Favourite Harbour 2027: what makes a good harbour and why the berth matters for the policy

Since 11 October 2026 readers of nammert.com have been voting for their Favourite Harbour 2027. Owners, visiting crews and berth holders pick the harbour they like best. It is a good moment to ask a question that usually only comes up when an owner moves: what actually makes a good harbour, and why the choice of berth matters for the policy. For owners of sailing yachts, motor boats and houseboats the answer is: more than most expect.

Ask owners about their favourite harbour and they rarely list facilities. They talk about the harbour master who takes the line when they come alongside and calls in autumn when a cover is flapping loose. About shelter from the prevailing wind, a short run out to open water, and a basin where berthing in a crosswind does not raise the pulse. About washrooms nobody mentions as long as they are clean. About a yard with a crane and a shed on the same site. And about the evening light on the pontoon, which in the end decides it.

Some of that is more than taste. Many hull wordings contain a clause about an unattended boat: in the German conditions used as an example here, there is no payment when the boat lies unmanned off an open coast for longer than 24 or 48 hours, depending on the version, and nobody can be relied on to move it when danger threatens. An owner who lives far away needs someone at the berth with a key and an instruction. In a harbour with a harbour master, that person is often already there. Ask, and put the arrangement in writing.

The second point is the chart. A hull policy applies within the cruising area named in the schedule, and German wordings typically offer a ladder of areas, from inland waters in Europe through the North Sea and the Baltic and the Mediterranean up to worldwide. The berth decides which area an owner needs at the very least. Moving a boat from an inland lake to the Baltic, or laying it up in Croatia or Mallorca for a few years, may take it outside the area that was enough so far. Read the schedule before the move and have any extension agreed in writing before the passage, not after the claim.

Then winter storage. Most hull wordings also apply ashore, including lifting out and launching, and some add that the boat must stand at a place that is objectively suitable for pleasure craft. A harbour with its own crane, sound cradles and a lockable yard is exactly that. What decides the matter, though, is the type of contract. A policy written for a season commonly pauses over the winter months and then carries nothing at all, ashore or afloat. And frost damage to an engine cooling circuit that was not drained counts as a breach of a duty of care rather than as an accident, in even the best kept yard.

The third point is the paper the harbour wants to see. Germany has no general insurance requirement for pleasure craft, yet the harbour will ask for proof in almost every case, in the form of third party liability with an adequate sum insured. In Austria individual lakes and municipalities make proof a condition of the berth through their harbour rules, and Spain requires liability cover by law. The paper that belongs on board is the International Certificate of Insurance for pleasure craft, which states the cover in a form understood across borders. After a theft or an act of vandalism, many wordings ask the owner to report it to the police at once and, inside a harbour, to the harbour office as well.

Back to the vote. Until 1 April 2027 at midnight anyone can vote, free of charge and without registering, with one vote per category per day. There are five categories: Germany lakes and rivers, Germany North Sea and Baltic, Austria, Spain, and Abroad, which takes in every other country. Every harbour, marina and club harbour in the nammert.com berth directory can be chosen. The winners will be named on 15 April 2027 and receive a Favourite Harbour 2027 badge for their website. Voters do not win anything, and the result reflects the opinion of readers, not an assessment of safety or insurability.