Travel Insurance For Yacht Crew

[J3rry]

I'll probably get a years travel insurance, the multi-trip variety.

However, . . . . even self proclaimed "adventure" insurance companies will specifically exclude Offshore-Sailing.

or even a game of rounders (sigh) i'm a cynic when it comes to insurance, although i do like to have it, i've never used and often doubt whether the b*gg^rs ever intend to pay out.

So what companies should crew go to for their personal travel insurance ?

[JeanneP]

Here are two places to look if you mean medical evacuation insurance.

Medical evacuation from anywhere in the world to the hospital of your choice: *Medjet*

Divers Alert Network has evacuation insurance even if you are not in a diving accident. *You must be a member of DAN. *Takes some searching on the site. *DAN

I believe you are from the UK; my understanding of travel insurance is that it is insurance which covers your medical care outside the UK. *Am I right? *It was my understanding that it didn't matter how you traveled to a destination where you received medical care. *Or am I misunderstanding "travel insurance"?

There is the related issue of crewmembers being covered under the boat owner's insurance. *This is an issue that we on Cruiser Log have been a bit obsessive about. *If you pay to crew, outside of reasonable sharing of food and paying your own clearance fees, you are a paying passenger, and if the owner of the boat does not have charter insurance or the appropriate license, you could be plumb out of luck. *I guess the boat owner could claim that you are a guest, but you might find that the insurance company balks at paying out a claim due to the owner conducting an illegal and unlicensed charter business. *

[J3rry]

Thanks Jeanne,

I'll investigate medjet.

Yes i'm looking for medical cover worldwide, & am from the UK.

Yes it does matter how you get there . . . . "World Nomads" travel insurance is recommended by another crewmember elsewhere on this forum but . . .

General Exclusions

You are not covered for anything caused directly or indirectly by the following, unless you have contacted us and we have confirmed in writing that you will be covered:

# taking part in dangerous expeditions or the crewing of a vessel outside coastal waters.

And that seems to be the norm . . . . in fact their list of exclusions is quite exhaustive, and i really wouldnt trust that firm to pay out under any circumstances.

[JeanneP]

Have you investigated *ihi Bupa International Health Insurance?

I have had their coverage for more than 15 years, and Peter was covered by them until he qualified for US Medicare. *For overseas travel he still has to find supplemental insurance since Medicare does not cover insurance expenses outside the US. *We have both been very satisfied by their response to claims. *Since I am grandfathered in, I can't say whether the exclusions you have found apply to them, but it's worth investigating.

I would seek clarification of the exclusion "anything caused directly or indirectly by the following, unless you have contacted us and we have confirmed in writing that you will be covered: *# taking part in dangerous expeditions or the crewing of a vessel outside coastal waters."

WHAT is "anything caused indirectly" by crewing of a vessel....? *If you arrived in Naples as crew of a yacht, and got hit by a car, or had appendicitis, or fell off a barstool, would that be considered to be caused indirectly by crewing on an offshore vessel? *If you had appendicitis while you were crewing on a vessel and sought medical aid as soon as you could, would they consider that medical emergency to be caused indirectly by crewing on the vessel? *

Any injuries that occur on the vessel should be covered by the boat owner's insurance, a good reason to be sure that the owner carries sufficient insurance, and that his operation is legal (i.e., he is not conducting a charter operation under the guise of taking on crew).

From my perspective, I think that any travel insurance would work, provided that you had insurance coverage while on the offshore yacht, not much different from insurance coverage for passengers in a private automobile.

[J3rry]

"Have you investigated ihi Bupa International Health Insurance?"

ACE ! thats better, and its cheap too !

honestly these "adventure" insurance companies are no better than scammers.

As you say, once you put the word "indirectly" into an insurance clause, its effectively worthless.

Perhaps "World Nomads" insurance would pay up, but with their small print, you'd really really be at the mercy their discretion. And i only pick on them because they are a self proclaimed adventure travel insurer. Barclays bank insurance, and Columbus travel also excluded offshore sailing.