Damage, Insurance and the NOR … or .. “what the hell you just signed when you registered”!

When you register for a regatta, you agree to abide by the ISAF Sailing rules AND the prescriptions of your National Authority as well as the NOR and any amendments. Usually you agree to this and the more or less useless waiver/warning of your right to sue the RC, club, volunteers etc etc as part of registration. ( Bottom line…your club had best be incorporated and have regatta liability insurance for the water and the beach… read KEG!).

So, You agree to abide by the ISAF racing rules and, in the USA , you agree to the US Sailing rules called Prescriptions.

For example... the NOR for the 2006 OCR waive ALL US Sailing prescriptions for the ISAF grade 3 International event except for a few... one of them pertains to damage and its in the NOR that you agree to follow when you register for the event.

US SAILING PRESCRIPTIONS THAT APPLY:
23.1. Rule 68 DAMAGES – US Sailing prescribes that:
a. A boat that retires from a race of accepts a penalty does not, by that action alone, admit
liability for damages.
b. A protest committee shall find facts and make decisions only in compliance with the rules.
No protest committee shall adjudicate any claim for damages. Such a claim is subject to
the jurisdiction of the courts.
c. A basic purpose of the rules is to prevent contact between boats. By participating in an
event governed by the rules a boat agrees that responsibility for damages arising from any
breach of the rules shall be based on fault as determined by application of the rules , and
that she shall not be governed by the legal doctrine

So what does this mean?... In my opinion, If you loose the protest ... you have already agreed to pay for the other guy's damage as well as your own! That’s what part c. above means!

So.. you ALSO agreed to the following rule in the NOR.

21. INSURANCE: Each participating boat shall be insured with valid third-party liability insurance with a minimum cover of US$300,000 per occurrence or the equivalent.

Now you have agreed to be responsible ... how you come up with the cash is another matter entirely. You must… no options here… have 300K liability insurance. Your insurance provider will follow the international rules of the road and make their judgment on liability and what they will pay on this basis. They use the protest committee much like a police report (that's why your car insurance carrier TELLS you to NOT ADMIT ANYTHING... just get names of witness's that support your story AND if you are in the right… get a police report to support your story otherwise… decline to answer). Failure to keep a proper lookout and avoid a collision is a big rule and your starboard tacker or leeward boat usually has some responsibility to avoid the collision. So... they won't pay in full for both your damage and the other guy's damage.

What you really are buying with your insurance coverage is liability for a huge medical expense due to injury…. The boat is cheap! I don’t know of ANY coverage that honors the racing rules of sailing and the protest committee judgment.

Sounds like they claimed that your tiller broke and contributed or caused the collision since you could not avoid the collision. So, this was an act of god and you were not liable so the other guy has to pay for his own damage. (you have insurance on your boat so they will pay that off minus your deductible) Because you agreed to sail under the rules and the US Sailing prescriptions.... you have to pay up for the other guy out of pocket.

Now, if you don't pay up... then the guy you hit can file with US Sailing and have you banned from competition for breach of the sportsmanship rules because you violated your agreement to pay for damages when you registered for the race.

So, If you choose to NOT have the 300K in liability insurance and you sign the registration form and go racing and nothing bad happens… THEN WHAT… . You can and SHOULD BE tossed from the event for this WILLFUL misconduct and unsportsmanlike behavior… a clear violation of the rules. The outcome will be that you are banned from participating in all racing governed by US Sailing. Oh… and US Sailing can sanction a club for ALLOWING you to continue to race once you are banned and the club is notified that you are on the $%^*&% list.

Same kind of thing would occur on the beach. If your neighbor fails to secure his boat with sufficient ground anchors and the windstorm blows it over and damages your boat... Your insurance company will charge your own insurance to fix your boat… after you pay for the deductable... its an act of god and you paid for that coverage. Now, You can make a claim against his insurance company and they will disclaim it. . its an act of god that his boat blew over and damaged your boat. You, of course will hold the idiot next to you completely responsible for what you believes was his screw up in not anchoring his boat. So... you can claim negligence on his part... but now you have to prove that he was negligent in not anchoring the boat down. This is a matter of opinion whether he was negligent or not.. Obviously he believes he is NOT negligent ... So, now it comes down to what the contract reads for the property on which the boats were stored. If you can't get it resolved nicely then this will send you to small claims court ... I guess you can sue him and his insurance company but, I don't know if his insurance company will have to defend him or be financially responsible for his negligence which you are trying to prove. I think you are only able to sue him for negligence that caused your loss and he can sue his insurance company for failing to defend him. Best you can do is win a judgment against him and hope to collect. If he won't pay... you have to get a sheriff to enforce the judgment. (you probably quit sailing altogether after all of this BS!)

Another example, marina's are rewriting their policies in the contract you sign to make it explicit and hold you, the slip renter, liable for damage caused by your boat in a storm to their property. Same principle. (hey... you were supposed to take all precautions to secure your boat by removing it from the marina! … How… well that’s your problem… not theirs … best make sure that you are covered for this when you purchase your boat insurance)

(If Katrina taught us anything… it should be … read the damn policy)

Bottom line: … Sail at an event that requires insurance without it and after you signed the form… then you SHOULD BE BANNED by US Sailiing, Your Regional sailing authority and your club for willful unsportsmanlike behavior!

Fail to pay for damage that you cause from a rule violation … and you SHOULD BE BANNED for unsportsmanlike behavior by the same groups. Sailing ain’t NASCAR… If you take out somebody on the racecourse in the act of racing …. You are not required to pay for their car… Now… take somebody out because you want to screw them over and NASCAR will throw you out. It’s a different game.

What your insurance company says about the matter does not matter with respect to your participation in the GAME OF SAILBOAT RACING! Again, does anyone know of an insurance company that follows the Racing Rules of Sailing… not the coast guard regs?

Hopefully its clear.
Why does this matter… see my thread on Competition and Resentment!
IMO… people who choose to be ignorant of the rules CAUSE RESENTMENT on the Race course and hurt the sport by driving people away. Everyone wants to have a fun event… but when %^%& hits the fan… they want to know the rules are being followed (no surprises allowed) and that the playing field is fair.

Warning: I am neither a lawyer or insurance agent so these opinions are just that.... opinions based on my reading of the rules and policies. Anybody else have a different take?

Take Care
Mark