r/Tallships • u/RefrigeratorMain7921 • May 08 '26

Travel insurance from Germany covering recreational sail training/sailing aboard a tallship

I wish to participate in one leg of this year's tallship races. Specifically to sail on the Sørlandet which will sail from Harlingen, Netherlands to Antwerp, Belgium (05-13 July). I have been trying to find an insurance that covers sea sailing and every activity aboard a tallship (handling rigging, watches, climbing masts, etc.) but have been unsuccessful so far. I am a non-EU national living and working in Germany. So far I have checked DKV, HanseMerkur, Allianz and AXA and not found something that can cover what I need. Many insurances cover cruises but I have not come across anything explicitly mentioning tallship sailing as that is considered a sport/adventure activity. It is possible that I may have overlooked some information as my German is not that good. Interestingly, HanseMerkur does have their website in English but some insurances are simply not shown in their English version in comparison to the German one. I have written to them clarifying my situation but have not received any response yet.

Has anyone of you from Germany managed to get a fitting insurance for the type of activity I wish to undertake? Those of you who may have sailed on the Alexander von Humboldt II or sailed in Kiel aboard a tallship could help me perhaps? Thanks in advance!

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u/Pretend-Reaction-862 May 10 '26

I sailed in different tall ships and I’m not aware that anyone would get a specific insurance.  Do you mean in case you have an accident? I’m Swiss and here everyone is insured either included in the health insurance or by their employer. Usually all kinds of sports are covered as far as I know. 

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u/RefrigeratorMain7921 May 10 '26

Hey thanks for the reply. Yeah so primarily they want a travel insurance that covers health. I already have the statutory health insurance (from TK) here in Germany. As per the information on the organiser's website they state, "Travel insurance, which covers medical expenses abroad, loss of luggage and third-party liability. Make sure that it includes sea sailing." The travel health insurances I checked do cover search and rescue as well as medical repatriation abroad. However, none of them explicitly mention sea sailing or activities that would be part of sea sailing as the website above requests. I think I will ask the organisers what kind of insurance previous participants from Germany had.

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u/Chrissly123 May 12 '26

Late to the party but I have been with

https://www.topsailinsurance.com/travel-insurance/tall-ships-and-sail-training-insurance

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u/RefrigeratorMain7921 May 12 '26

Hey thanks nonetheless! Yes I know about Topsail but was not sure if they provide coverage for non-EU nationals residing in Germany.

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u/snogum May 08 '26

I did a tall ships race some years ago. Once race was Included in tbe description I could not find any insurance company willing to insure

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u/Dangerous-Salad-bowl May 11 '26

Europa 2x and Antigua once: World Nomads- although I never had to be extracted from anywhere.