La Rochelle check-in information and passage stopover questions

[alexincornwall]

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but I would be grateful some first-hand advice please. Next month I am going to be assisting a friend in delivering his boat from Falmouth to La Rochelle, a fairly swift trip which we plan on completing in a single passage (or thereabouts - see question below). Does anybody have any first-hand experience of checking in at La Rochelle as I have only ever used Brest and Les Sables on the Atlantic coast, the latter being a bit of a pain! If there is any guidance to share that would be appreciated, for example are there Police aux Frontières/Douane located in the city or will we need to travel to the airport? Will we need to make an appointment or will they accept walk-ins?

On another note, I quite like the idea of a 12-24 hour stopover at île d'yeu as it is one of my favourite islands in the area. I doubt we'd run into trouble but on the off chance that we did, could we legitimately claim that we were in-transit as our final destination was a little further south? My experience to date is that the French are relatively relaxed on these things, but it would be good to understand the bottom line.

Many thanks

 

[John_Silver]

The PAF office in La Rochelle is 1 Bd Emile Delmar. Over at the commercial docks. Just South of airport. A mile or two from the Bassin Chalutiers or Minimes.
Since Roscoff / L’Aber Wrac’h, where a great and proactive interest was taken in passport stamps this year, I have seen no officials around the pontoons. Nor has anyone asked the last port/ next port question, at the Capitainerie. All seems much more relaxed Brest southward. (Currently in Vannes, next stop Yeu).
Relevant to your Yeu question: I was advised (by the Roscoff PAF) , during a pontoon passport inspection, that I risked a fine, for clearing in at Dieppe, coast hopping down through the Channel Islands (without booking out of Schengen) and then landing in Roscoff without further formalities . So, a slapped wrist for my misunderstanding of the rules.

 

[Chris CJ]

we checked in at Roscoff , we’re asked in Brest if we had checked in , but didn’t have to show our passports , we were asked to show our passports and ships papers in Port Joinville . On the way back from Les Sables d’Olorne we were certainly eyeballed by french boarder patrol , as they approached at speed , slowed down along side ,all must have been ok and sped off.
I would just say the French authorities are very active and from our experience in May and June so far wouldn’t take any risks.

 

[Fimacca]

Seconded Chris , as play by the rules. A member of our whatsapp group was checked at l'aber wrach in the last week for docs and passport. he was not checked for kit or searched - safety equip though, as an addendum !

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Seconded Chris , as play by the rules. A member of our whatsapp group was checked at l'aber wrach in the last week for docs and passport. he was not checked for kit or searched - safety equip though, as an addendum !

Had he signed in at Roscoff? I know some folk who make landfall at Laberwrach and then make a single day sail to Camaret for bus to Brest, but seem risky if too much scrutiny at Laberwrch

Neither Roscoff nor Brest seemed at all interested in boat, and Roscoff ferry queue officers just wanted to stamp us and get us out of the way

 

[Graeme7238]

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but I would be grateful some first-hand advice please. Next month I am going to be assisting a friend in delivering his boat from Falmouth to La Rochelle, a fairly swift trip which we plan on completing in a single passage (or thereabouts - see question below). Does anybody have any first-hand experience of checking in at La Rochelle as I have only ever used Brest and Les Sables on the Atlantic coast, the latter being a bit of a pain! If there is any guidance to share that would be appreciated, for example are there Police aux Frontières/Douane located in the city or will we need to travel to the airport? Will we need to make an appointment or will they accept walk-ins?

On another note, I quite like the idea of a 12-24 hour stopover at île d'yeu as it is one of my favourite islands in the area. I doubt we'd run into trouble but on the off chance that we did, could we legitimately claim that we were in-transit as our final destination was a little further south? My experience to date is that the French are relatively relaxed on these things, but it would be good to understand the bottom line.
Many thanks

Hi alexincornwall
I'm not much help to you I'm afraid as I too am trying in vain to get details of the process in both Les Sables and La Rochelle as my yacht has been in France since June 4th 2022; I intend to keep her [ or rather IT now I believe] in France for the foreseeable future***.
You mention Les Sables being "a bit of a pain". Would you kindly expand on this please as I am in the process of trying to find out whether the local Douane in Les Sables deal with both customs and immigration [as happened in Roscoff in June 22], or if the Police aux Frontières need to do the passport stamping. As for getting any info about La Rochelle, so far two emails to the marinas have gone unanswered and their website has no relevant information on the subject; neither does the relevant information on the Cruising Association's website have any details for Les Sables or La Rochelle!
Thank you.

*** This has EU VAT consequences, for which I am not prepared to sail the 560 mile round trip to Jersey from La Roche Bernard every 18 months in order to reset the VAT clock. So, I am going to attempt the process of leaving France at La Rochelle on September 5th, enter International Waters 12 miles off the coast of the Île de Re and sail back into France at Les Sables on September 5th or 6th. My evidence will be the track on my Navionics and photographs of my lat long position in International Waters taken off my chart plotter; this will be supported by signed witness statements from my two crew [ I'm reliably informed that the French are very respectful of signed, witness statements]. Off course, it may all be to no avail...in which case I am slowly getting my brain [ which is 70 years of age in December] into a "good place" to regard the VAT I will have to pay if "found out" as actually being a lot less than my friend will spend next week having a private total knee replacement in Ipswich for £17,000!

 

[alexincornwall]

Hi alexincornwall
I'm not much help to you I'm afraid as I too am trying in vain to get details of the process in both Les Sables and La Rochelle as my yacht has been in France since June 4th 2022; I intend to keep her [ or rather IT now I believe] in France for the foreseeable future***.
You mention Les Sables being "a bit of a pain". Would you kindly expand on this please as I am in the process of trying to find out whether the local Douane in Les Sables deal with both customs and immigration [as happened in Roscoff in June 22], or if the Police aux Frontières need to do the passport stamping. As for getting any info about La Rochelle, so far two emails to the marinas have gone unanswered and their website has no relevant information on the subject; neither does the relevant information on the Cruising Association's website have any details for Les Sables or La Rochelle!
Thank you.

*** This has EU VAT consequences, for which I am not prepared to sail the 560 mile round trip to Jersey from La Roche Bernard every 18 months in order to reset the VAT clock. So, I am going to attempt the process of leaving France at La Rochelle on September 5th, enter International Waters 12 miles off the coast of the Île de Re and sail back into France at Les Sables on September 5th or 6th. My evidence will be the track on my Navionics and photographs of my lat long position in International Waters taken off my chart plotter; this will be supported by signed witness statements from my two crew [ I'm reliably informed that the French are very respectful of signed, witness statements]. Off course, it may all be to no avail...in which case I am slowly getting my brain [ which is 70 years of age in December] into a "good place" to regard the VAT I will have to pay if "found out" as actually being a lot less than my friend will spend next week having a private total knee replacement in Ipswich for £17,000!

Hi Graeme,

This trip has now been and gone and due to unsettled weather systems, we were forced into Brest so checked in there instead - all very quick and easy. Neither Les Sables or La Rochelle got back to us. I did successfully check into Les Sables in 2022 and I describe it as "a bit of a pain" simply because the Douane office is quite a walk out of the town hidden away in an industrial estate (no signage or clues to help find them!). They did respond to my emails last year though which is more than can be said for this year.

I'm not 100% clued up on resetting the VAT clock but I don't think your idea of simply sailing 12nm out to sea and then back again is going to cut it I'm afraid. I think you'll need to officially check in to a country outside the EU...

 

[Graeme7238]

Thanks for getting back to me Alex. You may well be correct about the 12 mile limit but the Cruising Association "have had some reports" that some EU states are recognising such plans. Who knows any facts about France...?
I thought that I would try it out to see how easy/difficult it was and the reactions locally.
Incidentally, I did get responses from both Les Sables and La Rochelle, the former being the more complete and efficient. Both the douane offices I emailed said that there were no customs issues and gave addresses and details of getting the passport stamping done. Port Olana at Les Sables were quick to ping me the relevant Border Control Form to email, La Rochelle was singularly unresponsive to three emails!
If you want the details I can forward the information I received. My email address : m.g.kelvin@doctors.org.uk.
Good sailing!