ICC - do you have one? will you get one? do you bother?

I used to have one but forgot to renew and presumably would now need to take the test again.
I hope certification doesn't become compulsory here.
I recently visited my son in Queensland and casually suggested we borrowed his mates tinny and went for a picnic on Moreton bay with the family, who had all sailed all their lives.
Drama ! He didn't have a boat licence and would need to take a course and a test.
Or we could take a chance and hope we didn't get caught by the marine rozzers and risk a big fine.
So we had to resort to sitting on the beach drinking cold beers.
 
Over the past 20 years I have been asked to show my 'driving licence', for which the ICC seemed perfectly acceptable, at least once in almost every country we have visited. Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Greece. It happens rarely but who knows what might happen if you don't have one?
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
About 25 years I did the RYA Yachtmaster and the following year the Ocean Astronavigation shore based courses; if I remember right, the duration of each course it was approx. 6 months, two hours per week, with an exam at the end, I have got the shore based certificate but I never did go for the practical test.

To get the ICC, which is becoming a popular request abroad, one must have an RYA practical, (Skipper and above) which I do not have or take the test. The ICC test is a half a day job, which I may do perhaps next season.

However, does anyone bother with the ICC for cross channel trips? Would it become mandatory in the UK in the near future? The latter will be a good idea since my encounter with a few less than responsible yachts this weekend and to my surprise most of them were Sailing yachts not just motor yachts (a 45ft plus yacht going at hull speed on full sails up the river Medina only feet away from the moored boats, very busy with yachts, and obviously he would have been unable to avoid any potential incident)
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Read what the RYA says about the certificate, in particular about when it is essential, when it is useful and when no certificate is required. You can then make up your own mind as to whether it would be useful for you. Not everybody needs one, but others find for them it is invaluable as the responses here have shown.

No expectation such a certificate will become compulsory here, but it is (or something equivalent) in other parts of the world.
 
jerrytug said:
Yes what massive lies..should be reported to the ASA.
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Think you will find that they can support what they are saying. You need to remember that licensing for powerboats in some countries is much more strict than for sailing and many powerboat users cannot use their boat legally without an ICC or equivalent.

That is why you need to look at your own circumstances as the need depends on what you want to do and where.
 
Bobc said:
Don't most countries recognise the Yachtmaster certificate as an ICC these days?
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Yes, but the whole idea of the ICC is to have one internationally recognized certificate so that local officials don't have to work out what all the different local certificates mean. The big advantage for UK residents is you can get the certificate without taking the RYA certificates as it is at a very basic level.
 
Bobc said:
Don't most countries recognise the Yachtmaster certificate as an ICC these days?
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I refer you to #7,

The questions about proving your competence usually arise if you have some sort of accident. If you don't have a certificate (of any sort), in some countries, you'll be asked to take a local test.

Local tests/checks by a charter co are also common, sometimes even when you have a certificate.

And no, it doesn't have to be an ICC. Many other certs are acceptable. But it's a good idea if translations into other languages of key phrases are available.
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That's written after 35 years of cruising around Europe, the first 15 of which were running charter companies in many countries of the Mediterranean.

An exception, as already mentioned, is if you're planning time on the Inland Waterways of Europe, when it's essential to have an ICC, endorsed with CEVNI to show you know the waterway signals.
 
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DanTribe said:
I used to have one but forgot to renew and presumably would now need to take the test again.
I hope certification doesn't become compulsory here.
I recently visited my son in Queensland and casually suggested we borrowed his mates tinny and went for a picnic on Moreton bay with the family, who had all sailed all their lives.
Drama ! He didn't have a boat licence and would need to take a course and a test.
Or we could take a chance and hope we didn't get caught by the marine rozzers and risk a big fine.
So we had to resort to sitting on the beach drinking cold beers.
Click to expand...

Glad you didn't think of drinking those beers while in the tinny. Even while not moving. Getting breathalyzed could lead to lead to the loss of your road driver's license.
Guess where the rozzers go to breathalyze boaties. The anchorages where nobody is moving away from them.
 
Yes I have it. All I needed was my dayskipper (practical and theory) and think it was free to apply with RYA membership. Never used it mind you. Only overseas sailing I've done is on a flotilla in Greece and it wasn't needed for that.
 
BobPrell said:
Glad you didn't think of drinking those beers while in the tinny. Even while not moving. Getting breathalyzed could lead to lead to the loss of your road driver's license.
Guess where the rozzers go to breathalyze boaties. The anchorages where nobody is moving away from them.
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Australia continues to provide an excellent example of why we need to keep politicians and other busybodies away from the maritime world.

Pete
 
ninky said:
Yes I have it. All I needed was my dayskipper (practical and theory)
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For the benefit of later readers - just the practical is sufficient.

I never did the theory course, and got an ICC by sending in a copy of my DS practical certificate.

Pete
 
BobPrell said:
Glad you didn't think of drinking those beers while in the tinny. Even while not moving. Getting breathalyzed could lead to lead to the loss of your road driver's license.
Guess where the rozzers go to breathalyze boaties. The anchorages where nobody is moving away from them.
Click to expand...
The Aussie cops do have some sneaky tricks.
We went beach camping and drove, at night, for an hour down a very rugged forest track, then several miles along a beach and were waved down in the middle of nowhere for a random breath test.
Apparently drunk drivers on wilderness beaches is a common cause of fatalities, so a justified check I suppose.
 
So out of the preceding thread it appears that only one other plus myself has had to produce it in holland, france & Belgium.
But then i always seem to attract attention from customs & police , having been arrested once ( forgot all papers & my crew told a machine gun toting policeman to "F" off)--- will not do that again!!
& been threatened with fines on 2 occasions for not having the boats name on the stern. All in Ostend
On one trip to france i logged 14 -yes 14 visits from their customs officers in 11 weeks they wanted to see every bit of paper i had & did check dates on vhf cert as well as ICC date . dates on flares etc etc

Just as bad in uk
On one return trip from Ostend uk customs stripped my boat. ( Wondered why i was doing 4-6 trips a year to Ostend for 3 years) Took a day to put it all back( & to top it all they confiscated the King Edward cigars)
.
All i need now is a red diesel check & i will be well p..d off
 
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When stopped by Portuguese Navy they were not interested in RYA qualifications just the ICC to prove competence so I will keep one onboard especially as it is free from RYA......well why wouldn't you.
 
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