WIN VIP PARKING at 2014 LYRA Regatta

Early registration could also win you a VIP Parking spot courtesy of Skippers’ Plan Insurance!

 

Are you a skipper with a Twitter account? If you register and tweet “I registered (YOUR BOAT NAME) for @LYRA2014 and want to win VIP parking from @SkippersPlan” before the early registration deadline of July 1, 2014, you could win the exclusive use of a premium VIP parking spot during the regatta!

For more information about LYRA visit http://abyc.on and follow @SkippersPlan on Twitter

Adding Municipal Marinas To Your Boat Policy

Some municipal marinas in Canada are demanding to be added as an "additional insured" on boat  policies.   This is  a requirement to keep your boat at the marina but adding them to your policy has two additional benefits:

1. It provides some assurance that your marina neighbour has liability coverage.   Some boaters  were cheating the system by getting a policy, sending a copy as confirmation to the marina then cancelling the policy.   Once the marina is  named as an additional insured they will receive notice if your policy is cancelled.   The onus is then on the marina to take appropriate action.    Transient boaters don't have a contract with the marina so they will likely be exempt from this requirement.

2. The marina will automatically receive notice of renewal so the boat owner no longer needs to worry about sending them confirmation of coverage each year.   If  the marina manager asks for confirmation of coverage you can politely point out it was sent to them on renewal.  



Adding the marina as additional insured means your insurance company will defend the marina if they are named on a lawsuit because of an incident caused by your boat.   Lawsuits tend to  name every person or entity connected to the incident regardless of who is at fault.    As an additional insured the marina is protected from the cost of  nuisance lawsuits arising from the actions of their clients.    This would not apply if the marina caused the accident or if they damage your boat.   The marina has their own insurance for those situations. 

If your marina demands to be added as an "additional named insured" or they ask you to sign a "waiver of subrogation" don't do it.     If they ask for this it is  time to find  a new marina because they are trying to shift too much liability on the boat owner.    BoatUS wrote a good article about this  that is worth reading.

2013 Sail Canada Team of the Year - John McRoberts and Jackie Gay

The 2013  Male Athlete/ Team of Year selected by Sail Canada are  John McRoberts and Jackie Gay of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club


John and Jackie are both experienced sailors in the paralympic classes. John has represented Canada twice at the Paralympics in the Skud-18, he won a bronze medal for Canada in the 2008 games in China, and placed 4th in London 2012. Jackie has sailed the Skud since 2006 when the boats were first delivered and also campaigned for China. She has since been sailing in the 2.4mR single handed class as a member of the Canadian Sailing Team before teaming up John.

John & Jackie are Canada's Skud 18 Paralympic Sailing Team currently training for the Paralympics in Rio De Janeiro, September 2016. John McRoberts and Jackie Gay are  both a sailing team and a married couple who have high hopes for a podium finish at the Games. 'We always knew we'd make a strong team,' says John. 




 John & Jackie will be recognized at the Sail Canada Rolex Awards in Toronto on February 28 where they will be the first recipients of the Skippers' Plan Athlete of the Year award.   Find out more about their Road to Rio on their website Team UCan2 and send them your congratulations. 

2013 Sail Canada Female Athlete of the Year - Isabella Bertold

Laser Radial sailor Isabella Bertold was selected by Sail Canada as the 2013 female athlete of the year.  She hails from BC and is a member of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.    Isabella is the youngest sailor to ever qualify for the junior and senior national team in the same year and her career has been on an upward trajectory ever since.  She had a fantastic 2013 season and is on course to bring home Canada’s first Olympic medal in the sport of Women’s Sailing at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Isabella will be presented the Skippers' Plan Female Athlete of the Year  trophy at the Sail Canada Rolex Awards on February 28.  We hope you can join us at the awards to celebrate the best sailors in Canada.  The event also recognizes the outstanding contribution  made by Canadian volunteers.  

Congratulations to Isabella, the other outstanding members of the Canadian sailing community.   Send your congratulations to Isabella via Twitter @IsabellaSailing or http://isabellabertold.com/contact/

Is this the future of Insurance?

According to one European think tank the future of all insurance products is the Internet.   David Smith, CEO of Global Futures and Foresight  had this to say about the future of insurance.

 “Insurance is one of those products that can be completely satisfied over the Internet—there aren’t many product or service areas where you can actually do that.  (Insurers) now need to move from clunky, annual, impersonalized relationships linked to that renewal and/or a catastrophic event, to something that’s much more personal and improving of life.”

 So how does an insurance company transform to become more personal and improving of life.  Mr Smith's solution  might come as a shock.

"The more interesting stuff is when (insurance) becomes preventative, reducing risk in the process. With the ‘Internet of things,’ you can have real-time information: you can get a ping saying don’t take this route down the street, this pizza parlor has had three robberies in the past two months, this one is safer, or you can have real-time cameras in the car” 

WOW!  I often contemplate ways to make the insurance experience better for consumers but not in my wildest dream (or nightmare) have I considered a world where insurance companies "ping" my clients if they engage in risky activity.   I think it is a really bad idea to have anyone watching you via personal live feed not to mention a gross violation of privacy.   That might explain why I have not been recruited by a Think Tank but I find the whole concept disturbing.   What happens in this brave new world if a person chooses to ignore the unsolicited advice their insurance company?   Perhaps they will also have the ability to simply stop your vehicle.  This new world is closer than you think.    Is this what consumers really want? 

These comments were published in Property Casualty 360 and I invite you to read it to confirm I am not taking them out of context .  My response to Mr. Smith is short and personal - see video.