Best Sailing Travel Insurance Plans
Being insured while on the water is crucial for sailors, and several adventure plans stand out for their coverage. These plans offer strong coverage for medical treatments, emergency evacuations, and more to give you the protection you need.
See a full breakdown of the best plans for sailing and why we selected them.
What is Sailing Travel Insurance?
Sailing travel insurance is targeted to travelers who will be participating in any sailing activities on a trip, including recreational sailing, chartered sailing trips, coastal and offshore passages. While standard travel insurance policies typically exclude sailing as a high-risk sport, travel insurance for sailing protects you against losses due to common boating-related issues. This can include things like deck injuries, evacuations from remote anchorages, or a chartered yacht trip cut short due to a tropical storm.
Trip Cancellation protection is a key feature of travel insurance for sailing trips, because weather-related disruptions are common and boating costs including charter fees and marina reservations can be high. You’ll also find generous coverage for offshore Medical Evacuations as well as Emergency Medical Insurance that applies to boating accidents.
Whether you’re chartering a boat for a day, embarking on a multi-day excursion, or joining an organized tour, Squaremouth has policies that can protect your trip.
Who Should Get Sailing Travel Insurance?
- Recreational sailors: If you plan to rent and sail a boat yourself, you’ll need a policy that doesn’t exclude sailing.
- Travelers sailing offshore or to many countries: If you’re sailing offshore or across many countries, you’ll need a specialized policy.
- Passengers on charter boats: Regular travel insurance may not cover you if you’ve chartered a sailboat or yacht to take you on a long trip away from shore.
Who Should Skip Sailing Travel Insurance?
- Cruise passengers: A cruise insurance plan will better fit your needs.
- Passengers on short, low-risk coastal trips: Day sails or harbor tours are often covered by standard travel insurance, as long as you’re not operating the boat.
What Does Sailing Travel Insurance Cover?
Sailing insurance can reimburse medical costs, such as hospital bills and doctor visits, if you get injured or ill at any point during your trip. This includes sailing-specific accidents like slipping on a wet deck or getting hurt while reefing the mainsail during severe weather conditions. This coverage is essential if you’re traveling overseas in a region where U.S. health insurance is not accepted.
Experiencing an illness or injury in a foreign country or international waters can result in high medical costs. We recommend plans with at least $100,000 in Emergency Medical coverage.
Covers the cost of emergency evacuation services to the nearest adequate medical facility. This includes being airlifted by helicopter or transferred to a rescue vessel from your boat or a remote coastal location. This is especially important for sailing trips that involve multiple days at sea.
Aim for $250,000 or more, especially if you’ll be sailing for multiple days offshore, crossing open ocean, or anchoring in remote islands with limited medical facilities. Higher evacuation coverage is often essential while sailing due to the increased costs involved in conducting emergency evacuations at sea.
Trip Cancellation coverage provides reimbursement for up to 100% of your prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses if you need to cancel your sailing trip due to a covered reason, such as an illness, injury, or severe weather that makes sailing unsafe. Sailing travel insurance plans can cover general travel expenses, such as flights and hotels, as well as sailing-specific expenses like charter fees, marina reservations, and equipment rentals.
If you’re forced to end your sailing trip early due to a covered reason, Trip Interruption coverage covers unused travel expenses. Some plans may also reimburse additional costs incurred to make new travel arrangements back home.
If you experience a significant flight or travel delay during your trip, your plan can cover meal and accommodation expenses while you await your new departure time. You can also be covered for rebooking expenses if you need to book a new flight to catch up to your itinerary.
If you go missing while at sea, your plan may pay for costs associated with an organized search and rescue operation. This is only included in select travel insurance plans, but it can provide key coverage and peace of mind for sailors.
All travel insurance providers offer 24/7 assistance services to help travelers in the event of an emergency. This can be especially useful for sailors, as this service can help coordinate medical evacuations if you get seriously sick or injured while at sea.
To see exact pricing for your trip, try our travel insurance comparison tool. Simply enter your trip details to see all available plans and prices. Start a Quote
What Does Sailing Travel Insurance Not Cover?
- Sailing competitions: Most plans exclude regattas, races, or professional sailing events.
- Sailing expeditions: Policies generally have coverage gaps for things like search and rescue that are recommended for a very risky expedition like a transoceanic trip.
- Unlicensed or unsupervised charters: Plans will not cover you if you, or the operator of the vessel, does not have the proper licenses.
- Named storms: Policies won’t cover severe storms or natural disasters that were named before purchasing your policy.
- Pre-existing conditions: Most plans exclude medical conditions that you had before your policy’s effective date, especially if you don’t purchase soon after you book your trip.
- Charter liability or boat damage: Plans generally don’t cover damage to your vessel, damage to other vessels, or liability for other passengers on the boat.
How Much Does Sailing Travel Insurance Cost?
In general, you’ll pay between 4%-10% of your total trip cost for sailing travel insurance for an international trip. The cost of your plan will vary, depending on factors like age, the length and cost of your trip, and the coverages included. Plans with more generous limits for Emergency Medical and Medical Evacuation coverage — which we highly recommend if you’ll be sailing far from shore — tend to be the most expensive.
We sampled travel insurance quotes on Squaremouth for a 7-day sailing trip to Mallorca, Spain — one of the most popular destinations for sailing, according to Navigare Yachting. A Sailing Travel Insurance policy for a 40-year old traveler ranged from $133 to $660 at the time of sampling.
Cost of Sailing Travel Insurance for a $5,000 Spain trip, Aug. 10-16, 2026
| Age | Lowest Quoted Premium | Highest Quoted Premium |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | $89 | $465 |
| 30 | $89 | $465 |
| 40 | $133 | $660 |
| 50 | $133 | $660 |
| 60 | $180 | $769 |
| 70 | $274 | $1,013 |
| 80 | $471 | $1,681 |
Do All Travel Insurance Policies Cover Sailing?
No, many travel insurance policies exclude sailing or limit coverage because it’s considered a higher-risk activity. While some plans may cover sailing in limited situations (such as being a passenger on a guided trip), you’ll typically need a specialized sailing policy if you plan to participate more actively.
When choosing a policy, look for a plan that doesn’t specifically list sailing in its exclusions. You should keep an eye for other details, like offshore limits, distance-from-shore restrictions, and exclusions for racing or competitive sailing. Squaremouth offers 20+ plans that may include this type of coverage.
Is Sailing Travel Insurance Worth It?
Sailing travel insurance is worth it if you’re planning to operate a boat, travel offshore, or take a multi-day charter. For an average cost of $27 per day, you’ll get coverage that protects you against sailing-related risks. You’ll get strong benefits for medical care and emergency evacuations — which can range up to $250,000 from a remote location, according to the CDC.
On the other hand, if you’re just taking a short cruise on a sailboat around the bay, a standard travel insurance policy should suffice.
Sailing Travel Insurance FAQs
Yes, most standard travel insurance policies either exclude sailing altogether or limit coverage based on factors like distance from shore, vessel type, or whether you’re racing. A sailing-specific travel insurance policy ensures you’re covered for on-water activities, including medical emergencies, evacuations, trip cancellations, and gear protection. Without it, you may find that injuries or incidents at sea are not covered.
Travel insurance is not always mandatory for sailing. However, some tour operators or boat rental companies may require proof of coverage.
All sailing travel insurance policies include exclusions that outline the expenses, events, and scenarios that are not covered in the event of a claim. These exclusions vary by policy, but typically include:
- Competitive or organized sports: Most plans will not provide coverage to travelers participating in races or professional events.
- Unlicensed operation: Plans will not cover you if you, or the operator of the vessel, does not have the proper licenses.
- Pre-existing medical conditions: Most plans won’t reimburse claims relating to a medical condition that you had before your policy’s effective date.
- Expected events: Trip cancellations or interruptions due to events that were known, foreseeable, or expected at the time the plan was purchased.
- Named storms: Severe storms or natural disasters that were named before purchasing your policy.
- Substance abuse: Plans will not cover financial loss that stems from the use of alcohol or recreational drugs.
Yes. Sailing can involve unpredictable weather systems, remote island anchorages, and higher risks than traditional vacations. The cost of a sailing-specific travel insurance plan is minimal compared to the potential expenses you could face if your trip takes an unexpected turn for the worse.
At less than $30 per day, a sailing travel insurance policy can be one of the best investments you can make leading up to your trip, providing essential financial protection and peace of mind.
While cruise insurance and sailing travel insurance cover common trip disruptions like cancellations due to weather and medical risks of traveling on a boat, these policies are geared to different types of risks. A cruise policy may cover missing the ship and missed on-shore excursions. It may also explicitly exclude sailing as a risky activity. Sailing travel insurance on the other hand will cover scenarios like injuries due to recreational sailing and risks of riding as a passenger on a chartered boat.
Maybe. Some cards may cover some minor medical expenses due to sailing or losses due to a cancelled or interrupted trip. However, your card likely won’t offer adequate coverage for risks related to sailing.
It depends on the policy, but, yes, sailing travel insurance policies may cover offshore sailing. Some policies will cover offshore sailing within 30 miles of the coastline, and some will also cover deep-sea sailing beyond 30 miles from the shore.
Sailing travel insurance can cover cancellations and trip interruptions due to bad weather. Generally, you need to purchase the policy before the storm is named for your benefits to apply.
If you’re renting and operating a boat yourself (a bareboat charter), then you may need bareboat charter insurance, since a travel insurance policy won’t cover boat damage or liability. Charter companies and marinas may require this type of insurance before you take possession of the boat.
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