AIT Around In Ten

And I get the feeling that the situation was handled poorly, usually somebody will listen if you have a really good excuse and have a good attitude, don't know just guessing

 

So just what is the law on small pocket yachts in OZ ???

 

Thanks Peter,

What I get from it now is:

No visa in the beginning and in the end and a tourist visa in between, so after all illegal in Australia, so maybe not transiting, so import duties indebted for everything on him.

Conclusion: Get your paperwork done before visiting Oz . . :idea:

But what if you want to skip Oz but by circumstances are forced to make an emergency stop there, then you also have no visa, would they then take your boat to cover import duties on your belongings that together with your a$$ are illegal in the country . .

 

Hmmm, the a$$ word (with ss), for donkey of course, seems to be illegal on this website as turns out as ***

 

Angel I think the moderator picked up every deviation that there is from the old days when Frosty (banned) and I were joking around.

 

Anyway I would also like to know this

 

Well, I think this illustrates Howard's situation in Oz . . .

- - click pic for source - -​

 

The good news is, at the time, 1980's small boats was not the problem
but what about now ???

 

And obviously if you overstay your visa you are looking for trouble
and he was on a round the world trip, not a beach holiday, maybe he met a nice lady in OZ

 

Could be that he didn't had enough money left after building his boat in French Polynesia. Got a tourist visa but probably not allows one to work in Australia. The only way to get some cash was to work to keep his journey going but that was violating the visa.....
You breached your visa so now you own us $2000. Don't have it ? Put your a$$ on the plane and there you go !!
Yikes, now where stuck with that ugly little boat Put it in an hangar and let it "rot" for a few years and than we donate it to a museum, problem solved.

Anyhow, to me a story of typical "rulebook knights", " the Lew is the Lew"....

I would have put Howard on his boat ,let him sign a weaver for supply expences and told him that he got 48 hours to leave. Either that or we put you on a plane and get you outta here today, your choice mate....
Wait a minute, what if he get's into trouble than we have the expences of SAR AND he's back here

Put him on a plane, case closed.........sad.

 

Maybe they thought he was importing a billionaire's bathtub toy without license.

But, seriously, do people have really have problems with customs if they are just passing through and not importing anything? Or did he just have a can of "not legal here" aboard unawares that it would cause him problems if he met some super-duper lawman?

EDIT: read the thread a bit further. Great tip: if you want to work without a VISA do it in the US ... just enter across the southern frontier (we probably have people making sure every Canadian is legal /cynic).

 

I dont know if violating a visa falls under the jurisdiction of customs because you actually "import" yourself into a country with a visa.....
It might have been a case of things that ran a bit out of hand and because nobody wanted to loose their face they implemented the rulebook to the letter.

Must have been mighty frustrating for Howard if you come that far and have gone throught that much to see your dream end up in smoke possibly because one or another "arsebeatle" acted like "look boss, I'm doing my job !! " ........

Strange thing is, Howard never gave his version of what actually happened so it could have been that he knew what he was doing but the cards turned against him which in the end costed him his boat and dream......

 

I've done a lot of searching for - Howard Wayne Smith - Happy2 - Toronto - but still nothing new. It looks like the most credible reference is

http://www.benford.us/pcty/14happy.html

which everybody has copied from over the years
apparently he went back to Toronto

so to me this sounds very feasible

 

Happy 2 was impounded fairly. The owner was broke I think was the main problem. The hull still has quite a few visible fatigue cracks propagating in the alloy hull it needed a bit of repair and was apparently not well built, and or the designer didn't understand what was required for longevity in alloy.

Entry procedures for Australia are well described on Noonsite http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Australia?rc=Formalities

If your nationality requires a visa, I think you can organise it online. the 4 days minimum prior notice of intended arrival can be given up to 90 days in advance.

You can anchor in extremis so long as you don't go ashore.

 

Yeah, that skipper must have been a ***** not to look at the internet for proper procedures to enter Australia by boat....in the 1970's/1980's....

It's not because Australian customs followed the law strictly that "impounded FAIRLY" are "fair words" to use in this case mate......