Sorry if the details of complying with the new sanctions are posted elsewhere. If they are let me know.
We've chosen to sanction our 2013 event through USMS because we believe we can fulfill the new requirements. Last year our event had a number of paddlers around our 2.5k perimeter supported by 4-5 motorboats. Two were government boats, the other three private.
My approach to trying to secure the 3 private crafts again this year will be to:
First seek boats with inboard motor (which I believe can operate around/outside the course)
Then boats with outboard motors (stationed at anchor with engines off around the perimeter)
As far as insurance (getting boaters to produce a cert of liability for with a min of $1M), this actually seems more complicated than I first realized. A boating friend emailed me this:
Vessels that are insured usually include $300,000 liability. A $1m increase would require additional insurance premium. For example, our craft has a hull insurance of $200,000 and a personal liability of $100,000. We do that because we have the umbrella on our homeowners of $1m.
Bottom line, the vessel insurance is not the way to go. the operators will have to get personal individual $1m liability from their insurance co or yours.
Has anyone done this yet or is anyone aware of the costs involved to a private boater to securing a cert of liability in this amount?
If the new rules are too prohibitive to secure private boaters our approach will be to recruit as many paddlers as we possibly can to station around the course supported by the two government boats. Not the way we prefer to go but sounds like there are no other options.
Chaos - i'm curious how this $1M policy requirement affects you (and others) for your event. Is it that you own a private/non-commercial craft and are required to have a $1M policy for it?
From the moment USMS released the details of their new sanctioning policy, it was obvious to me that the one size fits all approach to "safety" wasn't ideal for many venues. Still, I felt an obligation to research what the cost would be for the events that I direct to comply so I could have some apples to apples numbers to compare. What I discovered in the process is that there is no way to comply since said policy isn't available.... period.
We could say that all the boaters are volunteers, and thus only require them to produce an insurance policy... no limits specified. Instead, we chose to self insure. CIBBOWS members will be covered for all events, practices, gatherings, etc through their CIBBOWS membership.
Chaos - i'm curious how this $1M policy requirement affects you (and others) for your event. Is it that you own a private/non-commercial craft and are required to have a $1M policy for it?
From the moment USMS released the details of their new sanctioning policy, it was obvious to me that the one size fits all approach to "safety" wasn't ideal for many venues. Still, I felt an obligation to research what the cost would be for the events that I direct to comply so I could have some apples to apples numbers to compare. What I discovered in the process is that there is no way to comply since said policy isn't available.... period.
We could say that all the boaters are volunteers, and thus only require them to produce an insurance policy... no limits specified. Instead, we chose to self insure. CIBBOWS members will be covered for all events, practices, gatherings, etc through their CIBBOWS membership.
