Saint Vincent & the Grenadines flag radio equipment requirements

[FreeMinded]

Hi all

We are pretty new to the community of sailing yacht owner and have only limited experience with marine administrations. We have registered our Dufour 48 with Saint Vincent & the Grenadines (SVG) but are currently facing some challenges regarding the radio equipment for unrestricted (off-shore) navigation.

SVG requires pleasure yachts to be equipped with VHF, MF/HF or INMARSAT, NAVTEX and EPIRB for a unrestricted navigation permit.
Currently we have VHF, NAVTEX, EPIRB and an INMARSAT ISATPhone Pro. Unfortunately the ISATPhone is not recognized by SVG as it's not part of the GMDSS even though it's working with the same satellites.

We have been looking into MF/HF radios and found the Icom IC-M801E and Icom IC-M802 to be a feasible options for pleasure yachts. Unfortunately SVG rejected these devices as not SOLAS/GMDSS approved. They propose a Icom GM800 GMDSS MF/HF Transceiver (Class A DSC). This seams to be a device for commercial shipping, actually 24 VDC.

Our questions is, how do other owners of small pleasure yachts under SVG flag comply with the radio requirements? Do you use satellite installations? Any recommendations are welcome!

Background on the flag choice: We are swiss nationals and unfortunately the swiss flag does not allow us to rent our yacht to cover the costs. We have also tried to keep the french flag which the yacht was previously sailing under, but were denied for being swiss nationals with no connections to france. We opted for the SVG as the yacht was sailing under this flag 10 years ago already and in the first place the requirements looked OK and doable.
We happily take recommendation for alternative flag states which have a more pleasure yacht friendly regulation.

[FreeMinded]

No one here owning a yacht registered with SVG?
Well, let's extend the question. Which flag state would you recommend for a pleasure yacht located on the canary islands (considering the background above). The yacht is engaged in "commercial" bunk charter with a professional skipper to cover the cost. No bare boat charter.

[MarkJ]

Very few SVG flagged boats. Now i know why.
Just buy an old HF radio. Does it need to work?

[Vasco]

Lots of SVG flagged mega yachts. Not too many sailboats.

[250224]

Originally Posted by FreeMinded

Background on the flag choice: We are swiss nationals and unfortunately the swiss flag does not allow us to rent our yacht to cover the costs. We have also tried to keep the french flag which the yacht was previously sailing under, but were denied for being swiss nationals with no connections to france. We opted for the SVG as the yacht was sailing under this flag 10 years ago already and in the first place the requirements looked OK and doable.
We happily take recommendation for alternative flag states which have a more pleasure yacht friendly regulation.

Swiss flags only fly on ivory towers...

The Gibraltar flag may be suitable. (Or other 'Kanalinsel-Flaggen' - feel free to contact me by PM for more concret info, don't want to post 'adressen hier').

[barnakiel]

Your question should be asked (I think) from the SVG authorities, not from the forum.

?

b.