Do customs officials routinely board/search yachts?

[belizesailor]

Actual boardings for me have been very rare. In most places the officials dont even come aboard when you are clearing.

Ive had officials board in Cuba, Belize, Guatemala, and USA. Inclusive of clearing in.

Ive had officials come along side while at anchor and undereway to check paperwork and/or inquire about plans. Never been boarded underway.

Cleared into Portugal (on the OP's list) and officials never even saw the boat much less boarded.

[Deep Blue Water]

Originally Posted by rmlarson1098

I refuse and strongly protest any search without probable cause, or a warrant.

I can imagine that raises their interest level in you

[donradcliffe]

Its time for a few true sea stories.

One day I was stopped by Dutch officials off the island of Saba, who thought I had violated one of their arcane rules about their dive moorings. They told me they were putting an armed policeman aboard to make sure that I came to the port captains office. The policeman was a local, armed with an ancient carbine. He had trouble boarding my boat with his rifle in hand, lost his balance, and he or the carbine or both were headed toward the water. I grabbed the rifle with one hand, and pulled him aboard with the other. He was greatly relieved when i handed him back his gun, and was very helpful anchoring the boat and dinghying in to the office. In the office, after a bit of yelling on both sides, I showed them my permit to use the dive moorings and they let me go.

The other story involves a delivery up the west coast of Mexico by a friend. The race boat he was delivering was stopped at night by the Mexican Navy in the lee of Cedros Island, because they had received a 'tip' that there were illegal guns aboard. The navy put two armed men on board and ordered him to proceed to Ensenada, 250 miles away.
It was quite rough that night, and things were tense, partly due to language difficulties. In the morning the Mexicans made breakfast for all and that broke the ice. By the next evening they were all well into the Tequila aboard. My friend showed me a picture of the Navy guy holding his pistol to my friend's head, followed by a picture of my friend holding the pistol to the Navy guy's head. The boat was searched in Ensenada, and no guns were found.

Another time I cruised south past Puerto Madero, Mexico's southernmost port and got boarded by the Mexican Navy. We had checked out of the country at the previous port, but were hugging the coast as there was a Tehauntepecer blowing. When it was obvious we were not planning to stop, they wanted to see our papers. They were very polite, and all went well until they left in their RIB. They were almost back to their ship, when they turned around and headed back to us at full speed. I was concerned that they had new orders that wouldn't be good for us. The reality was they left their handheld VHF on our boat.

[Taichungman]

Not in the UK or EU but still relevant. This occurred in 2016 on a delivery from Capt Town to Annapolis Md. Boat was a 50' St. Francis with SA captain, two SA crew and myself, US crew. We were sailing past Sint Maarten heading West at 2300 hrs with me on night watch. It was a moonless night but I could see the horizon around. The wind was around 15-18 kts out of the ENE and we were making 8-9 kts. I have a copy of the log or I wouldn't remember all this.
I noticed a dot on the horizon directly behind to the East that was growing bigger by the minute with no lights and nothing showing on Ais. I turned on the radar and could see something was moving up on us pretty fast. I took a look with my binoculars and could see it was something bigger than us. I woke up the Captain, which at first he wasn't too happy about. He finally understood what I was telling him and came up on deck; we woke the crew. As it got closer the Capt. shined a flood light toward it and it immediately flooded us with their lights, a siren and loud speaker telling us stop the boat and prepare to be boarded.
They identified themselves as the Dutch Coast Guard and then a RHIB shot off the back and headed toward us. We were still sailing at 8-9 kts and the Capt at first wasn't about to take down the sails. We had a pretty good wake and the RHIB with the driver and three armed guys were going all over the place trying to get to our stern. Finally the Capt told us to lower sails and we stopped the boat. They came aboard and searched the whole boat, they were nice and after about an hour we were on our way again.
On a lighter note, when we checked with customs in Norfork, Va. the customs guy didn't check anything except papers. It was dinner time and he was in a hurry to get home

[TrentePieds]

rmlarson1098 said: “In the USA, we make our coppers behave themselves. Live free or die.”

Lemme tell you a story:

Long, long ago – back in the VietNam era – I was off to see my parents in Denmark, and I intended to stay there for the entire summer semester. In consequence I rented my house to a chap who'd come from Tallahassee, no less, to serve a term as an instructor at my uni. In those days, as you will know, chasing a PhD, however futilely, was a prophylactic against “the draft” and the horrors of VietNam.

This chap was certainly 5'3” if he was an inch, and just a broad. A wild looking character with an “afro-cut” as wide as his shoulders, and a deportment as speedy as can only be achieved through chemical enhancement. Quite well spoken, really, once your ear adapted to his accent.

For various reasons I came back from Denmark four weeks early and stayed with a friend so as not to disturb my tenant. I bumped into him on the university mall. He grabbed me by the arm, his eyes were wild. “Man!” he said, “You got weird cops – WEIRD!!”

Me: “Oh?”

Him: “Crazy, Man. Far out! Really, really WEIRD!”

Me: “Why d'ye say that?”

Him: “Like I was turning left into North Road, see. Didn't know that's a “no left turn”. So the pig stopped me. Looked at my licence and said 'Oh, you're not local, Sir. Well, just don't do it again, please'. WEIRD, Man. Really, really WEIRD – the pig called me SIR!”

So there you have it. Different nations, different mores.

Cheers :-)

TrentePieds

[Bill_Giles]

I have been back and forward to France from the UK for nearly 50 years and never been stopped. Although I have heard of the odd Brit being given the once over with the full works, customs, health, immigration. Checked flares, for red diesel, passports, the lot. My advice is to carry the correct paperwork for boat and self, don’t carry out of date flares or anything labelled expired and especially don’t carry red diesel in a can as a reserve. Thing might tighten up after Brexit so keep an eye on what the RYA is saying. We have always avoided Belgium whose bureaucrates make awkwardness an art form.

[Shaneesprit]

I heard the Belgian Authorities have always loved, pulling people in their yachts to Tax them on the diesel, nothing to do with Brexit.

[Peter Simon]

Yes, in the Dominion Republic, easily Bribed, its a handout that they are really looking for.Everywhere else no.

[Group9]

In my whole boating career, I have been stopped by law enforcement three times. First time was by the Coast guard in the Bahamas in 1987, where they did search the boat pretty thoroughly. We passed. Second time was in fort Myers, in 2010, when we were stopped at 9:00 at night in our dinghy by the Coast guard, who merely ask us for our registration and to see our whistle, which we had. Third time, in 2015, we' were stopped by customs patrol off Miami, where instead of searching me, we talked about where they needed to be investing their money in the tsp, to retire and buy a boat like we had.

Funny thing is, as many times as I've cleared back into the US, and the Bahamas, I've never been searched by customs or anybody else.

There was an incident in Grand Cayman one time, where we were unloading Black market beer, and I was worried about customs showing up until one of the grand cayman guys pointed out that one of the guys helping unload the beer was Grand Cayman customs.

[sv Stella Maris]

2 years in Caribbean with kids aboard…never searched

Most delivery trips without kids aboard…frequent searches

I appreciate the perspective. Never had trouble with officials. Frustration yes, trouble no.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by teneicm

Yes, but that's only because the Coast Guard is special case when it comes to US flagged vessels. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the USCG has the absolute right to board and inspect any US flagged vessel or vessel within US waters.

Actually that extends to international waters as well. And it's pretty trivial to get a statement of no objection from the flag country of anyone who is US flagged but tries to claim another country. And of course stateless vessels can be boarded by any country on the high seas for any reason of no reason.

[donradcliffe]

I remember being about 300 miles off Costa Rica when the US coast guard showed up and started harassing a NZ registered sailboat boat we were traveling with. They asked for permission to board and were denied. They followed the boat for about 6 hours while they tried to get permission from the flag state, but finally gave up and went away. They were not interested in our US flagged boat--must of known we had a lawyer on board.

I also remember a VHF conversation between the USCG and a foreign ship in international waters off Mexico. The master to them to piss off and why,

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

They were not interested in our US flagged boat--must of known we had a lawyer on board.

Your post is confusing. If you had an attorney on board than you should have had a better chance of realizing that you were legally subject to boarding? And thus more likely to politely allow the folks to do their legal job that they’ve been ordered to do by Congress and the President who statutorily charge them with conducting boardings? Surely you didn't imply that you were going to be one of those people...the ones who would have pulled the "I'm an attorney and I'm going to sue the life out of you" threats as you ranted and raged at the completely unimpressed men and women doing their job, right?

[MicHughV]

I don't get this "lawyering" thing either.....what is that ???....does it make you special???...untouchable ??....almighty???...what ???

Does it set you aside from "normal" people ??? You know the law and we don't ???

Does it give you the right to do stuff that others can't.....because you're a "lawyer"...rotflmao.....

Are you...as the "lawyer" all of a sudden a specialist in maritime law.....???

The threat of "I'm going to call my lawyer" is laughable to me, people watch too many movies......

How many people does anyone know that has "my lawyer"....seriously....probably only the billionaires of the world.....

[WindintheWillow]

Over the years I have been politely visited by French customs people on a number of occasions - normally to check that we have the right gear on board and the VAT / ownership and insurance papers. Do carry your bill of sale and proof of VAT payment. Things seem to be tighter at the moment. On a delivery trip last year from Dover to Ijmuiden in the Netherlands the boat was boarded by UK Border Force outside Dover ( not going in the right direction for people smuggling mate!) and by the Dutch who wanted proof of VAT payment. It was on board but, having just bought the boat, we did know where it was at the time so they put a charge on the boat until we sent them the proof a week or so later. My guess is that with many non-UK people buying boats ex VAT in the UK and owning them through a British Flag company (Channel Islands etc.) the continental customs people are checking this more carefully these days.