Sailing License. To have or not to have?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by K_V_B

And its my money I'm going to spend there. Or not spend there. Their choice...

And you'd be missing out on visiting an absolutely beautiful country with friendly people and great food.

But your right, it's your money.

And.... Montenegro is one of the few options in the Med for Swiss and Americans to exit the EU from time to time for VAT issues.

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

And you'd be missing out on visiting an absolutely beautiful country with friendly people and great food.

But your right, it's your money.

And.... Montenegro is one of the few options in the Med for Swiss and Americans to exit the EU from time to time for VAT issues.

Monte Negro is on my list. I would have gotten there by now if it hadn't been for Dubrovnik. We ended up liking that place so much that we stayed there till our holiday was over, in stead of going further south.

I know that in practice pragmatism usually rules. The local bureaucrats want to be able to pretend they do their job. So you show them something. Before Belgium started (finally) to issue ICC's I had a phone call with someone at the transportation department, where I got the suggestion to just make a convincing "fake" license. In fact, quite a few Belgian charter agents would give you such a "license", often with the logo of a yacht club on it, to anyone they booked through them a charter in a country that required a license.

So indeed, respect the rules, and foremost the customs of the country, and allow the bureaucrats to feel important.

I'll have to ask my dad how he got away driving all over Europe without a driving license.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by K_V_B

Monte Negro is on my list. I would have gotten there by now if it hadn't been for Dubrovnik. We ended up liking that place so much that we stayed there till our holiday was over, in stead of going further south.

I know that in practice pragmatism usually rules. The local bureaucrats want to be able to pretend they do their job. So you show them something. Before Belgium started (finally) to issue ICC's I had a phone call with someone at the transportation department, where I got the suggestion to just make a convincing "fake" license. In fact, quite a few Belgian charter agents would give you such a "license", often with the logo of a yacht club on it, to anyone they booked through them a charter in a country that required a license.

So indeed, respect the rules, and foremost the customs of the country, and allow the bureaucrats to feel important.

I'll have to ask my dad how he got away driving all over Europe without a driving license.

You'll enjoy Montenegro, we spent two weeks in Kotor and two anchored off Porto Montenegro. We even went river rafting on the Bosnian border, we had a great time.. Beautiful country.

Ken

[boatman61]

[QUOTE=K_V_B;2222996]But one cannot reasonable be expected to obtain a Portuguese licence if you are only there as a visitor?
QUOTE]

I'm not saying you need a Portuguese licence.. just an appropriate sailing qualification from a recognised organisation like ASA or RYA etc..

[JerseyJoe]

Originally Posted by hsi88

Maybe not a license, but most states in the U.S. now require mandatory boater safety training. And you must carry a card/certificate with you. Older folks are grandfathered in, but I took the course in both PA and MD and found the training covered a lot of ground, including rules of the road, basic seamanship and first aid. I picked up a lot of good pointers and found the courses to be a great refresher after being away from sailing for a while.

I picked up my first USCG Boating Safety Cert in 1972. NJ still required me to retake the course after their new boating safety law. No grandfather rule to law.

What is interesting is places like NYC harbor where you could be in NJ waters half the time but perhaps have a boat registered and moored in NY. Technically you still need the certification if operating in NJ waters. Doubtful most transit vessels have this documentation. Nor would vacationers seeking to rent a PWC or Hobie Cat or such at shore in summer for a weekend.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

That country would be Montenegro for one, it's the very first question asked when one enters the country. Even before they asked for my passport, just one month ago.

I'm glad I had the ICC certificate. Our boat is a US documented vessel that most likely wouldn't have gone much further until I returned with someone with a certificate.

Ken -- was it a woman or older real capt that checked your paperwork - the woman told me if did not have a license I would have to leave Montenegro waters immediately - I showed her my ASA booklet and she reluctantly accepted it but I had to go back with additional insurance as we only had 500k and they wanted 1m euro -- took it back and the real capt was there and saw the ASA and asked a couple of questions then asked where I got the boat and I said USA and he asked how it got to the Med and I said I sailed it at which point he said how many crew and I said 2 - boy did his attitude change - he then talked about his career on big boats sailing the USA coast on cruise ships and we talked for a while --

And yea Montenegro is special - great country

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by chuckr

Ken -- was it a woman or older real capt that checked your paperwork - the woman told me if did not have a license I would have to leave Montenegro waters immediately - I showed her my ASA booklet and she reluctantly accepted it but I had to go back with additional insurance as we only had 500k and they wanted 1m euro -- took it back and the real capt was there and saw the ASA and asked a couple of questions then asked where I got the boat and I said USA and he asked how it got to the Med and I said I sailed it at which point he said how many crew and I said 2 - boy did his attitude change - he then talked about his career on big boats sailing the USA coast on cruise ships and we talked for a while --

And yea Montenegro is special - great country

A younger fellow in his 30's, and a young woman another time. After you go through their process once, you are then entered into the computer system so that checking in and out only takes a few minutes.