Where is my home port?

[Nostrodamus]

Having just bought our first boat we are confused as to where we should put her home port as.
We lived in a small village when we bought the boat and the nearest port was London. We bought the boat from Ipswich and after a couple of months moved her to Hull where we are staying for a couple of months before setting off for warmer climates in the Med. We have also sold our house and we are currently living aboard so we have no home address.
The boat currently has the name of a Yacht Club in Wales and no home port.
I am aware that some countries require the name, SSR number and home port on the boat.
Can I pick anywhere as the boats home port or are there specific rules governing this?

 

[Playtime]

Can I pick anywhere as the boats home port or are there specific rules governing this?

Assuming the boat is not Part 1 registered (i.e. you are on the SSR only), I believe you can choose any port in the UK.

The home port is not specifically required in the SSR but it is often included as part of the ship's name e.g. Playtime of Portsmouth.

 

[VicS]

Boats that are Part 1 registered display the name and the "port of registration" Originally the port of registration was the local office where boat was registered but now can be any from the list of "ports of choice" http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/ukr-home/merchant/guidetoregistration-holding/ports.htm

The Home port AFAIK need not necessarily be the port of registration IIRC we used to name Chichester as the "home port", as that was where the boat was moored, on French forms although the port of registration was Portsmouth but we were never sure if we were doing right or wrong.

The SSR does not involve any port of registration but as above you can include the name of any port or place as part of the name. I guess though the whole name including that place name eg "Tossa of Piddletrenthide", or what ever, should should then appear on the SSR documentation, Radio licences, Insurance documents etc etc.

 

[Tranona]

Probably easiest to use Ipswich as this is the port the builder is connected with - no other reason except it sounds good! Including a location in the name is done when you want to go on Part 1 and your preferred name is taken - so you call yours XXXX of Dart or whatever.

 

[FullCircle]

One of the forumites boats round here has Cambridge on the stern as home port......

 

[sailorman]

One of the forumites boats round here has Cambridge on the stern as home port......

But he is able to navigate there & much safer than the A14 too

 

[Nostrodamus]

So can I put down "N.F.A"

 

[macd]

One of the difficulties with the SSR is that it doesn't embody a home port, and yet my understanding is that international law requires a home port to be displayed on the vessel. (Don't shoot me down too hard if I'm wrong...it's just something I dimly remember reading, probably on this site.) In the absence of anything more concrete, people seem to display whatever port suits them. I suppose one might legitimately put "Cardiff", since that's where the SSR is located. I have heard (second-hand) of foreign officials being puzzled by the absence of a port on SSR documents, but have never heard of anything untoward happening as a result.

The practice of using names like "Sally of Ipswich" is, I think, often used for Part 1 registration, where no two boats can share the same name. So if there's already a Sally and you want another, you have to add the last bit.

 

[GrahamM376]

Police in some countries do ask for home port details. We're on SSR so, although we have no intention of returning there, we added "of Conwy" to our boat name.

I would suggest that you also maintain a home address and stay on the electoral role, even if it's a friend's or relative's.

 

[LadyInBed]

I have never painted a 'home port' on the boat.
When I fill out any form that asks for it I use the port / town nearest to where my UK mooring is.
In your position, I would use Hull - it is well known and easy to write
For SSR, it is good to have some sort of accommodation address - look for previous posts on this subject

 

[Joker]

Try telling a Latvian Border Guard you don't have a 'home port' ...

 

[Nostrodamus]

After throwing a few darts towards a map of England I have not managed to hit anything apart from the kettle and nearly the wife (probably due to the rolling seas although she believes I did it on purpose).
From what I have seen so far and being registered only on the SSR I can put down almost anything, even places I have no affiliation with and may never go to?
So, do I actually have to put down a port or can it be anywhere in the UK eg "crash, bang of wallop" or "missing of spleen".
I am sure you can think of bettr examples!!!

 

[nimbusgb]

I am soooooo tempted to rename the boat to 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' ( just up the road from us ) as has been mentioned SSR has no provision for 'home port' and I am sure no Latvian border guard would know whether ( Royal ) Tunbridge Wells was a port or an airport.

 

[Nostrodamus]

I know the several Metropolitan Police boats based in the Hamble are all "***** of Broadway" which is the street Scotland Yard is on. Can we give our home port as a street also or will that Latvian guard just believe the boats are registered amongst the theatre's in America.

 

[Ubergeekian]

I know the several Metropolitan Police boats based in the Hamble are all "***** of Broadway" which is the street Scotland Yard is on.

I don't think "... of Somewhere" is specifying a home port, just making the name a bit posher. Plenty of boats around with something like "Felicity of Hamble // London" on their sterns.

 

[Salty John]

Agree. You can be 'Anything of Portsmouth' with a hailing port of, for instance, Hull.

Both my long term cruising boats had Manchester as the hailing port - immigration officials in even the most remote ports have heard of Manchester United!

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Officialdom gets confused enough by a boat named Jedi. The one who looked at the stern for a home port name simply saw the NASA logo and gave up. I quote London if need be.

 

[macd]

The reason there's no home port provision on SSR is presumably that it was introduced, partly at the request of the French authorities, not to satisfy international maritime law, but as a straighforward means of making it easy for boats visiting France. It is intended, to quote an SSR official, "for occasional trips overseas". I'm pretty sure a three year sojourn to Greece and Turkey would not fall within this description.

The SSR website makes no mention of this. The closest it comes is that, in order to qualify for SSR, "the craft must be owned by an eligible individual who is ordinarily resident in the UK for 185 days of the year."

The reality is, of course, that the majority of UK boats sailing in far-flung places are on the SSR. It beggars belief that SSR officials don't know this. They just turn a blind eye and go with the flow. Best thing we can do is keep our heads down.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

One of the forumites boats round here has Cambridge on the stern as home port......

Nothing wrong with that - Cambridge was an important port in the Middle Ages, and the river is still navigable that far. Not sure I'd ever get Capricious there; 1.5 metres draft is probably a bit too much (but the bottom of the river is so soft we might make it anyway!)

 

[Nostrodamus]

Thank you all for posting the replies and clarifying this somewhat.
As I understand it as long as you are on the SSR you can put down any port as your home port as it does not mean anything to anyone anyway.
It is not recorded anywhere apart from the back of your boat and the only people who want this are the French and one Latvian border guard.
Now it all makes perfect sense.
As I originally hail from “Scunthorpe” I did consider using this as when you opened the gas locker in the stern over which Scunthorpe was placed the letters between the “S” and “H” were the ones that came out. It probably is not the best Idea so I think I will go with … (gets the darts out again)