Is there a hurricane season blackout?

Short answer

Every reviewed provider with worldwide cruising manages the storm season through blackout periods, latitudes, security warranties or raised deductibles. We do not.

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Anyone heading for the Caribbean, the Pacific or the Indian Ocean meets the same construction in nearly every policy: a blackout period, spelled out in dates and coordinates. Typical are 1 June to 30 November between ten and 37 degrees north, and 1 November to 1 May between ten and 30 degrees south. Inside those windows, damage from a named tropical storm is either excluded outright or covered only if a list of warranties has been met.

Those warranties are not fine print, they are work: unstep the mast and store it in a secured mast rack, remove sails, covers and sprayhood, take halyards off the rig, dinghy, liferaft and outboard ashore, tripled and crossed mooring lines in armoured hose, four large fenders a side. Or, as the alternative, the boat permanently manned and made ready to lie, with two properly laid anchors on separate chain. And the threshold is often lower than expected: it starts when the National Hurricane Center names the storm, so from about 63 km/h.

What matters is the consequence of a breach. Almost everywhere the warranty is built as a risk exclusion or a condition precedent, not as a duty. That means no cover at all, with no prior warning, no argument about causation and no grading by fault. Miss one warranty and you are not worse off, you are uninsured. We carry no hurricane or cyclone clause, no blackout period and no security warranty that cover depends on. So compare not only whether a provider writes worldwide, but what they expect of you in the Caribbean in summer.

Do I have to move the boat out of the hurricane zone?

Not with us. We have no relocation, lift-out or storage warranty. Across the market that is the normal case.

At what wind speed does such a clause bite?

Usually as soon as a storm is named, so from around 63 km/h. Only one provider starts at hurricane force, 118 km/h.

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