Catching Up With Devin Wozencraft—Meeting The Challenges Of Performance-Boat Insurance Coverage – Speed on the Water

Of the many essential elements of the high-performance powerboating world, insurance could be the least sexy to talk about. And yet it also could be the most important topic of all, especially if things go wrong.

Just ask Devin Wozencraft of Southern California-headquartered Wozencraft Insurance. Wozencraft isn’t just in the powerboat insurance business. High-performance boating is among his favorite activities. He’s owned several boats including a couple of outboard engine-powered catamarans.

Constantly on the road during the boating season, powerboat insurance man Devin Wozencraft caught up with industry veteran Mindi Doller of FB Marine Group a few years ago at Performance Boat Center party during the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.

For eight to nine months each year, Wozencraft hauls his boat to poker runs and other events around the country. He doesn’t just log thousands of road miles to glad-hand current customers and sign new ones. An intelligent and thoughtful guy, he’s out there to experience and enjoy the same things his customers do—and observe.

During the Mystic Powerboats Owners Rendezvous earlier this month at the Westin Cape Coral Resort in Southwest Florida, Wozencraft strolled the docks, hung out with existing clients and made a few new ones. He’s a hummingbird of sorts, always in motion, socializing and listening.

A couple of weeks later, I caught up with him for an interview. He’s what he had to say.

What is the biggest challenging facing performance boaters these days when it comes to insuring high-performance powerboats?

Less selection. We have been experiencing a difficult insurance market that has progressively gotten harder the past five or so years—at least from what I’ve seen in my 24 years of the insurance profession. The difficulty is unprecedented. From fewer insurance companies interested in covering the more valuable and exotic vessels to the insurance companies still standing that have tightened their guidelines and have more restrictions, it has been much more challenging for us in the profession to offer a healthy assortment of suitable insurance carriers to our customers. It’s amazing how often we submit A-plus clients to our insurance underwriters and they won’t accept the business.

What role does driver experience play for insuring go-fast catamarans and V-bottoms?

Driver experience plays a tremendous role. The key factor is the number of years of ownership experience and experience running equivalent vessels, not just general years of experience. If applicants are short on similar prior vessel ownership, we sometimes can get them over the hump with the successful completion of one of the current performance operator courses available.

Earlier this week we ran an op-ed that explained our new policy of eliminating top speed from our reporting for issues of verification and accuracy.

(Laughs) I read it. Top speed is overrated in the media in general, and primarily due to performance evaluations from the media and/or the manufacturers. It’s commonly known that many manufacturers will go to great lengths to achieve that top number such as building boats with lighter layups, removing heavy gear and any passengers other than the driver and going with aggressive propellers—even if it takes the boat a mile to get on plane—all to achieve a top-speed number. Barely enough fuel to finish a pass, running with the current. You name and it’s been done, all in pursuit of a number that no one but a professional test driver working in less-than-real-world conditions will ever see.

It’s just not realistic in actual true pleasure boating scenarios. I frequently remind people that our underwriters do have computers on their desk with access to the Internet. They check the speeds posted by media and by end-users on social media. They use this data, as well as additional information, in determining acceptability of a risk.

Like her business partner, Tanah Kinsey spends much of the boating season on the road to learn the needs of the company’s clients.

Can someone with a find 150-mph boat find insurance, and if so how?

Yes, but there are not many insurance programs that offer insurance to boats that exceed 120 mph. Of the approximately 15 different insurance programs we offer, only two offer coverage on vessels that exceed 120 mph.

What factors outside of the type/value of boat and driver experience affect insurance rates?

There are many. Navigation, storing and mooring are among the insurance companies use to determine the insurance cost or if they even have an appetite for the risk based off this information. We have Insurance companies that do not write in Florida or any Gulf state due to potential hurricane damage. Some companies are happy to insure a boat in Florida, but not if the boat is moored at a secondary residence in Florida. Some won’t allow for navigation in Canada, or the Bahamas or Cuba. Most Lloyds of London syndicates won’t write in the state of Kentucky. Some won’t write in California or New York.

It’s a treasure trove of guidelines. And they take some time to learn and memorize.