Excuse my absence - I have been slowly burning in the fire of marine insurance hell. Turns out at least some industry players practice a shell game that is unmatched in the devious realm of flim flam. Or at least that has been our experience thus far. Helpful folks who have similarly experienced lightning strikes on their sailboats have reached out to share their, for the most part, positive experiences.
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| Berlin Graffiti |
Sadly, that has only served to indulge my unhealthy immersion in self pity and anger, as our experience has been precisely the opposite of positive. It is such a long story that I will not bore you with all the details - just a brief update.
World Clock - Berlin
July 8th we were at anchor behind a little island in Tivat, Montenegro. Our peaceful sleep ended with a sudden boom of thunder. Where there is thunder, there is rain (or at least that has always been true in our world) so we jumped up and started to close hatches. Instead of a rain shower we had a "lightning shower". Unfortunately for us lightning struck right beside our boat which caused very significant damage to our electronics. Dutifully we secured the boat and notified the insurance company.
Holocaust Memorial - Berlin
From there it has all gone even further downhill. Eventually the underwriter sent a "loss adjuster" who basically determined that since the equipment powered up it must be fine. No matter that we have no data (imagine a blank screen on a computer). We ended up hiring a surveyor ourselves but even that did not solve the what works and what does not issue. The underwriters do not believe the electronics experts at the boatyard or the surveyors electronics engineer. Instead, they prefer to process the claim on the basis of the Volvo-Penta dealer that they sent out who is neither a credentialed surveyor nor an electronics engineer. Meanwhile, the insurance companies are playing hot potato with the policy. The broker claiming that we really have insurance with the Underwriters - that is who our contract is with. Even though our policy clearly says "London Marine Insurance". It could not be more shady. So we have now had to take it further and are preparing to file a formal complaint with the UK Financial Ombudsman.
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| Carillon in Tiergarten Park - Berlin |
Regardless, we will be returning to Montenegro in March and fervently hope that the work will be completed.
