Black Sea and invite to Russia

[chuckr]

Right now our plans are to sail the Black Sea next year and hope to sail east back around to the west. It appears we need an invitation to go to Russia or at least apply for a visa. There are other issues to Russia but this is the first hurdle.

Does anyone have a contact to a Yacht club in Russia that I can contact and ask for an invitation

thanks

[yeloya]

I strongly suggest that you give a second thought to yr plans..
Getting an invitation can be somehow solved, but extreme buraucracy, language problems will be much more difficult to overcome. If you plan to go from Ucraine to Crimea (which is now part of Russia) or vicea versa, forget it..

On the other hand, the very short and steepy waves of Black sea is famous and the Turkish side offers very little shelter if you need one. In Turkey we say " there is only two safe shelters in Black sea; the month of July and the city of Sinop".

If you still want to go, hire a russian skipper, you may have more chance..


Cheers

Yeloya

[CarstenWL]

... contact Vladimir (vladimir (att) sailrussia.spb.ru) and ask if he can help.

I contacted him once regarding entry to Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg and he was of great help.

Go for it if he things it is feasible!

Carsten

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by CarstenWL

... contact Vladimir (vladimir (att) sailrussia.spb.ru) and ask if he can help.

I contacted him once regarding entry to Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg and he was of great help.

Go for it if he things it is feasible!

Carsten

Thanks Carsten will do ==

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by yeloya

I strongly suggest that you give a second thought to yr plans..
Getting an invitation can be somehow solved, but extreme buraucracy, language problems will be much more difficult to overcome. If you plan to go from Ucraine to Crimea (which is now part of Russia) or vicea versa, forget it..

On the other hand, the very short and steepy waves of Black sea is famous and the Turkish side offers very little shelter if you need one. In Turkey we say " there is only two safe shelters in Black sea; the month of July and the city of Sinop".

If you still want to go, hire a russian skipper, you may have more chance..


Cheers

Yeloya

As for the north Turkish coast we have a Swedish boat next to us and they did it this past summer and had a great time = lots of shelter in small ports that are close together - and patience to wait out the worst of the swell - as for Crimea - well it is a given that it is part of Russia so need to make a stop or a very very long sail around it

And the language? you got to be kidding - so far in 8 years we have had to deal with Spanish, French, Italian, Croatian, Arabic, Turkish, not including our inland travels to Kosovo, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and a few others --

We will take a look and see how things progress

[MarkJ]

Chuck,

Email Vladimir@Kremlin.ru he'll probably come on board just to flex his muscles on the winches.

Seriously, just get heading that way. I find the closer I get the better knowledge people have.


Mark

[evm1024]

Sorry to have to point out that Crimea is part of Ukraine that is occupied by Russia. Ukraine has not given up Crimea. Russia does control the area so you will deal with them from the sea. That will likely change sometime next year.

I am a frequent visitor to Ukraine and have looked into the Black Sea ports of Crimea. The larger cities have breakwaters (Yalta for example) but no real facilities. So if you do not mind 'roughing' it you can find ports.

When storms brew over Turkey the waves are short and steep in Crimea. I have a nice scar on my forehead from such a wave that threw me into the rocks body surfing in Crimea.

I did look into going up the Dnepr river someday. There are locks on the dams and it would be a fun trip up to Kiev in a smaller sailboat.

Regards

[Franziska]

Hi.

Sailed the whole Black Sea loop in 2004.

At the time we tried to get visa via the embassy in Germany.No chance.

Ataköy Marina managed to get us one at last.We had to leave our passports with them and they sent them than to Trabzon where we picked them up.
We only got a single entry so could only enter in Sochi.There we took a number of inland trips.
You had to get a shipping agent which was hefty 500US Dollars at the time.
Which was inclusive a weeks berth for our 8m cat.

Novorossisk had an active yachtclub at the time.

Btw. The eastcoast of crimea with Koktobel national park is spectacular, even though we could just see it from the water.
We were denied clearing in in Fedosia which was a port of entry to Ukraine back than.
They made us sail to Yalta then.

Both countries where quite corrupt and we had to pay random fees to get things run smoothly.

Of course all might be different now.
Lots of good luck!

The trips to Yalta, Balaclava and Sochi were very impressive though.
Similar Sevastopol.

Btw. Ataköy published a very helpful harbour guide at the time.

Franziska

We met just one foreign yacht in the whole black sea.

[Franziska]

Oh and in Turkey there were a lot of, almost empty and big fishing harbours at daysail intervals in which we dropped anchor overnight.
I was told that the fishing fleet follows the fish around so most harbours where empty in July -October.

Sent from my C6603 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Franziska]

Memories ;-)

One more on going up the Bosphorus.
You might have a hard time doing it when there is a northerly called Poyraz blowing.
I only had a small outboard and had to stop the first trial.
Managed a day later after checking with local fisherman on the currents.
Crossed a few times to avoid the very fast sections.
Have an anchor with a loooong line, fenders and towline ready in case you have an engine failure.

Poyrazköy on the north east end was (is?)a good place to rest a night before going in the black Sea.
Though on a summers Sunday (apparently work free, despite the Turkish beeing mostly Muslim), it was pretty crowded with all sorts of boats at anchor and jetski and (!) swimmers in between.

I will never forget going down the Bosphorus at night-time on the way back.
One needs a good lookout but it was so beautiful!

The mountains behind Trabzon, Crimea and the Danube delta are the best parts when it comes to scenery.

[carstenb]

you might PM Dockhead - he's been in russia many times (used to live there) speaks fluent Russian.

Perhaps he can help

[YARGESOL]

Usually, a travel agency can obtain a visa easier and for less money, than if you contact consulate with invitation. Unless, you'd like to get a yearly multy-entry visa (than, it a long story). Please respect the frontier coast guard calls by VHF. I don't know for the Black Sea, but on Baltic this is the main issue even for Russian Flag boat (when we go to Finland, for example). But, if you have a visa and listen VHF you won't have any problems.Frontiers and customs must speak English (enough to clear). Doesens of boats comming to St.Petersburg without problems. But, if you'll deside to go up the river/locks, than better have a Russian skipper.Good luck.
Vladimir

[Franziska]

My experience in 2004 with the Ukraine coast guard was that you tried to call them on Vhf several times a day as required but usually they would not reply or speak hardly any English.

Sent from my C6603 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Cottontop]

If you're US citizens, there may be restrictions on travel to Crimea.

[YARGESOL]

Originally Posted by Franziska

My experience in 2004 with the Ukraine coast guard was that you tried to call them on Vhf several times a day as required but usually they would not reply or speak hardly any English.

Sent from my C6603 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Hi, Franziska! Yes, poor English may happen anywhear. But,someone on duty must speak. And usually it sounds "Lebed 1 Lebed 1 (2-3-4-...19 etc) calling yacht...position ....N....E" - starting in Russian, off cause ))) When you answer, they will ask: boat name+flag+crew quantity & nationality & your route. If you ignore, or weak VHF, than you will see a patrol boat going arround. But this system works not only in Russian waters. In Finland - when we were comming to clearance island out of the freeway (I have shallow draft and freeway was 1,5 mile longer), a Tuuli RIB with 2x500hp outboards visited us..."You have to follow freeway",they said . Comming to Spanish waters from Gibraltar - after night shift I went to my bunk, than my crew calling me "Some boat is trying to moor". Going up and see "Aduanas" patrol boat with 4 guys aboard :1-st steering ; 2-nd holding fender ; no 3 & 4 - guns. Within 5 min jump on my board and makes the same rutine - filing a protocol "Boat name+flag+crew+++" All with smile. It's the matter if the state respect & keep controll of their boarders
You've got a nice cat, by the way!
Vladimir