Accidents at sea: there are many causes of unforeseen events and consequent risks

The past summer will bring with it a bad record, that of nautical accidents. It is enough to take the news reports to reconstruct the accidents that involved both small pleasure boats and mega yachts.

There are so many causes of unforeseen events that can occur during navigation, from those caused by collisions between boats to the overturning of the hull , from impact with rocks to the appearance of a shoal. For this reason, it is crucial to be aware of the risks involved and to prevent any accidents as far as possible.

Luigi Alzona , expert in the yacht insurance sector, explained to Daily Nautica that for many yachtsmen in the Mediterranean Sea the accidents of last summer were caused above all by sudden storms and sudden tornadoes, consequences of climate change. Situations in which it is necessary to have the readiness to make immediate decisions by consulting the radar images in real time; and today, in this regard - as demonstrated by the “Iside” project developed by the University of Cagliari for rescue at sea - a simple smartphone can also be used.

But not everything is due to the imponderable. As far as a boat or a pleasure boat is concerned, the electronics have acquired an important weight with undoubted advantages but also with the need for technical interventions by highly specialized personnel. Home automation also dominates the nautical sector , demand has increased and shipyards must seek new solutions to maintain the right balance of spaces, ensure comfort on board and the arrangement of technological systems. "In some boats," Alzona said, "the engine room is so compact that it is sometimes hard to recognize the main engines." At that point, maintenance and repairs become complex interventions.

Among the other causes of accidents there are fires that often occur in the shipyard during the construction of boats, at mooring or in the harbor, due to a short circuit but also due to the explosion of newly developed batteries. What to do? The answer lies in the choice of insurance . Until a few years ago, most insurance companies issued Body and Car policies, including fire, bad weather and lightning. Today this is no longer the case; some companies, due to the losses suffered, have closed the yacht business and the insurers protect themselves by applying deductibles or modifying the clauses.