name of home port on stern

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saltyrob

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Hi Folks

Can anyone confirm if it is a requirement to have the name of your home port on the stern of a yacht, if you are travelling to Holland ,France,etc

Many Thanks

Rob
 
Port of registration should be on the stern, but does not apply to boats on SSR as there is no "port of registration"
 
Interestingly I have always understood that a Part 1 Regd vessel must carry the port of registry on the stern UNLESS the initials of the home Yacht Club are there.

I have understood this for many years but don't know the source. Can anyone enlighten me please?
 
Cannot speak authoritively for a vessel on the UK Part 1 Register, but it would be most unlikely that the initials or anything else to do with a yacht club would be allowed to substitute for the Port of Registry. I do not know of any main register where that would be permitted and I would be very surprised if there was one.

John
 
The requirement for port of registry used to be waived for members of certain sailing clubs, usually those with forces connections. I do not know if that is still the case. Certainly Lizzie B never carried her Port of Reg'n, however, we avoided raised eyebrows in foreign parts as her full name included 'of Lymington' which may by some have been assumed to be her her Port of Reg.
 
Whenever I'm asked this question in Turkey I give a different answer - I'm working by memory clockwise from Lowestoft and have got to Dimchurch so far... (I included the Cinque ports by historic right).

Surely there is no requirement under maritime law for a British yacht under private ownership to even display her name is there? let alone her "port of origin". Just as there is no requiremant for a British yacht to posess insurance, or her skipper any kind of certificate of competance whislt on the high seas (as opposed to canals).

I recently saw a US yacht with home port displayed as Breckenridge...I was tempted to ask if she was blue, green or just panting on a downhill run.

What a lot of b@llocks!

Tell 'em Droitwich! They wouldn't know the difference!
 
The question of the original poster asked for the case when a pleasure vessel was visiting multiple countries, so is therefore visiting foreign ports.

In that case the vessel has to be on the register of ships of a nation to which it is entitled and will have to have the boat's name marked on it in the manner prescribed by that register. For many registers the number in the register will also have to be carved on the boat somewhere.

If the boat is in a main register (eg UK Part 1) then the port of registry has to also be marked with the name on the transom - although a question has been raised if the name of certain yacht clubs substitutes (for the case of UK registered vessels).

So is not a load of bollocks at all.

John
 
There is a detailed and interesting article in a recent edition (current?) of the Cruising Association magazine covering this topic pretty comprehensively.

Paraphrasing, and without the magazine to hand, the answer is something like this. Yes. In case of Part 1 registered, this must be the port of registry. In case of SSR, this should be the home port.

Some countries seem to interpret the "home port" thing seriously (Belgium, Netherlands?) and, in the case of a Part 1 registered yacht, would expect the port of registry actually to be the home port - regardless of how practical that may be.

In any case, the article has all the details.
 
Not sure whether this is relevant to this thread but we have a certificate which states "Registry of Shipping and Seamen. This is to certify that members of the Pembrokeshire Yacht club are exempt from Part 1 British Registration marking regulation which states that a vessel's Port of Registry must be permanently marked on its stern. This exemption is valid until 31/12/2008. Signed by Business Manager - Registry of Shipping & Seamen"
 
That is just what I have always understood.

Certainly I have not had trouble yet (though I have been reprimanded
by the Belgians for other crimes, eg motorsailing without a cone, flying the Dutch courtesy flag when (just!) across the midline of the Schelde, etc... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif )
 
I once "heard" (or did I dream it) that us small folk with an SSR registration could benefit from putting "Swansea" on the stern as the port of registration. I believe that's where the MCA live and hence the SSR.

Any views?
 
[ QUOTE ]
The requirement for port of registry used to be waived for members of certain sailing clubs, usually those with forces connections. I do not know if that is still the case. Certainly Lizzie B never carried her Port of Reg'n, however, we avoided raised eyebrows in foreign parts as her full name included 'of Lymington' which may by some have been assumed to be her her Port of Reg.

[/ QUOTE ]

Clubs can still get a waiver from the requirement to put the registered port on the transom, and its nothing whatever to do with a military connection. Both my clubs have this waiver, recently renewed, and one can claim no more military connection than a the occasional remembrance day poppy.

I think its the MCA you aply to.
 
Mainly directed at Pops, the MCA do not live in Swansea and SSR office is in the English City due east of here. Can't quite bring myself to write the name but it begins with a C and ends with an F. Have to go and wash my mouth out now
 
Interesting.

I must make a point of more closely inspecting the rear ends /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif of visiting UK yachts in future. The only other case I know where port of registry of a main register does not have to go with the name is USA where foreign going pleasure vessels do not have to be on any part of the register ("documented") as state "registration" suffices.

John
 
In the USA boats do not have a Port of Registry in the same sense as the British Part 1 requirements.
They are, however, required by most states and the USCG(depending how they're licensed or documented) to display a 'hailing' or home port. This can be any place the owner wishes to choose, although usually the town where the boat is based or where the owner lives is used.
As such, it is quite possible for a US boat to declare a hailing port that has no water front at all. Eg Tehachapi,CA
 
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