If you’re based in Ireland, you could try Topsail Ireland

USA

If you are based in the USA then it is definitely worth contacting Rick Bagnall at Gowrie. He has proved superb for our US clients in the past. You will also need to fill in the Gowrie Form here to send to him.

Whichever insurance you get, just double check it is registered in England or otherwise regulated by the financial conduct authority of your country.

Coastal waters or outside of territorial waters?

If you are on an offshore trip that starts and ends in a different country, then you will be a long way out to sea and definitely need cover that is outside of territorial waters. If the trip is coastal, then within territorial waters is fine. And islands off a country usually still count as territorial waters. If you are on a Skipper Masterclass, the England : Scotland route, we MAY stop at Dublin which is outside territorial waters, but that is not guaranteed. For the Bay of Biscay route, you will definitely need cover for outside of territorial water. If you are on back to back trips with us, single trip cover is still usually valid.

What about cancellation or curtailment due to Covid?

We strongly recommend that you get cover for a Covid related cancellation or curtailment. While you will get a full and immediate refund from us if for any reason we could not run the sailing trip (very rare indeed). If however you cannot join due to catching Covid, or finding yourself in a lockdown, then you will need insurance. Again, for those in the United Kingdom, we believe the Post Office travel insurance policy to be good (but please check all latest details)

What about start and end dates?

Quite a few policies want you to take out the cover within a set period or within set dates of booking your sailing holiday, in order to be insured, so its worth checking with them, maybe when you get the quote.

What if I have medical conditions?

Make sure you disclose any pre existing medical conditions, as your sailing holiday insurance will be invalidated if you do no not.

Do I need personal liability insurance?

No. Standard sailing travel insurance policies should give you call the cover you need. The policies also usually cover any legal expenses.