Chartering: the deposit, the skipper, the handover

Anyone chartering a yacht signs up to two risks at once, and they are rarely kept apart. The first is the deposit. It covers the deductible that the owner’s hull policy retains after a loss. After an incident the base can keep it up to the cost of the damage, even when the damage is small.

The second is skipper’s liability. It applies where the charterer has to answer personally beyond the deposit, for instance where gross negligence is alleged, or for damage to third parties that the owner’s policy does not carry. This is the exposure that makes separate skipper’s liability worth having rather than optional.

Two practical questions follow. Does any policy you already hold extend to a boat you do not own, and if so, up to what size? And can the deposit itself be insured for the trip? Deposit insurance is sold for single trips and is usually priced as a share of the deposit. Whether that is worth it depends on the deposit, not on the boat.

The most important moment is still the handover. A protocol with photographs of every existing scratch, the fuel state, the inventory and the condition of sails and engine decides later what is attributed to you. Take half an hour over it even when the base is pushing to get you away; it is the half hour that decides the deposit at the end of the week.

The paperwork the base will ask for is set by the flag state and the local authority, not by the charter company, and it is stricter in some countries than most crews expect. Croatia, for example, requires a recognised certificate of competence for the skipper and, where a VHF set is fitted, a radio operator’s certificate aboard. An inland certificate is not a substitute. Without the right paper the base will usually not release the boat. If it does, the missing licence becomes a question for every policy in play, liability and hull alike.

One last thing that costs crews money: who may take the helm. In some waters a guest may steer under the direct supervision of the licence holder, in others only the licence holder may. Check the rule for your destination before you hand over the wheel off a lee shore.