Children and grandchildren on board: who has accident cover?

Children rarely get hurt at sea itself. They get hurt where boats are cramped and slippery: on the companionway steps, stepping across to the pontoon, with fingers near a winch or a cleat, on a wet deck. Third party liability only pays when someone was at fault and someone else makes a claim. A child who slips on the steps with nobody to blame is not a liability claim at all. That is the gap personal accident cover fills: it pays a fixed benefit after an accident, whoever caused it, according to how serious the injury is.

With personal accident cover attached to a boat policy, the first question is who counts as an insured person. Some wordings name only the owner. Some add close family, often defined as relatives in the first degree, which means children and parents but not grandchildren. Others cover every authorised person aboard, guests and crew included, and sometimes extend to time in harbour, launching and recovery, swimming and snorkelling from the boat. Look closely at how the benefit is shared: many wordings divide the sum insured by the number of people aboard when the accident happens, so with four aboard each person is covered for a quarter. With us, accident cover in Basis protects the owner only; Basis Plus adds relatives in the first degree and Premium every authorised occupant, and in those two tiers the sum is divided among the insured persons aboard.

If you often sail with grandchildren, your children's friends or other families, check two things: whether those people are insured persons at all, and whether the sum insured still means something once divided by your usual crew. Then do what prevents the accident in the first place. Children wear a properly sized lifejacket with a crotch strap on deck, guardrail netting keeps small children and toys aboard, and before every departure one named adult is responsible for the children. A small child on the companionway needs an adult within arm's reach, not a shout from the cockpit.

Worth remembering

Choose the sum for your usual crew, not for yourself alone.