Mark, that particular NOR for the Annapolis Yacht Club might not be the best example, since it says those Wednesday night races are open ONLY to club members.

Maybe the club bylaws require all members to carry liability insurance on their boats.

Or maybe it is assumed that the members all have enough money to cover their obligations even if they do not have insurance.

Or maybe it is expected that peer pressure alone will keep the members honest as far as meeting their obligations if they cause damage to another boat. (Fear of being ostracized by their fellow members, or even kicked out of the club.)

However, do they require liability insurance for non-members at an open event?

I just skimmed through the by-laws and policies for our sailing club, and I could not find anything about requiring liability insurance on the member boats. But I think it would probably be a good idea. Like what if a member boat at the club docks breaks loose and damages the docks or other boats or non-club property in the area? Or what if a boat in the drysail area blows over and damages other boats or flies through the clubhouse windows and lands in the dining room?

That is a different thing from multihull fleets that gather to race at various locations and then disperse back to their homes. People may show up whom you have never seen before and may never see again. You may have people coming from other countries, and if they cause damage to other boats, how are you going to collect from them once they have returned to their home country?

You have people borrowing boats for regattas. You have people chartering boats for regattas. If you borrow or charter a boat, do you have to make sure here is liability insurance on the boat itself and also have to have personal liability insurance for yourself?

The more I think about it, the more complicated this gets. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> And the more I think about the possibilities, the more paranoid I am becoming about sailing and about letting other people use my boat -- or me using somebody else's boat. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> It is sad.