Boarded by UK Border Force

joachimhollekim said:
I remember first time I sailed to Shetland, 4 years ago. Being Johnny Foreigner, I brought passports, ships papers and whatnot. Toddled off to the harbourmaster in Lerwick with all my papers. Tried to show them to the nice woman (aka "The prettiest girl in Shetland") behind the counter, and was told off with a "Passports? Oh, no. We don't do that sort of thing up here".
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Similar story going the other way, spent a summer in Norway, and had zero interest from officialdom going there, during my stay or coming home. That's how it ought to be. For bonafide sailors anyway :-)

Boarded once entering Eire. Absolute gents. well mannered and did not mess around much. No problem with that approach either.
 
Rogershaw said:
We also have to request permission to leave or enter the port from port control every time we go sailing.
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To be fair, there are some ports in the UK like that. Ramgsgate, Dover to name two that are in my neck of the woods. I am sure there are many others around the country.
 
I agree that having the documents to hand makes life easier, but I am concerned about creeping legislation. If we all had them, all of the time, how long would it be before someone without them was treated as guilty of some crime. Once it is required at sea, the next step would be on land.
 
CLB said:
I agree that having the documents to hand makes life easier, but I am concerned about creeping legislation. If we all had them, all of the time, how long would it be before someone without them was treated as guilty of some crime. Once it is required at sea, the next step would be on land.
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why not just ask the " who r u " questions via vhf. The mother ship can then fire up their lappi
 
sailorman said:
why not just ask the " who r u " questions via vhf. The mother ship can then fire up their lappi
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That's all they did to me coming back from Ostende year before last. Which was a relief really, because as a single hander, would they still expect someone to catch a line or accompany them below?
Is the usual drill to heave to, or drop sails etc, or hold a course whilst they board?
 
sailorman said:
why not just ask the " who r u " questions via vhf. The mother ship can then fire up their lappi
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A sensible suggestion indeed ;)
However it will displease those yachtsmen on here who secretly yearn to be roughly treated by muscular young men in tight-fitting black uniforms...
 
Habebty said:
Is the usual drill to heave to, or drop sails etc, or hold a course whilst they board?
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We had a visit about ten years ago, in case we were smuggling stuff from Itchenor to Lymington :)

We held our course and speed under sail while the RIB coxswain put his bow gently against our topsides just aft of the beam and two guys stepped aboard.

Pete
 
Slight drift but if you are at sea are you committing an offence carrying "illegal immigrants" who have not yet immigrated? I assume this is the case based on the recent rhib incident but I'm not sure why.
Just curious and not soliciting legal advice for get rich quick plans!
 
prv said:
We had a visit about ten years ago, in case we were smuggling stuff from Itchenor to Lymington :)

Pete
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The trouble is Itchenor, San Salvador and The Honduras all raise suspicions for their own individual reasons :rolleyes:
 
Quiddle said:
Slight drift but if you are at sea are you committing an offence carrying "illegal immigrants" who have not yet immigrated? I assume this is the case based on the recent rhib incident but I'm not sure why.
Just curious and not soliciting legal advice for get rich quick plans!
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Great question.. and I suspect the law isn't up to date with the situation.

Surely a court would have to prove intent to land them in the UK, after all there's no law against carrying hitch hikers.

What about taking a group of new friends for a boat tour of the Channel TSS, as long as there is no malicious aforethought to drop them off on Dungeness beach at 0400 hrs?

Didn't some misguided do-gooder get away with a smack on the wrist for smuggling some people back from the Jungle in his Volvo?
 
sailorman said:
why not just ask the " who r u " questions via vhf. The mother ship can then fire up their lappi
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The Irish were doing that some years ago off their south coast. If called, I would have refused to answer by radio as the questions were very personal about names & addresses, date of birth, boat ownership etc., all on ch16 with everyone listening. We were boarded from rib and passports and boat documents demanded.
 
prv said:
A somewhat pointless list of official distress signals. .

Pete
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Sorry. Off topic.

I've always rather liked the idea of signalling my distress with a flaming tar barrel. Mind you, the only time I've ever seen one was in Ottery St Mary; even in the square that was pretty scary and I'm not sure I'd get one into a locker!
 
Last year we bought a yacht from Ireland. We flew out and had to show passports as you do but on sailing her back we were most disappointed we never even got a snifter of customs. As far as "the man" knows we are still out of the country :-).
 
GrahamM376 said:
The Irish were doing that some years ago off their south coast. If called, I would have refused to answer by radio as the questions were very personal about names & addresses, date of birth, boat ownership etc., all on ch16 with everyone listening. We were boarded from rib and passports and boat documents demanded.
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You raise a good point. Although Ch16 is for distress and calling only, and any further conversation should have taken place on another channel, where people shouldn't be eavesdropping (in theory).
 
Bob Stay said:
You raise a good point. Although Ch16 is for distress and calling only, and any further conversation should have taken place on another channel, where people shouldn't be eavesdropping (in theory).
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But in practice certainly will be, having just aired the trailer on ch16 :)

Pete
 
TallBuoy said:
we were boarded last year approaching Brighton late at night in February, so they had a good reason to wonder why we were there!

They were indeed polite, even asked if they could come aboard, and thanked us as they left - !
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There may be a point here
If you had said "No" when they asked if they could come aboard, what would the reaction be & where would that put them legally?
Is it a bit like the police---they would now need a search warrant?
I note ( having been boarded by customs loads of times abroad) that they always ask if they can come aboard. It has always seemed an odd question as they are coming any way- but can they?
 
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