Yacht rams sailboat

Not now...lol

Well broken in!

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Hopefully the Captain has personal liability and/or umbrella insurance.

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This has been an item I have been advocating for some time. You captains , mates and otherwise need to form an association, if for no other reason than having a group influence on pricing. I don't know what kind of insurance yo'all need, but somebody does! Your work hard - protect it.

I'm read your comments on the subject as well, and I'm in agreement on the need. There are associations but they seem not to be interested as much in what they can do for yacht crew as in collecting money and campaigning. Yacht Captains Association was absorbed by International Superyacht Society. Professional Yachting Association offers legal defense insurance but nothing else. Royal Yachting Association offers nothing. Great Lakes Captains Association offer nothing. Pacific Northwest Captain's Association, the same.

I don't know if any of these organizations or the many others I've found are good or not. However, I've not seen where any address the insurance issues. Most licensed professions have organizations with one of their primary benefits being their insurance programs.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, nobody writes such insurance.

A personal umbrella policy would alomst certainly cover a captains personal liability.

Not unless the captain had some form of underlying E&O or Business Liability.

One thing I would strongly encourage captains who free lance or are independent to do is consult with a knowledgeable accountant and attorney. Starting with the right legal business structure may save them money and may put them in better position to get insurance that will protect them.

In general, umbrella policies only protect excess on something covered by other policies. There can be exceptions where it specifically protects additional, but it's not the norm.

Also, look toward professional and business organizations. Some chambers of commerce offer some business insurance. I mention right business structure, because some insurances are more available to corporations. That then requires a corporate bylaw to indemnify employees since the individual may still have liability.

Get a good business insurance broker as well. E&O is available for most any profession and typically you might get $1 million in coverage for $75 per month and then cover above that with your umbrella policy.

There are companies that will write for this type of exposure. As Olderboater mentions, if you are a freelance captain, delivery or what not, best to have some sort of business structure setup and insure it under a commercial policy. Under that one simple policy there are ways to insure against certain exposures. E&O included.

I'm afraid we have found a silly operators/captains insurance post,,,,, AGAIN.
When we can, where is more data on the wrecking ball or OP?

I'm with Capt Ralph, turned into a got have a business with insurance to Captain a boat or make delivery to support the lawyers etc. My insurance company requires me to have any Captain to submit their license info for approval to operate our boat. My insurance liability should be good enough and not require multiple policies to support the lawyers when they get involved. Just raises the cost of hiring anyone in to operate your boat.

The boat i run has $5M liability... that’s good enough for me to sleep well without carrying my own

Plus, nobody would sue a poor captain instead of the owners anyway

Well..... when the crap hits the fan hard enough EVERYONE gets sued. Throw crap on the wall, see what sticks.

They sue the deepest pockets. We carry $25Mn with Lloyds

True....but they do like multiple parties with liability policies....sweetens the pot.

Oh yeah - they'd sue me personally, the tug owner (also me), the barge owner and probably the shipping company.