Brexit and sailing

Champagne Murphy

Champagne Murphy

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I'm not of an age to remember sailing to Europe pre 'Common Market' so all I've known is a fairly simple system of 'rock up and sign here!'
We've seen loads of threads here about red diesel but what will Brexit really mean for the casual boat trip to the Continent? Will Belgium be different to France, to The Nederlands, Spain etc etc. Will we have to have visas? And will there be an initial period of pain where they are full of angry thoughts about us?
 
I think that will depend on how the UK would become identified. Because we are even now not in the schengen area if we sail to Europe we should be checking in with a Schengen form; France does not currently require that from UK but could if we were not in EU. Having said that, we had problem getting anyone to take the form from us in Belgium. Also, I think this currently applies to Norway because while not in EU it is in Schengen.
So I would doubt we'd need a visa but probably would have to do a Schengen form.
I might be wrong though!
 
Arriving in Belgium: hoist the Q-flag, have ship's papers ready, passport, visa, proof of vaccination, state all intended ports of call, be prepared for checks on amount of cash carried, red diesel, alcohol on board... Hope there will be no rules outlawing the import of vegetables, meat, or other fresh food products. Clear in and clear out of every harbour, be happy that immigration, customs and police are all in the same building, but that will not be the case everywhere.
Upon returning in UK: hoist the Q-flag, be prepared for checks by customs, immigration, border patrol. Account for your whereabouts whilst abroad. Pay import duties on your stock of Belgian beer, cheese, chocolate or any other gastronomical goodies that you have bought because they are hard to find or too expensive in Blighty...
And vice versa for us, no doubt. Something to look forward to, really.:cool:
 
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It'd depend on our continued membership of the EEA (European Economic Area) which is a secondary setup to which nations such as Norway and Switzerland belong. We are currently members (I think) but it doesn't much matter as our membership of the EU trumps the EEA.
If we remain members of the EEA, the there will be little difference if we leave the EU, as membership of the EEA confers many of the benefits of free movement of goods and people that the EU does. If we also leave the EEA, then there will be limits on how long we can keep our boats in EU/EEA waters and potential limitations on how long we can remain in EU/EEA territories.
 
I think all countries would still welcome us simply because of the tourism trade.

Eire could be interesting. I expect some kind of matey agreement would be negotiated .

It would be nice to hear English spoken again when shopping on a Sunday in Britland.:)
 
LONG_KEELER said:
Eire could be interesting. I expect some kind of matey agreement would be negotiated .
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Your expectations were overtaken by events, about 90 years ago. A 'Common Travel Area' including the Republic and the UK has existed in one form or another since the 1920s.

duncan99210 said:
It'd depend on our continued membership of the EEA (European Economic Area) which is a secondary setup to which nations such as Norway and Switzerland belong. We are currently members (I think) but it doesn't much matter as our membership of the EU trumps the EEA.
If we remain members of the EEA, the there will be little difference if we leave the EU, as membership of the EEA confers many of the benefits of free movement of goods and people that the EU does. If we also leave the EEA, then there will be limits on how long we can keep our boats in EU/EEA waters and potential limitations on how long we can remain in EU/EEA territories.
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Switzerland is not in the EEA (although it is in EFTA): all EU countries, UK included, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are.
As you wrote, what happens to the UK's EEA membership is of key importance should it leave the EU. This hasn't intruded much into public debate, but is well-known and has been the subject of Parliamentary discussion papers and no doubt a lot of Civil Service time. Continued EEA membership would formally oblige the UK to continue with many measures adopted in the EU (RCD being one which directly affects boaties); but whatever the formalities, the realities of trade with Europe would mean much the same thing whether we remained in the EEA or not. No British boat yard, for instance, is likely to build boats which are not RCD compliant...well, not if it wants to sell them.
 
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I think the point I was trying to make is that if we exit both EU and EEA then there is a danger that the status of UK citizens and boats will mirror that of people and boats from nations such as the USA. They face significant limits on the time they and their boats can remain within EU nations territorial waters. So those who currently have boats in say Greece will face a limit on how long the boat can stay there before it either has to be formally imported and placed under Greek registry or it has to be removed from Greek waters.
 
Human nature suggests that in the event of Brexit, some of the remaining countries would make our life as difficult as possible. Of course I'm not talking about France. :o
 
duncan99210 said:
I think the point I was trying to make is that if we exit both EU and EEA then there is a danger that the status of UK citizens and boats will mirror that of people and boats from nations such as the USA. They face significant limits on the time they and their boats can remain within EU nations territorial waters. So those who currently have boats in say Greece will face a limit on how long the boat can stay there before it either has to be formally imported and placed under Greek registry or it has to be removed from Greek waters.
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Yes, of course. I wouldn't try to contradict any of that.

Obviously what happens re Greece and other Med countries is of keen interest to me, and we just don't know what a Brexit might mean in this regard. There's every likelyhood, I think, of some fairly stretched out interim arrangement -- not because yotties amount to much in the overall scheme of things, but because hundreds of thousands of people, many of them commercially active, might find themselves in the 'wrong' country. A large chunk of these, of course, would be EU nationals currently resident in the UK.

There'd probably be some sort of fudge...maybe 60% of your body would have freedom of movement, providing the other 40% stayed at home. Be prepared to be dyed red at immigration. ;)
 
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Guernsey and jersey are not in the EU yet their citizens just rock up in France exactly the same as we do now.
 
For those of us who can remember pre EU , we use to fill out form before leaving and post it in to a little box on arrival host the yellow duster , show passport and boat papers at the first port of call in our case France never bothered again arriving back host the yellow dust , drop second part of the form in the box , drop the duster and go home , I can't remember it being a big deal , mind you it was a long time ago now .
 
I will continue to visit those countries that welcome British sailors and make it easy for us.

The ones who make it dificult can go swing on it.

Simples.
 
duncan99210 said:
I think the point I was trying to make is that if we exit both EU and EEA then there is a danger that the status of UK citizens and boats will mirror that of people and boats from nations such as the USA. They face significant limits on the time they and their boats can remain within EU nations territorial waters. So those who currently have boats in say Greece will face a limit on how long the boat can stay there before it either has to be formally imported and placed under Greek registry or it has to be removed from Greek waters.
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I think the only safe assumption is that we would be in the same situation as USA / Australians etc today. Anything else is kind of very wishful thinking if the UK decides to give what may be seen as a two fingered salute to the rest of the EU.

To use an analogy, imagine you decided to dump your spouse / partner of 40 years, telling them bluntly that you find them unattractive, inferior, expensive to keep and you don't need them any more. So you are leaving them - and don't plan to pay any ongoing maintenance.
Ah, but "I assume I can still have nooky on Saturdays and lunch on Sunday's like before". Imagine how likely that would be to happen :-)

That in effect is what the optimists are hoping would happen on a Brexit.
 
LONG_KEELER said:
I think all countries would still welcome us simply because of the tourism trade.

Eire could be interesting. I expect some kind of matey agreement would be negotiated .

It would be nice to hear English spoken again when shopping on a Sunday in Britland.:)
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Perhaps the French Cherbourg think "it would be nice to hear French spoken in the Supermarket at the week end rather than English". What are you worrying about? Are you afraid they are talking about you? Or more likely that you must know what someone else is talking about!
To answer the question; it depends! I can remember the day when you returned from abroad, hoisted your Q flag and had to wait until a Customs Officer appeared. Liable for a heavy fine if you left the boat. Later it was made more lenient-wait 2 hours. It may be that one entry to the Shengen area will suffice as now, but there may be limits on time in EU waters without permission, as in Norway (not in EU) now. Frankly I'm far more worried about what our Civil Service will come up with; Border Controls will make overseas cruising far more difficult I fear. Still should be able to go to Scotland and Northern Ireland unless they decide to go for independence and join the EU as well.
Brexit will be challenging for Little Englanders, I fear, not the easy answer to our perceived woes.
 
westhinder said:
Arriving in Belgium: hoist the Q-flag, have ship's papers ready, passport, visa, proof of vaccination, state all intended ports of call, be prepared for checks on amount of cash carried, red diesel, alcohol on board... Hope there will be no rules outlawing the import of vegetables, meat, or other fresh food products. Clear in and clear out of every harbour, be happy that immigration, customs and police are all in the same building, but that will not be the case everywhere.
Upon returning in UK: hoist the Q-flag, be prepared for checks by customs, immigration, border patrol. Account for your whereabouts whilst abroad. Pay import duties on your stock of Belgian beer, cheese, chocolate or any other gastronomical goodies that you have bought because they are hard to find or too expensive in Blighty...
And vice versa for us, no doubt. Something to look forward to, really.:cool:
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Worked Ok for me pre EU membership. In fact I have had more hassle from Belgians since than before
 
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