Hong Kong Harbour

[nogills]

I have a thousand questions to ask about keeping a boat in Hong Kong waters. I’m new to cruising, and looking to get a small sloop to cruise around South East Asia.
My initial search for information just raises more questions.

What’s the availability of moorings like?
Would I have to join a yacht club?
If yacht club membership is exclusive, how does a transferable mooring work?
Where do visiting cruisers keep their yachts and what limitations do they face?

I’d love to hear from anyone here in Hong Kong that would be willing to share their knowledge of Hong Kong boat ownership or their tales from the high seas?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, nogills.

[Captsteve53]

Hi, I'm not based in Hong Kong but have spent a lot of time sailing there (mainly China sea races -yearly occurrence), from a visitors point of view i have found that Many of the marina's/clubs cater to permanent member ships, that said they all welcome visitors but normally have limited berths and time constraints on the periods of stay increasing financially as time goes by, many also have moorings owned and maintained by the club and if available are open to hire for length as required but again time constraints rear up before you need to be a member,

In recent years new marina's have been springing up but quite far from the hub of Hong Kong and I'm not sure of there policies/charges,

Some one from Hong Kong will elaborate I'm sure

Cheers Steve (Philippines)

[Captsteve53]

Check out following for some interesting other facts Rules in Hong Kong when you want to buy a boat

[Saleen411]

I would google yacht clubs in Sai Kung....bazillions of boats in the area. Had an acquaintance keep a 50 footer on a mooring ball there for about 1500USD a month.

If you have a current yacht club membership, I'm told you can have certain reciprocal guest privileges at private clubs/marinas in HKG. One of my USA based buddies spends time at the VERY exclusive Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in Causeway Bay when he comes to town....all because he has a membership at some cheap ass local yacht club in the states. They won't even let me in the door to use the bathroom in that place. SUPER hoity toity.

Good luck with your research.

[nogills]

Thank you all for the responses. I read through the info in your link CaprtinSteve. I was aware of the two certificates required to sail in HK waters but I didn’t think that visitors also have to take the exam. Did you have to take it when you were here?

It’s good to know that most of the clubs here are welcoming to visitors. Yes, your right Saleen, there are a few clubs out Sai Kung way and I guess I’ll fire off a few emails to see what they’re saying. I don’t know about private mooring though. I’d read somewhere that mooring rental is as much as apartment rental, from what you say, that sounds about right.

So far all I’ve found out is that there is a major shortage of berths. The local paper quoted the chairman of a boat building company as saying “It’s a buoyant market, but there are no parking spaces….” Another place I read that in 2010 there were 3700 berths for 9000 vessels.

Well, I’ll keep looking. In the mean time, I’ll be looking back through the forum posts to mine for information.

[Captsteve53]

As a visitor and foreign registered yacht (Philippines) i have never been asked for any proof of seaman ship at all,

Now that said the majority of sailing in Hong Kong is done with the RHKYC and their sponsored China Sea Races and San Fernando race, where the club pretty much takes care of every thing,

i did purchase my last yacht in HK, did the transfer there which had to all run through the Marine Dept for compliance prior to departure back to Subic Bay but again was never asked for my captains license at any department, how ever sailing(HK registration) and residing in HK their rules would apply Im sure