posted Dec 8th, 2011 - Tom Claeys is one of the team captains for BJ Worth and his World Team. He has also visited SkyQuest Florida several times as a team captain for the Kaleidoscope Dives, one of the most popular bigway events in the skydiving world.

He is from Belgium and usually a part of a larger delegation of Belgian bigway lovers who make the trip to Florida in November year by year. He also visited for SkyQuest 2011 where even two big way groups competed with each other this year in the quest for bigway quality jumps and sequences.

One of his friends from Belgium, Sabine Gijzen, was involved in an accident on Sunday, which brought the first serious injury to the 11-year history of SkyQuest Florida. The accident itself was bad enough, but Sabine Gijzen was facing additional pain when her friends tried to arrange her return flight to Europe for her. Tom Claeys wrote a little summary of the insurance policy experiences, which can be helpful for every skydiver. He is also trying to help raising funds for the costly return trip.

Why should we all read those small letters in our insurance policies?

Written by Tom Claeys

Sabine Gijzen is 44 years old and has totaled more than 4,500 jumps over the last 20 years. From 4way to 8way to 16way to bigway, Formation Skydiving is her passion, and she loves to go for it. She attended world championships with the Belgian female 4way and 8way teams and had next year's World Championship of Formation Skydiving competition in Dubai on her radar.

On Sunday, November 20th, time stood still during a Kaleidoscope Dive of SkyQuest 2011. Sabine was having fun on a 107way skydive during her 3rd visit to Deland. Between break-off and canopy deployment she had a high speed freefall collision with another skydiver. In the collision she immediately lost sense of her legs and could not fly stable any longer until her Vigil fired and opened the reserve.

A helicopter took her to Daytona Halifax Hospital where she received surgery 24 hours later to stabilise her broken back. Today she is still paralyzed from the breast down. There is a small chance for recovery, however, it will be a long road. She is strong and motivated and supported by a lot of friends and family.

Now, why should we all read those small print in our insurance policies?

A lot of European skydivers travel every year to spend some time in Deland, Perris, Eloy, Z-Hills, or any other major skydiving center in the USA. We train 4way, go bigway or freefly or swoop the pond and live the passion. Most of us buy a travel insurance, just in case you get sick or break a leg. But who is really reading all the fine print in the contract?

Sabine Gijzen moved from Belgium back to the Netherlands in 2003, and she bought a travel insurance from her bank. Skydiving was covered, skiing was excluded. Every year she renewed her insurance, but the bank merged with another bank, and the insurance policy changed, together with the fine print.

She payed extra for a skiing insurance when needed and continued making her payments year by year for the complete travel insurance. At some point over the years, skydiving was excluded in the fine print, but nobody told customer Sabine Gijzen about it. Then, on November 20th, she unfortunately experiences the insurance case, and the travel insurance company raised their hands in the verdict: Skydivers are excluded.

Who of you have read the fine print of the travel insurance policies this year? You know, it is the little booklet you get in the mail AFTER you payed your annual renewal. Most of us don't read it. We assume that everything will be alright. But often it isn't. Conclusion: Read the small letters in your insurance policy if you don't want to pay €25,000 for your trip back home.

Did this story make you go and look for the booklet? Sabine Gijzen can use your appreciation for this advice, and her bigway friends accept donations for her €25,000 trip home:

Paypal : sabine.gijzen@gmail.com - Bank Transfer: IBAN : BE69035432672278 - BIC/Swift: GEBABEBB - Skydive Flanders VZW - Nieuwe Dijkstraat 44 - Schaffen 3290 - Ref: Sabine Gijzen