landlocked countries sailing exams!

Nostrodamus

Nostrodamus

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I know it is another stupid question but that is what I am here for.

I have just seen a Swiss flagged boat being brought into a marina here in Portugal by the coastguard after it apparently decided to go aground.. another story and the details are still in the mix as all the occupants seem to be Russian.

Anyway, I digress from what I really wanted to know.

With the very long thread about Portuguese hassle I was wandering about landlocked countries. How do they get a port of registry and how do the skippers prove to authorities they are competent sailors? Do they have to go to other countries to take exams so they have some papers to show?
 
Info in English on obtaining swiss sailing permits (including ocean tickets) here with primary sources linked off there in french and german.
I haven't thoroughly checked it out (do say if you know!) but when I've been in switzerland for a few days I've been told that I can't just flash a yachtmaster certificate and be allowed to sail on the Zürisee....

I believe the port of registry for the swiss merchant fleet is Basel which is linked to the sea by the Rhine
 
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laika said:
Info in English on obtaining swiss sailing permits (including ocean tickets) here with primary sources linked off there in french and swiss german.
I haven't thoroughly checked it out (do say if you know!) but when I've been in switzerland for a few days I've been told that I can't just flash a yachtmaster certificate and be allowed to sail on the Zürisee....

I believe the port of registry for the swiss merchant fleet is Basel which is linked to the sea by the Rhine
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Thank you for that. Now that is pretty strict, not only for the licence but the MOT for boats and emission. Wonder how many UK boats would pass?
 
laika said:
I believe the port of registry for the swiss merchant fleet is Basel which is linked to the sea by the Rhine
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Not just the merchant fleet (not one of which - 41 - has ever berthed there, see this article) but it is also the port of registry of all Swiss yachts. As is Vienna for Austria as the Danube is navigable there from the Black Sea.

The conditions for registry are indeed rigorous. Not only must the owner be of Swiss nationality but a stringent survey is required by a qualified Swiss surveyor - expensive if lying anywhere but in Switzerland.

Sailing qualifications for all the German-speaking countries follow the German model - that includes all Switzerland in spite of the French and Italian speaking parts. They are formidable - and compulsory.

When I needed to take my VHF SRC DSC course recently I opted to spend a day in Poole rather than the three days it would have taken here in Switzerland. Many Germans with enough English do the same.

The yacht witnessed by Nostro would have had a Swiss owner and was probably chartered out. Russians are flooding into much of Switzerland now - the expensive parts, that is. St Moritz and Interlaken are crowded out with them. Their women are the only ones wearing fur coats here - even in summer.
 
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Coincidentally I saw a Swiss yacht leaving Portsmouth on Sunday. I think it's the first one I've ever seen in UK waters.
 
Nostrodamus said:
I know it is another stupid question but that is what I am here for.

I have just seen a Swiss flagged boat being brought into a marina here in Portugal by the coastguard after it apparently decided to go aground.. another story and the details are still in the mix as all the occupants seem to be Russian.

Anyway, I digress from what I really wanted to know.

With the very long thread about Portuguese hassle I was wandering about landlocked countries. How do they get a port of registry and how do the skippers prove to authorities they are competent sailors? Do they have to go to other countries to take exams so they have some papers to show?
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They used to have a Navy!

Plenty of em in the Med.
 
alant said:
They used to have a Navy!
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There is an ongoing, good-humoured rivalry between Austria and Switzerland, both in the shadow of their big neighbour to the north, with many jokes told by one against the other - somewhat in the manner of the English-Irish ones.

In the German-speaking countries it is customary for those companies who actually make things to hold a "Tag der Offenen Tur" - day of the open door, one day in the year when the public are invited to tour the premises with guided tours and free refreshments.

The Swiss tell of how the Austrian navy once had a submarine on Lake Constance but it unfortunately foundered - they had held a "Tag der Offenen Tur" on it.

No doubt the Austrians tell the same joke about the Swiss navy.
 
I did my ISAF safety course in Austria. Part of the course was letting off flares. We did handheld and smoke flares, but not the parachute flares. The instructor apologised and said we would normally be allowed to try them, but it was too windy that day and the fire brigade didn't want any landing on the autobahn.

As it is, I am not allowed to rent a sailboat on Lake Zürich, even though I've sailed solo across the Atlantic.
 
Don't forget that the Swiss won the America's Cup, which is more than we have been able to do.
[I know they had a bit of outside assistance]:D
 
Nostrodamus said:
With the very long thread about Portuguese hassle I was wandering about landlocked countries. How do they get a port of registry and how do the skippers prove to authorities they are competent sailors? Do they have to go to other countries to take exams so they have some papers to show?
Click to expand...

It would seem that in Luxemburg it involves nothing more than a medical and a fee. :confused:
 
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