Visions of a sunken yacht like this are what nightmares are made of
PHOTO: PANTAENIUSFollowing a year when the cost of living was never far from the headlines, you would be forgiven for expecting boat insurance premiums to skyrocket. Inflation was hovering stubbornly around the 10 per cent mark this time last year, reflecting higher prices across the board. But as some of the hot air has escaped from the economy, that figure slipped to less than 4 per cent in November, and the major insurers canvassed by Sailing Today all forecast below-inflation premium rises in the new year.
We won’t know what that means until the spring, when insurers traditionally set the year’s premiums. Icy conditions currently grip much of the continent, and there is the prospect of further named storms before the weather starts to improve and thoughts turn again to boating. But most marine insurers are talking about a gentle rise in premiums rather than a sharp hike.
“We’ll try to minimise any increase at all, but there are likely to be some increases,” said Mike Wimbridge of Pantaenius UK. “The market as a whole will increase again, but ours will be nothing like as big – just a