Hong Kong: Sailing license in Hong Kong

[hellosailor]

Sounds like a tax on "boat people". Got to keep the riffraff under control.

[Pelagic]

HK MARDEP came under a lot of criticism a few years ago after a deadly ferry accident, that focussed on lack of safety management for small craft.

I am also quite sure that China is not that comfortable with "freedom of navigation" desires by local yachtsmen... and will slowly add more and more restrictions and requirements in order to limit cross border incursions into mainland China, by private craft.

[DITB]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

HK MARDEP came under a lot of criticism a few years ago after a deadly ferry accident, that focussed on lack of safety management for small craft.

I am also quite sure that China is not that comfortable with "freedom of navigation" desires by local yachtsmen... and will slowly add more and more restrictions and requirements in order to limit cross border incursions into mainland China, by private craft.

"Lack of safety management"? That's a very polite way of saying neither vessel saw where they were going. Safe speed, keep a lookout ... that's the essence of the issue: MarDep focuses on memorising and box ticking - rather than requiring a course that actually teaches responsibilities, seamanship and yes ... safety.

For every accident there is, they will just add more things to memorise

"Cross border incursions" = smuggling? Or just lack of knowledge of where HK waters end and China waters start?

[bewitched]

I have to agree - The Marine Department (like many other Hong Kong Government Departments) are utterly failing the community that they are intended to serve at pretty much every turn:

Licencing, Mooring Facilities, Training... etc, etc. The management is just a bureaucratic mess that grows every year and takes them further and further from their intended function.

Moving from service provision to regulation enforcement, but ignoring the fact that the regulations they enforce are often (usually?) conflicting and ill-conceived.

Licencing has gone from a process of taking a little green book (remember them) to Mardep one afternoon and paying a fee to get it stamped to my latest 7-month odyssey of licencing a vessel here.

And depriving Pleasure Vessels of electronic charting.....well... don't get me started !! : )

[Pelagic]

Yes, MARDEP in the 80's and 90's were great, but that started to change after 97.
About 3 years ago I was invited as a consultant, to a meeting w/Invest HK re building a multipurpose marina/water recreation centre in an unused Typhoon shelter.

Very well received and most practical, but while IHK was supportive, they knew that the HK youth movement would go negative and political.

The message I get from MARDEP is that they want to discourage pleasure yachts and simply focus on commercial.

[Jim Cate]

Well, this discourse has certainly removed HK from my personal list of places I'd consider sailing to. Sounds like the complete antithesis of what I like about cruising: crowds, corruption, complacency, cacophony... horrible!

Jim

[DITB]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Yes, MARDEP in the 80's and 90's were great, but that started to change after 97.
About 3 years ago I was invited as a consultant, to a meeting w/Invest HK re building a multipurpose marina/water recreation centre in an unused Typhoon shelter.

Very well received and most practical, but while IHK was supportive, they knew that the HK youth movement would go negative and political.

The message I get from MARDEP is that they want to discourage pleasure yachts and simply focus on commercial.

"discourage pleasure yachts" ... THAT explains a lot. And for this, they are quite efficient.

HK is about money, greed, egoism, corruption, me, me, me, power, speculation, lying, boolshidding, coverups, bureaucracy, standing in line, box ticking ... even for the normal citizen, it's hard to get by without lying at least a little bit.

Why am I here? Hiding in our corner, ticking my boxes, we are out of here as soon as we can afford it.

Yes, all those departments (especially Marine, Immigration and Transport Departments) surely do their utmost to make life unbearable for their citizens.