ICC Portugal

I

Inselaffe

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Does anyone currently sail/motor or has recently sailed/motored in Portugal with a British flagged boat using the ICC?

Is this currently accepted?

I am especially, but not only, interested in anecdotes of checks by Portuguese officials.

I will be in Lisbon area.

Ta very much & a good weekend to all.
 
Never been asked to produce any form of qualification cert. anywhere in Portugal, or in Spain for that matter. However you will always be asked for registration document, passport(s)and berthing fees. Even when I had to retrieve a dingy from the Maritime police ( very paper work orientated)they only looked at registration doc and passport. Did charge me light dues though, which must be a first.
 
We both ( wife and I) have one, but have never been asked. However I know people who have. Portuguese authorities love the paperwork and the regulations, but if you front up with the right stuff i.e. registration and insurance docs, there is usually no problem. If you strike an issue with the basic paperwork, they are likely to delve a little deeper and that's when the ICC / VHF qualification might feature. I have heard that the Spanish authorities around Barcelona are starting to ask for this sort of documentation and the old (HOCC?) won't do. They need somethiing with your picture on it. The French can also be picky about in-date flares and extinguishers and if taking to the canals I would think that it would be foolish to risk it without a CEVNI endorsement.
 
I Would love to, best place in the world to sail, but financially & time wise too much.

Anyway, despite their reputation, the people of (N) Essex are of the most open and generous folk in the world & I am sure that I can still sail there in my mates boats /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Hi Bife
Don't worry too much,as long as you have the boat's papers and insurance they won't give you much grief.Things are getting easier with the maritime police around here.
Nuno
 
As has been said before, the papers that are normally required upon arrival at every harbour/marina in Portugal are passports, boat registration and basic boat insurance. For EU boats and people rarely is anything else required. However, if some incident occurs which involves official attention, especially by the Marine Police or GNR Police, then the norm is for every bit of paper to be sought. The more that you can produce the better! Even your own boat stamp has its use. An ICC is fine and it helps if there is more that one so qualified crewmember on board. I would not recommend trying to convince an official in Portugal that such a document is not required for a British registered vessel. It may be correct in British "law" but would be an alien concept to a good bureaucrat and would require much questioning of higher and higher authorities. In the meantime your boat is going nowhere. Other things to look out for are the occasional local enthusiasm for some particular document or other - possibly instituted by a new official determined to make his mark in a new post. Radio operators licences and radar licences are examples of such short term, local phenomena. And finally, there is the summer time push by the GNR police to ensure that if the boat has been in Portugal for 180 days or more in that year that the "boat tax" has been paid. This is enforced with varying degrees of enthusiasm in different locations and might require you to prove that the boat has been in the country for a lesser time. If you have been "caught" having been liable for the tax and not having paid it then you can be sure that every piece of paper will be inspected and questioned even though I am fairly sure that half the time they have no idea what it is that you have given them. My advice would be to have all the paperwork and keep it in good order so that you can produce vast amouts upon any request. It seems to persuade officials to go and bother somebody else. Best wishes.
 
That's a verý thirdworldish impression of Portugal you have there.Things are definitely not that bad.Maybe twenty years ago but not now.I'm not at all fond of the authorities around here but you're not being realistic.Were you thinking of Brazil or maybe Venezuela?
 
Hi 30Boat,
Could you pm me your contacts again? I lost them & it would be nice to have a chat, now that I am installed in Lisboa.

I can't answer for david36, obviously, but if you exchanged 'Portugal' for 'Germany' then what he wrote would almost perfectly sum up my experience in Germany, bureaucrats & enforcers are the same world over. It's only the UK that has any sense of freedom from their greedy claws w.r.t. sailing, for now.

However, I totally agree with you, I only know Portugal for 10 years now, but the attitudes of the officials (as well as almost everything else) has changed dramatically IMHO in that short time.

PS re other caravela post if you can catch it tonight:
Discovery Channel “Caravelas e Naus – um Choque Tecnológico no Século XVI”, cuja versão portuguesa passa no próximo Sábado dia 15 de Dezembro às 17:30.

but it might be later http://www.discoverychannel.com.pt/_list...t=1197743317208
& is probably repeated. I don't even have a TV /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
I was last in Portugal three days ago and have kept my boat there for years. Sorry that you don't think that my views are current - you are entitled to your opinion - even if it is wrong. Have a nice day.
 
Good to know my opinion is wrong.I wasn't aware of that.
That said,I had my share of troubles with the Portughese officials,three whole years to get my boat registered and being flunked for no reason on my ICC test ,to name just a few .I do have a profound distaste for them and their beloved bureocracy.What I was saying is that on less fundamental issues it's not as bad as before .
As bife said bureocrats are the same everywere.
And a nice day to you too.
 
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