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Is single-handed sailing covered?
Short answer
Sailing alone inevitably means periods without a watch and without a lookout.
That is exactly the point, and many of the wordings we reviewed never address it.
Anyone sailing alone eventually sleeps. That is not carelessness, it is the nature of the thing, and it is still where single-handers come unstuck in policy wordings. An unmanned watch can be read as a breach of the duty of care, and a lookout that is not posted as a breach of the collision regulations.
The wordings we reviewed handle this differently but rarely expressly. Almost none prescribes a minimum crew or a minimum number of manned watches. One provider does exclude single-handed passages of more than 24 hours at a stretch in its bought-in overseas areas, and several wordings steer through general care clauses whose application in a claim is anyone’s guess. The effect is the same: you do not know in advance where you stand.
Our conditions contain no exclusion in any tier for single-handed sailing, the skipper’s rest periods or time without a manned watch and without a lookout. There is no minimum crew and no minimum number of manned watches. If this matters to you, ask every provider to put it in writing. A wording that is silent has not decided the question, it has postponed it.
Worth remembering
No watch
is possible on a single handed passage
A lookout
is what several wordings require
The question is never whether you may sail alone. It is what the contract says about the hours you are asleep.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Does that hold for long overnight passages?
Yes. Our conditions set no time limit for sailing single-handed, neither 24 nor 48 hours.
Do I have to prove my experience?
For worldwide cruising, yes: evidence of the required qualification and of the sea miles sailed, both in text form before we accept.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Is single-handed sailing covered?” or another question: send us your residence and the flag your boat flies. You will get a straight answer in one email; including a no, if that is the answer.
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