But what if your “big-time screw up” causes you no loss, but injures someone else?

Honor among gentlemen (or gentlewomen) is a beautiful thing - until there is a disagreement over who is at fault, or no one is at fault, or the damages suffered reach beyond the value of the boat. In the grand scheme of things, our equipment is not very expensive. A brand new Hobie Tiger at full retail is still only about 15K. Compare this with sending someone to the hospital with severe injuries because you "screwed up big time" and $15K is a pee hole in the snow. My 5-year-old son spent 3 hours in the emergency room with croup and it cost me - my insurance company - $2,000.

Two years ago, a brief but intense storm launched my H20 (which was tied down with sand screws) down the beach like a 400-pound tumbleweed. Before breaking apart, it crashed into two large, expensive campers causing damage to both. I can only imagine the injuries had it hit a person. I don't know what the final claim was, but I’m sure that damage to others’ property was far greater than the cost of replacing my boat. Had it hit someone, the financial cost could have been in the millions - I can't even imagine the emotional costs. The accident was certainly not my fault. I took reasonable precautions when I tied the boat down, removed the sails, etc. But I'm damn glad I had insurance to cover everyone else’s damage - as well as my own.

The incident with the H20 sailors at the 2006 Nationals is another excellent example. Luckily, no one was badly hurt and both teams went on to the finish the week, but what if the timing or angles had been just slightly different and the starboard boat, instead of slicing off the port boat's transom, hit one of the crew and sliced off a leg or killed someone. I’ll bet that the liability in that situation would shift the other way - and that's not to say that the starboard boat from Oklahoma was at fault. It was an accident. But had the worst happened, they would probably be held responsible.

So why do regatta organizers require participants to have insurance? Because the unimaginable can, and does, happen, and they, as hosts of the event, want to be sure that everyone is able to take equal responsibility. Would you have the resources to settle a claim if you "screwed up big time," or through no fault of your own, badly injured or killed someone with your boat? I have no idea, neither does anyone else at an event that you attend. There is no guarantee of honesty or sufficient coverage, but when the regatta organizers require that you show proof, they are taking reasonable care that you, and everyone else at the event, does have the resources and with that one move covers themselves and hopefully everyone else.

One other note:

Not requiring proof of insurance has nothing to do with trust or honor. The very fact that the boats and their owners are worth millions suggests that everyone has insurance. Anyone with money who does not have insurance will soon find themselves without money.