I have just renewed my dinghy insurance. This is never a pleasant activity but I was struck by an exclusion paragraph which showed what spoil sports insurers are (and how they take themselves too seriously).
In no case shall this Insurance cover loss damage liability or expense caused by war, civil war, revolution, rebellion, insurrection or civil strife arising therefrom, or any hostile act by or against a belligerent power capture, seizure, arrest, restraint or detainment (battery and piracy excepted), and the consequences thereof or any attempt thereat, derelict mines, torpedoes, bombs or other derelict weapons of war.
Presumably this means the end to my habit of donning my jolly roger outfit, tucking a cutlass into my buoyancy aid and heading out into the Roads with a large bottle of rum. The Devon Liberation Army has been quiet for a number of years now and I am not thinking of sailing the dinghy near Somalia, for heaven's sake. If my dinghy is damaged by a torpedo or 'derelict mine' (does this include Carnon mine?), then I suspect that the last thing I''d be worrying about would be the cost of a new mainsheet block. But they may know better.
Get a life insurers!
Jonathan
