BOATING is rapidly growing in popularity.

Thousands have gone afloat for the first time this year. Doubtless next year thousands more will be doing likewise. In all the excitement of selecting and buying a craft of one kind or another, the question of insurance should not be overlooked. Granted you don't have to insure, as there is no equivalent of the Road Traffic Act as yet applying to the water. But liabilities still lurk and insurance protection is vitally important.

What is at stake? Well, you have a responsibility towards other people. If you are out boating and injure somebody or cause damage to their property due to your negligence, you will no doubt have to pay up if a claim is submitted against you. The vital point is that there's no knowing what a third-party claim may amount to. Through your faulty manning you may merely nudge another boat, scraping off a touch of paint in the process. Settlement may cost you a few pounds. Yet if someone is seriously injured by the negligent handling of your craft, a claim for many thousands of pounds could stare you in the face. In fact, only a few years ago a Canadian stockbroker fell overboard when a speedboat's engine was suddenly put into 'astern'. He suffered severe multiple injuries from the boat's propeller and was unable to continue his career. In court he was awarded £30,000 plus special damages.Third-party insurance can raise problems.

With some insurers the limit of liability is a figure which equals the total insured value of the craft, though in the case of dinghies sometimes an arbitrary limit of £1,000 is inserted in the policy. Frankly, this is completely inadequate for the needs of an owner. Every craft owner should have this figure increased to at least £25,000, as the extra premium required is only nominal. A few insurers, however, now give cover for small craft of up to, say, £50,000 or £100,000 for any one accident without additional premium.

We now come to the craft herself. Cover is normally on the lines of all damage to or loss of the craft, her tackle, fittings and equipment, including stress of weather, stranding, sinking,collision, theft, fire and explosion, up to the full value of the craft.

Transit risks by road or rail are covered within the United Kingdom, excluding scratching or bruising, but it must be noted that the thirdparty section of the policy does not apply while the craft is in transit by road. This is because the third-party risk automatically comes within the cover provided by the car policy. For example, if the craft is being towed by a car and the trailer causes injury to some third-party or damage to somebody else's property due to the fault of the car driver, any resultant claim from the third-party is dealt with by the insurers of the car. If the craft is damaged in the process, the repair bill would be for the attention of the insurers of the craft.

In former days yacht and boat insurance, even for small craft, was a trifle complicated to arrange. Insurers used to rate each craft on its individual merits, taking into account not only the type, size and value of the craft, but also the experience of the owner, the area in which the boat would be used and the period for which she would be 'in commission'. It was common, in fact, for underwriters to quote a percentage rate for each month while the boat was in commission and an appreciably lower rate for each month while laid up during the winter months. That was reasonable enough— in theory. In practice, however, with a fine summer an owner might wish to keep his boatin commission for a longer period than originally advised, which involved a payment of additional premium, with the rate being the difference between the laid-up and in-commission rates for the extra period.

Now, extensive simplification has been introduced by several leading insurers. Their aim has been to provide a 'package deal' type of cover at a competitive premium which will meet the needs of the average small craft owner.

Of course, not all vessels can be insured on this basis. Broadly, this arrangement only normally applies to craft whose overall length does not exceed 16 feet, although sometimes an exception is made in the case of 'Fireball' and '5-0-5' dinghies. There is a stipulation that the craft will be kept on shore when not in use.

The reason for this is that some moorings are more exposed than others, certain areas around the coast being regarded as distinctly hazardous by anxious underwriters.

An advantage of the package policy is that there should be no problems about laid-up dates or the area in which a boat may be used.

While the premium is calculated on the basis that most boats will not be used during the winter months, in fact a boat probably can be used at any time during the currency of the policy on inland or coastal waters of the British Isles.

One leading company in the yachting and boating insurance field has been quoting an all-in premium for racing dinghies, sailing craft and motor boats with engines of less than 18 h.p.

(subject to the limitations mentioned earlier regarding length and being kept on shore when not actually in use) of £4.50 per year for insured values up to £150, with an additional 50p of premium for each extra £50 of insured value.

One or two small dinghies qualify for a rather lower premium. For certain classes of racing dinghy various excesses are imposed. This means that the insured person is required to bear the first so many pounds of any claim.

The basic premium which has been quoted by this same insurance company for runabouts and speed-boats with engines from 18 h.p. to 40 h.p. inclusive is £3 per £100 of the insured value, plus £5 for third-party risks, with a minimum overall premium of £10. Here again, it is usual for an excess to be imposed.

If you have a speed-boat, a point which needs to be checked is whether the third-party section of your policy applies to injury to water skiers. At one stage it was common for this liability to be excluded. But it is now increasingly being given and in lots of cases policies also include cover for liability incurred by a water skier towards members of the public, if the water skier is being towed by the insured boat.In this case there is likely to be a charge for the third-party cover given.

A tie-up exists between R.N.L.I, and insurance, even if indirectly. The life-boat fleet is vital in caring for the increasing traffic on the seas, not forgetting this great new armada of yachtsmen—the week-end and holiday sailors —around the coast. In one year recently well over 2,000 calls were answered with 321 vessels rescued and 1,101 lives saved. This resulted in an estimated saving of nearly £1.75 million in insurance claims.

I often wonder whether insurance company managements appreciate the invaluable efforts made by the R.N.L.I. Through this article I would like to appeal to the insurance boards to set aside generous gifts for the R.N.L.I., as the increasing vigilance and action which is now required is whipping up their costs.

There is another point to ponder. This touches on salvage. At the outset it must be mentioned that the R.N.L.I. of itself does not make salvage claims. Quite an interesting calculation was made not all that long ago.

It was estimated that the total amount of salvage money paid out to life-boat crews in one year would, if split among all crew members and shore helpers throughout Britain and Ireland, have produced a sum of approximately £ per man. I hope that insurance managements will again take note. If you have friends in insurance be sure to remind them..