USMS OW SANCTIONING
david_barra
NYCharter Member
My guess is that the Maui Channel accident has led to this reevaluation.
Memorandum
URGENT: Open Water Event Sanctioning
December 31, 2012
Due to claims made against USMS's insurance policy in the recent past, USMS is faced with a liability insurance premium that is significantly higher than in previous years. In an effort to address certain limitations in the new coverage, help defray the expense of the increased premium, and reduce the likelihood of additional premium increases in the future, USMS Board President Nadine Day has assembled a task force to review and recommend compliance requirements, administrative procedures, and insurance fees for USMS open water events.
The task force is chaired by Phil Dodson and includes Long Distance Chair Donn Livoni, Open Water Chair Lynn Hazlewood, Past President Rob Copeland, Legal Counsel Patty Miller, USMS board member Bruce Hopson, Treasurer Ralph Davis, President Nadine Day, and Executive Director Rob Butcher. The task force will be making formal recommendations to the USMS Board of Directors at the February 9-10 board meeting.
In the interim, USMS is placing a hold on sanctioning of new open water events until after the Board of Directors is able to review the full task force recommendations at the February 9-10 board meeting. LMSCs should not issue any sanctions to open water events until further notice. If this hold creates a substantial hardship for an open water event that needs to be sanctioned immediately, the LMSC Sanctions Chair should contact Rob Butcher (rob@usms.org) so that the task force can consider, on a case-by-case basis, whether a sanction may be issued despite the hold.
New Compliance Standards Effective Immediately
The task force has recommended, and President Day accepted, the following compliance standards that will be in effect immediately for sanctioned USMS open water events:
Sanctions may only be issued via the online sanction program at usms.org
All propeller driven watercraft used in conjunction with the sanctioned open water events must have a propeller guard(s) installed for the duration of the event. The following are exceptions:
Boats owned and operated by Coast Guard, police, fire and rescue, or other government agencies;
Boats at anchor from start to finish of the sanctioned event with engine(s) off, while any swimmer is in the water;
Boats with propellers fore of the rudder (e.g. inboard motors), provided
These boats do not run directly on the designated swim course.
For events requiring personal escort craft, water craft with inboard motors may be allowed on the course provided their engines are off when any swimmer is within 20 feet of the propeller and during relay exchanges. For feedings the swimmer may approach within 5 feet of the bow or side of boat with engines engaged.
All motorized watercraft hired for the event (by the host, participants, or others) must provide a certificate of insurance naming United States Masters Swimming, Inc., its LMSCs, officers, directors, employees, sponsors, trustees, and event host as additional insured. The certificate shall be submitted to the referee at least 24 hours prior to the event. Liability coverage limits shall not be less than $1 million with a $2 million aggregate.
All motorized watercraft volunteered to the event must provide proof of insurance. The proof of Insurance shall be submitted to the referee at least 24 hours prior to the event.
All current sanctioned USMS open water events are subject to administrative review to ensure compliance with these new standards. Any current sanctioned event not meeting these standards may have its sanction revoked and thus no liability insurance from USMS. All open water events not yet conducted may be subject an insurance surcharge, amount to be determined.
Memorandum
URGENT: Open Water Event Sanctioning
December 31, 2012
Due to claims made against USMS's insurance policy in the recent past, USMS is faced with a liability insurance premium that is significantly higher than in previous years. In an effort to address certain limitations in the new coverage, help defray the expense of the increased premium, and reduce the likelihood of additional premium increases in the future, USMS Board President Nadine Day has assembled a task force to review and recommend compliance requirements, administrative procedures, and insurance fees for USMS open water events.
The task force is chaired by Phil Dodson and includes Long Distance Chair Donn Livoni, Open Water Chair Lynn Hazlewood, Past President Rob Copeland, Legal Counsel Patty Miller, USMS board member Bruce Hopson, Treasurer Ralph Davis, President Nadine Day, and Executive Director Rob Butcher. The task force will be making formal recommendations to the USMS Board of Directors at the February 9-10 board meeting.
In the interim, USMS is placing a hold on sanctioning of new open water events until after the Board of Directors is able to review the full task force recommendations at the February 9-10 board meeting. LMSCs should not issue any sanctions to open water events until further notice. If this hold creates a substantial hardship for an open water event that needs to be sanctioned immediately, the LMSC Sanctions Chair should contact Rob Butcher (rob@usms.org) so that the task force can consider, on a case-by-case basis, whether a sanction may be issued despite the hold.
New Compliance Standards Effective Immediately
The task force has recommended, and President Day accepted, the following compliance standards that will be in effect immediately for sanctioned USMS open water events:
Sanctions may only be issued via the online sanction program at usms.org
All propeller driven watercraft used in conjunction with the sanctioned open water events must have a propeller guard(s) installed for the duration of the event. The following are exceptions:
Boats owned and operated by Coast Guard, police, fire and rescue, or other government agencies;
Boats at anchor from start to finish of the sanctioned event with engine(s) off, while any swimmer is in the water;
Boats with propellers fore of the rudder (e.g. inboard motors), provided
These boats do not run directly on the designated swim course.
For events requiring personal escort craft, water craft with inboard motors may be allowed on the course provided their engines are off when any swimmer is within 20 feet of the propeller and during relay exchanges. For feedings the swimmer may approach within 5 feet of the bow or side of boat with engines engaged.
All motorized watercraft hired for the event (by the host, participants, or others) must provide a certificate of insurance naming United States Masters Swimming, Inc., its LMSCs, officers, directors, employees, sponsors, trustees, and event host as additional insured. The certificate shall be submitted to the referee at least 24 hours prior to the event. Liability coverage limits shall not be less than $1 million with a $2 million aggregate.
All motorized watercraft volunteered to the event must provide proof of insurance. The proof of Insurance shall be submitted to the referee at least 24 hours prior to the event.
All current sanctioned USMS open water events are subject to administrative review to ensure compliance with these new standards. Any current sanctioned event not meeting these standards may have its sanction revoked and thus no liability insurance from USMS. All open water events not yet conducted may be subject an insurance surcharge, amount to be determined.
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Comments
USMS-sanctioned events are closed to kids. Also, people who are not USMS members, triathletes for example, tend to avoid sanctioned events because of the $15 one-day fee.
I'd like to see a USMS sanction that's just a seal of approval.
www.WaterGirl.co
AZ Open Water Swimming on Facebook
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
www.WaterGirl.co
AZ Open Water Swimming on Facebook
http://openwaterpedia.com/index.php?title=Open_Water_Swimming_Insurance
http://openwaterpedia.com/index.php?title=HMBD
http://openwaterpedia.com/index.php?title=Travis_England
Steven Munatones
www.worldopenwaterswimmingassociation.com
Huntington Beach, California, U.S.A.
I'm an open water chair in my area, and based on a conversation with one of my contacts at the USMS National Office, there have been discussions about doing it this way, and for some reason that she was unaware of, that discussion finished without a resolution. I do wish that there could be some sort of reciprocity. It would make my job organizing events much easier.
As for solo swims, it is less of a problem to find an escort boat with an inboard engine and to comply with USMS's new safety requirements.
I don't know how hard it is to get a propeller guard, but motorized boats are allowed to support the race if they are fitted with one.
Ron Collins
Clearwater, Florida
DistanceMatters.com
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
HERE is a description of the USMS insurance policy for 2012.
Can someone please explain (or speculate) as to how (approximately) this applies to a case such as the Maui Channel accident? (or future such accidents)
It appears that the USMS excess personal accident policy only covers up to $25,000, while presumably the Maui Channel incident is in the six- to seven-figure range by now. I guess I'm trying to understand how this became a big enough issue that the insurance company felt it needed to raise the premium.
I'm guessing the USMS policy was designed mostly with pool meets and/or practices in mind, not open water events, especially open-ocean channel-type swims. For some of the "bigger" OW events (e.g., Tampa Bay, 8 Bridges, Lake Erie, Maui Channel, Boston Light), how does the coverage work? I'm thinking specifically of events requiring personal escort craft. Are the boat pilots covered by the USMS policy, or must they carry their own insurance?
Again, I'm operating from a position of ignorance, so I'd appreciate any insights from those in the know ( @gregoc, @david_barra, @roncollins, etc.)
For organizers and the volunteers (escorts are considered volunteers in the BLS event), the important coverage is the "general liability" ($1 million) and "excess liability" ($9 million). This covers USMS, participant, sanctioned organizers and volunteers against lawsuits. It does not cover property (i.e. the escort boats).
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Wow. That sounds steep. I'm curious what they say on the conference call this weekend.
Dave,
In addition to the previous communication, the task force also voted to recommend that solo swims or swims where personalized motorcraft is allowed or required would be charged an $1,800 sanction fee. In essence, we are willing to pass through our insurance cost to solo swims and swims where personalized motorcraft is allowed or required.
The view of the task force is that this is appropriate given the membership dues of the entire 58,000 USMS pays for the liability insurance that is being extended to these unique type swims.
Please know, this recommendation still needs to be accepted by the USMS board however we wanted you to have this information as soon as possible so you can plan ahead for an $1,800 sanction charge for the 8 Bridges event.
... Rob
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
If people have any questions about the nature and extent of coverage the USMS coverage or any other liability policy I'd be happy to give you my "thoughts". I litigated liability policies and gave advice on them to clients (including insurance companies) for many years. I was not involved in the acquisition of policies.
Evmo if you PM with some details we can chat about it.
However, based on the policy language referred to the $25,000 excess coverage offered by USMS is not liability coverage, but instead would cover the medical expenses identified which are not covered by your own health insurance coverage (if you have any). It appears that the policy offers $1 million in liability coverage per occurrence if the policy acts as primary coverage. There is no limit on the number of occurrences that are covered in a policy year. It also has $9 million in coverage if the policy is deemed to be excess over other liability coverage. There is a yearly maximum of $9 million regardless of the number of occurrences. This is just a general description of the coverages involved without addressing any of the policy details.
Ron Collins
Clearwater, Florida
DistanceMatters.com
Based on what was discussed on last night's phone call, I don't think that very much will be fully understood and cleared up before the event next weekend. Rob Butcher said that sometime between now and April, when there are more events, they'll have a better understanding. Sounds like they are working hard on trying to figure it out.
Ron Collins
Clearwater, Florida
DistanceMatters.com
In other words, everything seems to go through Francis Dean.
Ron Collins
Clearwater, Florida
DistanceMatters.com
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Don't blame you. I'd like to get a race series started in Louisiana. Fortunately, I have some backing from my LMSC, otherwise, I'd probably be hosed. Even so, I'm going to see what the cost difference is for alternate insurance.
I'd be up for that, but my event is pretty different from the ones Dave and Greg are putting on. Mine doesn't need motorized support, and is in a small water ski lake. That said, if enough people were interested, I'd gladly help in the negotiations.
@timsroot USMS sanction fees for events not requiring motorized safety might still be reasonable.
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Based on what I'm hearing, it's looking like it will be about $1000 foot a non pool sanction minimum. I'm curious how the board ultimately decides. When I get back home from Jamaica, I plan on investigating alternate insurance options.
A good, unified open water board in the US would be, I think, good for the sport. USS makes getting sanctions very hard already, although, I think that it isn't an entirely bad thing. USMS is being forced to move in the same direction. The fact that triathletes are probably still most of the open water swimmers in the US complicates the issues further.
While I understand why USMS is doing what they are doing, I think this may be the beginning of their exit from open water swimming.
Even my masters team has gone to private insurance. You have to be a USMS member to compete in meets, but not to work out with the team. I don't think USMS is doing very well in the insurance brokerage business, regardless of the venue.
I think USMS is an extremely valuable organization. I'd hate to see the insurance issues overshadow the rest of their value.
www.WaterGirl.co
AZ Open Water Swimming on Facebook
Sorry if this sounds like I think USMS has thrown us under the bus... but I do.
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
I mostly agree. The thought that they don't have the mechanism to do a per swimmer sanction fee sounds like a cop out to me. I understand that the two are very different sports, but if the us cycling federation can do per rider fees, why can't USMS? They did make it sounds like they would look at that in the future, though, at least.
I understand that open water is a newer super than pool swimming, but they sure got caught with their pants down on this one.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
No. Swimming IS a potentially dangerous activity regardless of training, although being well-trained mitigates the risk somewhat. For example, in various races, I have: been knocked almost unconscious when a piece of driftwood hit me in the head, stung by jellyfish bad enough to bleed, got a fish hook in my hand and got tangled up in abandoned fishing line at the same time, got a fish hook in my foot, broke a finger, carried a teen-aged girl out of the surf when she was knocked about and was semi-conscious, and got my hand trapped in an abandoned crab trap.
Besides, the suggestion was made as a thought that might help lower the cost by preventing lawsuits in all but the most extraordinary cases. This is the U.S. and you can get sued for liability if you butter someone's toast on the "wrong" side.
You wouldn't see me do it even with training. I found myself getting physically ill watching the video and waiting for one of them to wipe out. I once saw something arguably crazier: in 1980, outside of Squaw Valley, California, I saw guys riding roller luge sleds down a hill like that.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
You need to find another sport. :-)
Steven Munatones
www.worldopenwaterswimmingassociation.com
Huntington Beach, California, U.S.A.
http://www.usms.org/admin/lmschb/owsanctionletterfeb2013.pdf
http://dailynews.openwaterswimming.com/2013/02/us-masters-swimming-steps-up-in-open.html?m=1
I guess $1000 is better than $1800, but I'm also guessing alternative insurance will still make sense in many cases. @gregoc, @david_barra ?
The extra cost of event insurance would be passed on to the swimmers and that is on top of the annual membership each swimmer pays to USMS.
I also wonder what sanctioning groups for solo crossings (CCSF, Santa Barbara, etc) will do. With the new ruling, "1) All OW solo events (302.2.3, 303.11) shall be required to pay a full $1,800 insurance surcharge, without any USMS contribution.", there is no way a swimmer could afford a solo crossing insured by USMS. The cost of solo OW swims will be going up with or without USMS!
USMS is imposing new OW regulations as well. The prop guard requirement is impossable for many OW events. I have had several pilots contact me already saying they can not help with the BLS if it is sanctioned by USMS.
I wonder why USMS didn't pull out of sanctioning all OW events. Who do they get thier insurance policy from? You think they could negotiate a better rate than $1800/event!
Moving forward, MOWSA will sanction all events they host (including the BLS and solo swims). MOWSA will get each event insured and costs will reflect that.
To answer your question re: CCSF and Santa Barbara. I believe CCSF did have a USMS component of their insurance, and if so they will probably be making alternative plans. SBCSA, however, already had a separate policy through The Camp Team / F.L. Dean, so we're not affected by the USMS decision.
The problem with the new USMS requirements are not just the fees. Requiring specific prop guards is a deal breaker.... see the video I just posted in the video thread; at around 2 minutes, you will see a recreational boater heading north as swimmers are going south. Agent Orange moves forward to "intercept" any heading of the north-bound vessel that might pass within 100yds of our swimmers. The USMS approved prop guards are problematic... reducing power and maneuverability. Additionally, some of the limits required of event boaters insurance are only available in commercial policies. I don't believe this was well thought out by USMS, unless their ultimate goal is to get out of the OW business.
...anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
If I remember correctly from one of the conference calls that I sat in on, this was more or less dictated by the insurance company, and USMS either couldn't negotiate differently, or felt backed up enough that they didn't try.
I got yelled at by my LMSC Chair for mentioning something along these lines in an email. To be fair, while she is normally very nice to work with, she's a pool swimmer who has done one open water swim as the lead for a team triathlon.
With this, and US Swimming already making it pretty tough to put on an event, and USS not being very interested in putting on any kind of series to develop OW swimmers (it is an olympic sport after all, and normally sports get more money when they gain olympic status), I wonder if anyone will end up stepping into the apparent vacuum of open water governance in the US. I know that there are plenty of very good sanctioning bodies for very specific swims (CCSF, SBCSA, NYC Swim, probably plenty of others), but there doesn't seem to be a body that's all that interested in serving the 10k and shorter open water swims.
While I understand why USMS put in what they did, especially given the short amount of time in which they had to do something, I agree that plenty of things are likely to change in open water in the US.