Woops no DEPKA officer

affinite

affinite

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I bought a UK flagged boat in August of last year and chose to keep her in a "wet" berth in a marina over winter rather than lift her out. Easter this year will be the first opportunity to set foot on the boat since buying her.

The DEPKA wasnt passed on to me by the previous owner, but Im aware that it should technically have been stamped every 30 days over the winter.

When I go to the boat at Easter I want to sort out paperwork and I expect to have to pay for a new DEPKA but I'm looking for advice, from anyone in the know, wrt my strategy when dealing with the Port Police on this issue.

By the way, if no more "Affinite" posts after April 4th, you can draw your own conclusions re the outcome of my visit to them. :)
 
In theory should not be a problem, although, as you will see from other posts on the subject it varies from place to place. When I took my boat out of charter and re-registered as a UK boat I had a couple of goes in Corfu, but they always seemed out of stock of the forms. advice was to sail over to Sivota/Mourtos - job done in about half hour in the port police office. They will have no idea whether your new boat had one in the past.
 
When we arrived in Greece, the young lady in the port police office told me that I needed to make sure the DEPKA was stamped every month. I duly took the DEPKA back to her after one month for stamping, in accordance with her instructions. She greeted me with a smile and a puzzled look and asked why I wanted her to stamp the thing. I told she had said I needed it stamping once a month. She said that I hadn't been anywhere and was going nowhere so it didn't need stamping. I shrugged my shoulders, thanked her for her time and trouble and left the office.

When we came to leave Corfu at the end of the winter, I sent SWMBO to get the DEPKA stamped. The Port Police told her to get it stamped at our first port of call after Corfu.

So, we sailed away and waited until we got somewhere where the port police actually came visiting the quay side (Poros on Kephalonia IIRC). This was about 2 months after leaving Corfu. They cheerfully took a little bit of money off us and stamped the wretched form.....

Why tell the story? Just to show that all you need to do is to walk into the first Port Police office you find and ask for a DEPKA. They'll get one sorted for you, although there may be some tedious business with tax offices and so forth but it will be a very rare event if they were to bother asking you to prove how long your boat has been in Greek waters and why hadn't you got a DEPKA before this.......:o
 
If in Ionian I dont think you will have a problem -my experience was that in first summer 2 stamps and following year 3 or 4 but no one has ever asked about length between entries. I used to be paranoid about the gaps but none of the port officials I have encountered seemed in the least bit bothered. Being friendly,smiling and shruging shoulders if ever faced with "officaldom" has worked for me so far. Understandly officials are not looking for problems and perhaps also there is an element of why should we collect revenue that goes to Athens with no benefit to the local community. This may be changing in view of pesent situation.
My advice would be don't worry, relax and enjoy! Can't speak about the Aegean side though.

PS Having read the OP more carefully not sure I have answered it! I assume you are over 10m and therefore need a DEPKA. Jim Baerselman will give as good advice as you are likely to get, I am sure he will be along soon!
 
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Thx all
Ive also adopted the wait till someone asks for the DEPKA with my previous boat. Its just that Ive always lifted out over winter and you dont need to have the DEPKA stamped when stored ashore.
1st time Ive left the boat afloat , and change of owner, and no existing DEPKA - hence the uncertainty. Ill give it my best "Kalimarea" & "Efharrystoe" and see how it goes.

PS - The boat is in Leros Dodecanese
:)
 
I doubt you'll have a problem. From my experience the 30-day stamp is needed only when you're moving around. When we stay in our winter marina it's always a stamp in at the start of winter and a stamp out at the end. We'd become very unpopular if we went in there each month not having been anywhere!

Be sure you have proof of VAT payment handy when you do go, they are getting more keen on VAT status here now, especially in situations like yours where the boat has just changed hands.

Otherwise just keep it simple when talking to the port police. They're not usually the sharpest tools in the box and they're easily confused, especially if their English is not that strong. I'd start just by asking to buy a new DEKPA and work up from there if they ask why.....
 
I'm assuming the boat is over 10m. Under 10m DEKPA doesn't apply. Are you in a marina, or in a municipal harbour?

If the boat hasn't moved out since she was last stamped in, 30 day doesn't apply either, and no stamps are required until you leave. At that stage the berthing charge bill has to be paid if you're in a municipal harbour. There is an option for paying an annual lump sum which is cheaper than the daily rate, but not all officials offer this option.

Boring detail with information on current rules in Greece is kept up to date on http://www.jimbsail.info/drupal/going-foreign/countries/greece

You may be able to keep your current DEKPA when the boat changes owner and name, or they may insist on a new DEKPA. Either way, the formal way of doing things would be to go along with the Bill of sale and the old DEPKA, a copy of the old registration form and a copy of the new form. I don't know how they'd handle the name change!

An informal way of doing things would be to book out of Greece (destination another country . . . ) then re-enter Greece in a different boat. Well, a different name and owner, and preferably into a different port if you don't want to stretch crediblity too much.
 
As we are berthed at the same port my experience may be useful. We launched and had the Dekpa stamped in April 2010 at Kilada. We next had it stamped at Paros several weeks later, then at Amorgos about a month after that (late June, I think). After sailing from there to Leros I was taken ill, sailing no more that year. In 2011 we only sailed late in the season, had the Dekpa stamped once, at Patmos, in September. No comment from the port police.
 
The PP in Gouvia write "laid up shore" across a couple of stamping spaces on mine every April when we go back into the water. It seems that it isn't actually a "boat" when it's out of the water. Yet another quirk of the enigma that is Greek yacht regulation!

Chas
 
CharlesSwallow said:
The PP in Gouvia write "laid up shore" across a couple of stamping spaces on mine every April when we go back into the water. It seems that it isn't actually a "boat" when it's out of the water. Yet another quirk of the enigma that is Greek yacht regulation!

Chas
Click to expand...
No harbour charges due when you're out of the water . . .
 
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