I don't have a dog in this hunt. However, below are two recent letters from George McCormick to his 4 crew explaining the difficulties he was experiencing in acquiring insurance required for the upcoming Los Angeles to Honolulu Race.
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The latest hurdle that I am having difficulty overcoming is the insurance requirement for the TPYC. I had my insurance specialist call around for me and she was unable to find an underwriter that would sign me up. I contacted the insurance company that is sponsoring the Transpac and they turned me down:
Thank you for completing our Online Yacht Insurance Request form for yacht insurance coverage. Unfortunately, our markets are unable to offer terms due to your vessel’s age, value, navigation limits required. I am sorry we are unable to assist.
I found another agent who said that he would like to help, but needs a survey before submitting to the underwriters. I sent an email to the TPYC to see if they have any recommendations or if they could get me in touch with a competitor with a Cal 40 (same value, even older boat). If anyone has any connections with a boat insurer, please let me know. George
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I just got a call from one of the Transpac race managers who also is an insurance broker. He was very pleasant and tried to work through the problem with me and said that if Novamar was unable to find a policy for us, no one could. He also explained that the Cal 40s have a “history “ of doing this race where as Transpac races are “out of the ordinary “ for me and my boat. He said that if I had a business like the owner of Pyewacket, that I could threaten to move my insurance elsewhere if they didn’t cover my boat as well. I said that I don’t really have that kind of leverage Finally he said that he always recommends finding insurance before leaping into a big project like the Transpac. I thanked him for his advice.
It really wouldn’t matter if we still wanted to do the Transpac, the insurance would be a deal breaker. (Although he liked the idea of the bond, he didn’t think the board would accept it).