River Danube to the Black Sea

[Joefloki]

On the Austrian Danube you have to have a VHF with ATIS and the skipper has to have a LRC radio licence, which gets sometimes controlled.
Before entering a lock you have to contact the lock in advance via VHF.

[Zanshin]

Joefloki - the LRC or the SRC? In Germany a local would need an ATIS-equipped radio and a certificate called an "UBI" (Binnenfunk) which is very similar to the SRC except that the radio language is German instead of English.

[Joefloki]

Sorry mistake: The SRC !

The SRC, which I have myself, includes the UBI.
All lock operaters have to understand for the international shipping English (contrary to France).

[Anchors Away]

I think this trip sounds like a blast. For those who've done it before: What do you do at night? Is it marinas only, or are there a bunch of anchorages like the ICW? Also, I'm curious about the upstream Rhine portion. It looks like about 700 miles? That has to take a while, even avoiding currents, on a 6.5 knot sailboat. If anyone has done it, I'd sure like to know how many motoring hours it took.

[tasman42]

We are thinking of doing a danube trip in the next couple of years, (having previously travelled to greece via the french canals 2008-2010), so we are very interested in any discussions on the subject. One question that springs to mind is the available facilities for re-masting at the black sea end. Anyone have any experience of this?

On a different note, you need to get in contact with OFCOM regarding the issue of an ATIS number (which is your MMSI number prefixed with 9), and a notice of variation, to allow you to legally transmit under the ATIS scheme. Strictly speaking, the UK isn't a signatory to the ATIS scheme, so it's one of those brilliant red tape situations whereby officially the UK licensing authority isn't allowed to give permission, but they do anyway. In practice, no one will ask for the notice of variation, but it doesn't cost anything

[Irish rambler]

Hi, May I recommend you (Google) (for their email address) and get in touch with the Dutch Barge Assoc, they have magazine called 'Blue Flag' and it has some very useful info. Not to be a spoilsport but some friends of mine got down a goodway and said that facilities decreased as you got further away, the people were'nt exactly too friendly either. I would you recommend check it out extremely thoroughly before setting off. It's a great idea and the best of luck with it.

[tasman42]

Many thanks for that. We aren't under too many illusions about the relative lack of facilities or otherwise, as long as the locals aren't actually murderous!

[goboatingnow]

ATIS numbers are given out by Ofcom in the UK, if you have a ships station license , you merely need a variation and they will issue a new ATIS number

email them on

Spectrum.Licensing@ofcom.org.uk

Dave

[Irish rambler]

Tasman, I would certainly do the maximum research, life doesn't have quite the same value attached as your maybe used too but the good folks on Blue Flag will point you in the right direction.
Good Luck

[Player311]

I went down the Danube in 2010 with a 30 feet sailboat. The Danube still ranks as one of the top 3 highligts of the whole trip (Norway-Mediteranean-Norway). We went to great lengths to get the ATIS vhf and the ATIS number. We never used it though (we used a handheld non-ATIS one). When I asked leisure boat owners (local and otherwise) about ATIS, they didn't know what i was talking about. But like I said this was in 2010. But what i would recommend is to learn some german. Most lock-operators don't speak english at all!

For those who considers going upstream: it's definately do-able. Apart from the current, there will be long stretches between berths some places. In the lower parts there is a lot of anchorages. Another thing tp consider is that the deeper your boat is the harder it be to make the trip. You will be dependent on high water levels and thus stronger current. I think minimum depths are around 1,70-1,80 in parts of germany at RNW (regulierungs niederwasserstand) which is a kind of low level. A lot of marinas and side arms are a lot shallower however.

For me, the best part of the trip was from Serbia and downward. No problems whatsoever. Between Silistra and Braila, you should probably secure every removable objects on your boat at nights, preferably inside the boat. We had no problems, but we heard stories and were warned by locals. Even the maps for the commercial freigt barges said "achtung: hier gibt piraterej".

I'd recommend the pilot "Die Donau". It's written by a couple how traveled the river with a sailboat. It's in german.

[Player311]

One possible problem down the Danube is that from Hungary and onwards, the red and green buoys marking the sailing chanel are often missing. It's not really a problem before rumania/Bulgaria, where the river is wide but full of sandbanks and islands. Another thing you should be aware of is that on great rivers like the Rhine and Danube, they have built "walls" in the river to regulate and channel the current/flow of the river. At high waterlevels these are often under water. Hitting one of these when the current is 6 kn is not like hitting a sandbank. Even islands can be under water. Watch out for floating treetrunks if your going upstream or are anchoring when waterlevels are high.

Lower bulgaria/rumania can also have pretty violent thunderstorms with sudden onsets. waves build up quickly if the wind blows counter to the current.

Also, beware of hoards of mosquitos after the sun goes down.

We erected the mast in Ruse, with the help of the guy who runs the "Marina". He is extremely helpful. It cost us 25 euros. Only two bridges from here to the black sea. If your mast is much higher (15+ meters? i think?) there are cranes and big shipyards in Braila, Galati and Tulcea.

Packs of wild dogs can be a problem in Romania, but the only place we saw them along the Danube was in Cernavoda.

Also, I would highly recomend to go through the Danube delta. The canal between Cernavoda and Constanta is fast but not very interesting. The Danube delta was definately not the worst place along the river regarding mosquitos.

After Belgrade, berthing is virtually free. From Kelheim to Budapest berthing is more expensive than the Rhine.

[Player311]

This book contains most things you need to know about sailing the Danube.
It's in german, but written in a comprehensible fashion.

DeutschesFachbuch.de : Die Donau Von Kelheim zum Schwarzen Meer Von Melanie Haselhorst, Kenneth Dittmann

The maps are useless for navigation, however. In 2010 the best maps were the ones by Pierre Verberght. They are hand-drawn! and there are 9 of books!!!

freytag & berndt - Nautic Pierre Verberght - Donau 1

[tasman42]

ENC charts for the Danube from Germany to the black sea (with the exception of Serbia it would seem) can be downloaded from

EAEMDR: Electronic navigation charts

or from

http:/www.amslshop.com

You can also download a free chart viewer called seemyenc from the same site, although it doesn't seem to have the facility to interface GPS, AIS etc, so it couldn't be used for realtime navigation. There is a pc based piece of navigation software from

http:/www.fugawi.com

which will read ENC charts, as will the Maptech Chart navigator pro. I don't know if any other pc based navigation software will read them, but I suspect they will.

[valhalla360]

We are in the early planning stages of doing Europes Great Loop.

If you don't want to fight the current up the Rhine, you can cut thru the french canals and pop out on the Rhine just north of Switzerland. Then it's a downstream run to the Main River, which appears to be fairly tame and then it's downhill on the Danube.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

We are in the early planning stages of doing Europes Great Loop.

If you don't want to fight the current up the Rhine, you can cut thru the french canals and pop out on the Rhine just north of Switzerland. Then it's a downstream run to the Main River, which appears to be fairly tame and then it's downhill on the Danube.

Man, I would go all the way up to the Bodensee (Lake Constance); it would be a highlight of your trip. Friedrichshafen, Constanz, Reichenau etc.

Then go all the way down to Hook of Holland, following the main artery of Europe. My family established itself by sailing between Rotterdam and Basel to bring goods from Europort up through the continent; 1,000 tons each trip. You get to see every important center of commerce and pass the place of every important event in history, with all the museums etc.