US Slalom Course Liability Insurance

[Drew McClelland]

I've been working my tail off for the past 6 months trying to get a permit to install a temporary slalom course on a public lake in Utah. I wrote an 8 page proposal for the Sovereign Lands coordinators and they've started to build a process to support obtaining a permit like this.

Unfortunately, the next step in the process is for me to obtain liability insurance for the course, and this has shown to be incredibly difficult. Over the past 6 months I've reached out to a bunch of companies and even sent my insurance agent on a wild goose chase. I haven't been able to find anyone willing to draft a liability insurance for the course because it's on public land and access cannot be restricted.

The State doesn't want to allow me to place the course in the lake even for a few hours while it's actively being used. The Utah waterski club also declined to wrap the course under their club/policy. USA WSWS insurance only covers clubs/events, and after reaching out they didn't have any suggestions.

Does anyone have any tips for insurance companies in the US willing to offer liability insurance for a course? Any help would be very much appreciated!

[jjackkrash]

Start a club and get club insurance through AWSA.  I suspect that's the most viable path.  

[Bufootin]

Yep!  Form a ski club an join AWSA.  They have an underwriter that provides exactly the type of insurance you’ll need.  I have a course permit for a public lake in Idaho and obtain insurance annually as required.  Reasonable prices too!

 

PM me if you have questions 

[sunperch]

Sportsinsurance.com

 

[jpwhit]

Have you used a portable course there and been told you have to have a permit? I'm pretty surprised because in the states where I know the rules, I've never heard of a permit being required if you don't leave the course in overnight or while you're not using it. 

I'm just wondering if this is one of those cases where, because you asked, you're getting a lot of resistance. As opposed to the "it better to ask for forgiveness than permission" kind of cases. I'm also wondering if the current rules don't really address the situation, and again because you asked...

Is this for a college waterski club?

Do fishermen on the lake put out noodles? Bouy's with fishing hooks dangling from them. 

[Drew McClelland]

Thanks for the replies y'all.

> Sportsinsurance.com

I tried this, and they said this isn't something they insure 😞

> Have you used a portable course there and been told you have to have a permit?

The second time I put the course out, I saw DNR taking pictures of it. I caught up with them and they said they were forwarding the pictures to the gov agency that manages permitting. In my ignorance I reached out to the permit agency in good faith, and that led me down the rabbit hole I'm currently in. I even asked the guy at the agency "so, hypothetically, if I were to put it out, would this harm my chances of getting a permit?" and he said definitely. So I tried to do it the legit way. Maybe that was a mistake, but I'm in too deep now. I honestly thought it wouldn't be this hard to put a few *#(@ing buoys in the water.

Unfortunately the lake I'm placing it on has seen a massive increase in traffic, and the state has increased DNR/police presence 4x in the last year to crack down on everything they can. So it would be difficult for me to hide the course usage.

> Is this for a college waterski club?
Nope
> Do fishermen on the lake put out noodles? Bouy's with fishing hooks dangling from them.
Not that I'm aware of

> Start a club and get club insurance through AWSA.  I suspect that's the most viable path.  
I originally read the wrong the AWSAs insurance policy, so I didn't think it would cover the course (it seemed to only cover sanctioned events). But after reading the club insurance policy, it does look like it should cover my use case! I'm gonna see if the state will sign off on that policy and what other hoops they'd want me to jump through (the policy looks like it's gonna be $700+ a year, so I gotta be sure it'll work first).

Thanks for the help y'all!