Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - December 2020

DECEMBER 2020 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 32
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GRENADA
Read in
Next Month’s
Compass:
Comprehensive calendar
of Caribbean events for 2021
Pro tips for inter-island passages
Online and SSB weather sources
for Caribbean sailors
…and much, much more!
Pick up a print copy
or read it online at
www.caribbeancompass.com
— don’t miss it!
READERS'
FORUM
FYI RE: INSURANCE WHILE CRUISING
Dear Compass,
Thanks for the great articles on boat insurance in
the November issue, all very helpful. (See pages 12
through 15 at www.caribbeancompass.com/online/
november20compass_online.pdf.)
On page 13, David Lyman said that despite having
Medicare and his Veteran’s policy, he still has no
medical coverage outside the USA. Just as an FYI:
with a supplemental Medigap policy, which we have,
you are actually covered to a limit of US$50,000 (I
believe). See www.medicare.gov/supplements-otherinsurance/medigap-travel.
I hope this can be of help.
One thing regarding boat insurance that was not
mentioned is just getting insurance for out-ofhurricane-season
winter months. Do any of your
writers know about that?
As we are home in Maryland this chilly winter, we
will live vicariously through your wonderful magazine!
Sally and Tom Schubert
S/V Azzurra
Hi Sally and Tom,
Thanks for the suggestion that led to our insurance
articles last month. We’ll have some follow-up in next
month’s Compass.
CC
CONSIDER LOCAL BOAT INSURANCE
Dear Compass,
Your articles on Caribbean yacht insurance in the
November issue made little mention of the Caribbean
marine insurance industry.
My experience has been that, when it comes to the
Caribbean, international insurance companies have
gotten much more restrictive in recent years. In my
situation, a couple of the big companies precluded me
from insuring with them for technical reasons.
I switched to local insurance, in this case Massy,
through Anjo Insurance in Antigua. I found that they
seemed to understand the needs of the customer in
the local market better and they offered excellent
coverage without being too restrictive, all at a good
rate. This was particularly important during Covid,
when health restrictions could mean that you might
not reach ports which many insurance companies
would have insisted on, leaving you uninsured if you
had to spend the hurricane season farther north.
Local insurance works best if your boat is in the area
year-round. You probably still need a survey. If you
are interested, most marinas will have contacts with
local insurance agents.
Chris Doyle
Ti Kanot
ON POLICIES DURING HURRICANE SEASON
Dear Compass Readers,
In the November issue, David Lyman has written a
very good article on insurance, covering many types I
have never dealt with. But there are two points on
which I feel I should comment.
David refers to one company issuing Lloyds insurance
policies. Are these Lloyd’s yacht insurance policies
issued by a Lloyd’s member or Lloyd’s syndicate, or are
they that company’s policy backed by a Lloyd’s
reinsurance policy? If the latter, it is probably fine, but
might cause problems and non-payment of a loss. See
the hurricane section on my website (www.streetiolaire.com),
subsection “Obtaining Insurance for
Boats Based in or Cruising in the Eastern Caribbean,”
where I point out how an old-time local insurance
company that had been in business for probably a
hundred years went belly up due to inadequate Lloyds
reinsurance, because of catastrophic losses from two
hurricanes back to back.
Also, David tells the story of losing his insured boat
in Great Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI. Again, go to my
website’s hurricane section, subsection “Laying Up a
Boat on a Mooring During Hurricane Season.” Note the
graph for approximate anchor line loads on a 50-foot
monohull at various wind speeds. At 100 knots, the
load is 6,000 pounds. When a gust comes through at
120 knots, the load goes up to 8,000 pounds. What
anchor or sand screw will stay in place at these loads?
(All the wind load and anchor line figures have been
created for me by my son-in-law Scott Vogel, a highly
qualified engineer, as illustrated by his designs for
over a dozen America’s Cup boats’ spars and rigging.)
His underwriter should have been aware of this.
Furthermore, poor underwriting is one of the reasons
for very high hurricane insurance claims. Go to my
website’s hurricane section, insurance subsection
“Poor Underwriting Caused Catastrophic Losses.” If
the underwriter had asked for the location of David’s
hurricane mooring and checked the chart or asked for
a description of the harbor, he might have refused to
quote, as he would have realized boats anchored in
Great Cruz Bay were disasters waiting to happen.
Great Cruz Bay is sheltered by hills to the north, east,
and south, but completely open to the west with two
miles of fetch. The inner bay is roughly eight feet deep,
then increases to 15 feet, but drops off steeply into 50
feet of water. With 50 or more knots of wind from the
west, the harbor would be filled with breaking seas. A
hurricane passing over or north of the Virgins,
producing hurricane-force winds from the west would
and did throw almost every boat in Great Cruz Bay up
on the beach.
Check out the hurricane section on my website www.
street-iolaire.com for further information.
Don Street
Glandore, Ireland
WE, TOO, CIRCUMNAVIGATED FROM BEQUIA
Hi Compass,
I just saw you would like to know the names of
circumnavigators having anchored in Bequia. We did.
We, Malou and Dominique Montesinos, sailing on
Catafjord, a 66-foot catamaran, started from Bequia in
2009 and returned in 2014.
We are French citizens, living in the Caribbean. We
sold our big sailing catamaran to replace it with a
47-foot trawler catamaran named Lady’t Bee. Why this
little joke in the name? I hate to change a boat’s name.
When we bought Lady B, which was American flagged,
we asked the Canadian authorities to keep the name.
They told us this was “impossible.” The name was
already used for another boat. We had to “invent” this
joke about the famous Beatles song to respect the
tradition of “not changing names.”
I’ve written six books, including three about our
circumnavigation and one about “how to transform a
Leopard 47 power cat to become a trawler with 0.7 liter
of diesel use per mile.” Unfortunately, these books are
in the French language, except “Wooden Epoxy Dinghy
Catamaran: Do It Yourself.”
Domi Montesinos
https://domi.voyagedenzo.com
IS THE CARIBBEAN THAT VIOLENT?
Dear Compass Readers,
The Caribbean Safety and Security Net (CSSN) 2019
Annual Report (published on October 25th, 2020)
claims that the number of violent events doubled in
2019 compared to 2018 levels — from seven to 14. A
closer look shows that these numbers have been
historically inflated by including incidents that the
CSSN calls “suspicious activities,” which are not
actual violent events. For example, in 2018, two of
seven events (28 percent) were counted as violent but
were really “suspicious activity.” Only five events
were actually violent — a record low compared to
previous years.
In the recent 2019 CSSN annual report, three of 14
events (21 percent) were counted as violent but were
really “suspicious activities.” One of the 2019
“suspicious activities” (irregular display of running
lights) happened in the Atlantic fishing grounds east
of Grenada. Yet, the CSSN attributed it to Grenada as
a violent crime statistic. Inexplicably, the CSSN
continues to report the fear of violence as if it is
actual violence.
One might consider exercising caution when
interpreting CSSN annual report numbers. They are a
mix of actual events and feared ones tagged as illdefined
“suspicious activity.” The overall low magnitude
of reported and mis-reported events, coupled with the
lack of relative and historical context, render these
numbers statistically meaningless.
The Caribbean may not be as violent as the CSSN
reports — your mileage may vary.
Mary Stone
Former CSSN webmaster
Single-handed Caribbean cruiser for 20 years,
now land-yachting
Dear Readers,
We have given the CSSN the opportunity to reply to
this letter, and have received the following response.
CC
—Continued on next page