Anyone who’s been sailing for awhile, especially if you’re American and if
…you buy a new sailboat that’s substantially bigger than your old one…you’re relatively new to sailing, especially blue water sailing
…you’re sailing outside the USA, especially in the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Malaysia
…you have lithium batteries
…your rigging is older than ten years
…you liveaboard
— then you know about Insurance Hell.

Insurance Hell is when you’re being rejected for marine insurance by all the reputable carriers, or your insurance quotes have increased by more than 300% in one year.

Every year insurance becomes harder and harder, and costlier and costlier, for blue water sailors and it’s important to learn what you can do that may make a difference of many, many thousands of dollars, and get you quality insurance protection versus a policy that doesn’t give you the security you should be able to rely on.

When we were in our last year sailing the Pacific, even though we’d never had a claim, we started to meet these problems. The year before we had been turned down by Pantaenius after they’d insured us for many years because Golden Glow was a US flagged vessel, and we were US citizens. Somehow, by calling directly to our Pantaenius representative in Westchester County, New York, and sending her copies of our carefully documented sailing resumes, we were able to secure an extra year. But finally, Pantaenius completely pulled out of the marine insurance market for US boats/US citizens. We were also told the old standby of Global Yacht Cover Lloyds of London was no longer available. We got some quotes from carriers we didn’t have confidence in, and the quotes were more than double last year’s cost. Panic was beginning to set in.

Fortunately, we were introduced to Keith Sargis of Novamar and he became our insurance savior. Where another well known insurance broker gave us take it or leave proposal, Keith paid attention to our years of experience and 40,000+ nautical miles sailed, tried much harder, and came up with a decent insurance quote for us.

In this video, Keith as well as some other Antares owners give good, practical ideas for how to best present yourself to insurers, what to expect, and how to avoid some insurance pitfalls.

If you want to reach Keith directly, here’s his info, and let him know we said hello. He’ll take great care of you.

Keith Sargis
Novamar Yacht Insurance
Established in 1987
1700 Wells Rd. Suite #1
Orange Park, FL. 32073
Office: 904.293.0711
Fax: 904.374.5442
www.novamarinsurance.com

And if you’re not a US citizen and your boat isn’t flagged in the USA, you may be able to work with Pantaenius. Before they pulled out of the US Market, they were wonderful to deal with. Here’s our former representative:

Cathy Masiello
PANTAENIUS America Ltd.
500 Mamaroneck Avenue | Harrison, NY 10528 | United States of America
Tel. +1 (914) 3812066 | Fax. +1 (914) 3812052 | http://www.pantaenius.com

Good luck and Fair Winds!