NAMBA Liability
NAMBA membership provides you with liability and property damage coverage in the unfortunate event that your boat should be involved in an accident in which a spectator is injured or damage is done to someone else’s property. This coverage is $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate. Of course, this does not cover damage done to another model boat in the normal course of running. This coverage is primary coverage, so you do not have to look first to your homeowner's policy for protection as is the case with some of the other boating organizations. In addition, it is individual insurance rather than site insurance, which protects you no matter where you are running, not just at pre-approved lakes and ponds, as with some of the other organizations. Of course, keep in mind that you are also expected to be complying with all local and state laws and restrictions. If you are running a boat on a lake on which you are trespassing you may not be covered. Several years ago the NAMBA Board of Directors authorized the addition of a $1,000,000 umbrella policy to add to the above-mentioned coverages.

NAMBA Property Damage
In addition, NAMBA offers additional site coverage to protect the owner of the running site with the same $2,000,000 as is afforded the individual member. While this is not required for the individual insurance to be in effect, some cities and site owners require this additional coverage. Registered clubs may purchase this coverage at a cost of $45.00 per year. However, please keep in mind that NAMBA site insurance provides insurance for, and names as an additional insured, the site owner only when the accident involves a NAMBA member. We do not provide general liability coverage for site owners for all possible hazards which can occur at their lake, but merely for those caused directly or indirectly by an insured NAMBA member. In addition, this coverage does not cover the site owner if an uninsured boater or a boater who has insurance through another organization causes an accident at the site.

And yes, NAMBA's coverage is in effect any time you are running, not merely at sanctioned events. This includes practice running or unsanctioned club or fun events. Of course, coverage would probably not be valid if you are blatantly breaking one of the NAMBA safety regulations, such as operating a boat while swimmers are in the water, or consuming alcoholic beverages or illegal drugs while running a boat. In addition, NAMBA insurance does not cover you when you are participating in a sanctioned event of any other organization which has its own insurance coverage, whether primary or secondary. So make sure that you are confident that the coverage provided by the sanctioning organization is sufficient to protect you during that event, as you will not be able to rely on your NAMBA insurance if it is not.

Also, please note that NAMBA insurance no longer covers you when you are flying R/C airplanes or driving R/C cars. This coverage had been provided a number of years ago but has not been part of our coverage for a number of years. We are a model boating organization and that is all that our insurance covers. Some membership cards may still refer to these activities on the back of the cards since we have to have 10,000 cards printed at a time, but again, participation in R/C cars and planes is no longer covered by our policies.

NAMBA Personal Injury
NAMBA insurance also provides you with a $1,000,000 personal accident policy which covers injuries which you may incur while running your boat or while assisting someone else with their boat. In the past, this has covered such injuries as a cut hand, or torn ligaments suffered when a boater slipped on the mud in the launch area. This policy is secondary insurance. That means that if you have health insurance at work or through a family member, NAMBA insurance will expect your primary policy to pay first. Then, once your primary policy has paid what it covers, NAMBA’s secondary policy goes into effect. This would cover such things as deductibles, amounts over the policy limits, etc. If you do not have health insurance of any kind, NAMBA’s policy covers you the same as if it were a primary policy.

There are, of course, deductibles on both of these coverages, $500 on the liability coverage, and $100 on the personal accident coverage. However, in the past, NAMBA has has been able to pick up the cost of these deductibles, and we assume we will continue to do so in the future as long as funds permit.

As you can see, your NAMBA insurance provides you with the best protection available through any of the model boating organizations. Hopefully, you will never have to make use of this coverage, but if you do, you can be assured that you are covered. Continued availability of this exceptional coverage is of course to some degree up to you. Make sure that you are aware of all of the safety regulations, and use common sense in your running. Preventative medicine is always better than having to resort to a cure. By avoiding needless accidents, we can insure that the coverage will be available when really needed.

If you have any questions concerning safety related issues, please contact the NAMBA safety Chairman, Lohring Miller lohring.miller@namba.com.