ABSTRACT
As we advance into a leisure society, the insurance of yachts is an expanding business. The term "yacht" may cover anything from a single-handed sailing dinghy to what are in effect privately-owned cruise ships. It is immediately evident that the drafting of a set of insurance conditions appropriate to every kind of yacht is no mean feat. The way that this has been achieved is to put together a set of clauses based upon the standard perils, but subject to all the exclusions and reservations which could reasonably be required by a prudent underwriter, whatever kind of yacht is insured, and in whatever situation the yacht may be, for example, in commission or laid up. This gives the Institute Yacht Clauses the appearance of having been drafted in a restricted manner, but it is common practice for an assured, through his broker, to request the deletion of inappropriate clauses, and yacht underwriters, many of whom are keen yachtsmen themselves, are usually willing to accommodate their assured in this respect. Indeed, some yacht underwriters offer their own conditions of insurance which differ in many respects from the standard form, while retaining some of its provisions.
