International waters

So have any of you guys ever sailed you way far enough out to be in international waters? I have never really been on any waters other than private large lakes, but I hear your "supposed to" always come back through customs with a passport. Hearing this I kinda got the general idea that if you were in a place like south Florida they would probably watch you, but if your in a place like Virginia beach where there is no other country's border anywhere near you... would they even notice if you came in and out?

Have any of you ever been stopped by boat police or boarded by them?

 

Not sure about Florida or Virginia, but the Canadian authorities can be pretty interesting on this. On the Great Lakes, an American can just pull into a visitors' slip at a Canadian marina, and we trust that he'll get in touch with Customs once he's moored. Out in the Maritimes though, the Coast Guard really doesn't appreciate any violations of Canadian law within our maritime borders, and you'd better watch your step if you're doing stupid things like fishing without a permit, or dumping raw sewage. Follow the law and common sense, and you're fine.
Generally it's good to have your paperwork on you at all times. Although in Virginia, I don't see why you'd want to go 200 miles out and come straight back....

 

About 20 years ago I lived in the Washington DC area and kept my boat on Solomon's Island in the Chesapeake. I was a graduate student at the time, and under a lot of pressure so I used to sail out of Chesapeake and head east until I was roughly half out of time. I once went a little over 400 miles out doing this. When it came time to go back I would reverse course and see if I could find the entrance to Chesapeake Bay again. (This is sometimes a challenge with a sextant) Sometimes a friend would go with me for the adventure.

Although I did this little excursion many times, I never once saw any sign of the Coast Guard or customs . . . and probably broke the law by not notifying them.

As for "why?" . . . . I guess it was my way of trying to stay sane in a difficult situation. And at that time the Gulf Stream was only about 60 miles off shore, and the water temperature would go from cool to nice and warm in just a few miles when you hit it. The stream was absolutely beautiful! Deep blue, crystal clear and full of life. Closer in to shore was always grey and dirty looking.

After one of these trips I always felt quite refreshed. So, why not go for a sail if you can!

BillyDoc

 

with todays homeland security,,,,you should follow all maritime laws , a friend of mine ,,,,,,,,,yes I do have some friends! recently came back from Canada from a fishing trip.at customs they inspected his catch,, he had cleaned the fish, and did not leave the skin on ( so they could tell what kind),,they fined him ,took his rods and almost took his boat ,and 2 days later he was on his way ..this was a small thing ,one should study maritime law before venturing into it, maritime law has not changed for over 250 years . it is still legal to keelhaul ,flog, and imprisin unruly crew ,and feed them only bread and water,,,,now the laws may have changed since I was capton, but I doubt it ,if anyone else can enlighten us please do ,,,,,longliner

 

Norwegians sail to Sweden, Denmark, Shetland without visiting any custom office, maybe they should, but then we have the Schengen agreement.
Some boats have been caught with too much beeer (from Denmark) and whiskey (from Scotland?).

 

I guess if you did not have the means or the time to truly do a major cruise then it might be kinda fun to just go out and back and then be able to point to your small cruiser and say "I've been out in international waters with that baot".

Mychael

 

In the US, a vessel documented as a YACHT is priveledged to carry the Yacht ensign.
As a Yacht clearing out and in is not required if you did not stop at a non US port.

FAST FRED

 

Hey Fred,

Thanks for the info! I thought I was a criminal and the "Homeland Security" boys would be hot on my tail.

Phewww!

BillyDoc

 

Just stay a mile or more away from anything owned by the Navy, or from the common landing spots for illegal immigrants, and Homeland Security will likely leave you alone.

 

I've sailed in and out of San Diego bay for years. Never once been approached by USCG. Theyll watch you, but as long as your not doing anything funny, like rafting up to another boat for 10 min. then making a return trip, they will leave you alone.
We have been escorted by the Navy though. Accidentally sailed into an exercise off Camp Pendleton. A few small craft on the beach, a ship about five miles out, we thought nothing of it. By the time the ship hailed us, a RIB with one of thoes 50cal. guns on the front was on top of us. Very cool about the whole deal.
Just dont act funny, and they wont bug you.

 

O_O wtf!? That didn't freek you out? I would be like "OMG! WARSHIP IS AFTER ME!" and start running the hell away, lol.

btw, how do they hail you? Over the radio? Or they just blew a very loud horn?

 

You can sail out of a US port into international waters and back. But if you go into a foreign port then you have to report to customs on your return. I don't know the procedure now, but prior to 9/11 all you had to do on return was call customs and report your return. Probably a little different now. Canada has always been a special case, and prior to 9/11 there was a simplified reporting setup. Again I don't know what is required now.

 

Nah, not really. We were more worried about getting arrested than anything. By the time we realized what we did, everyone was calm. They have the RIB there on watch for ****** like me. Mistakes happen and people do it...once.
They escorted us across the exercise area, (it was a beach landing exercise,) and they were more upset that with sails up and the 4 horse running full, we could only make 6 kts! Haha! I'll never forget the frustration on thoes guys faces every time they looked back at us!

VHF..Something like "Pleasure craft, bearing *whatever*, you have crossed into a navel exercise..." then the rib was there. It wasnt restricted waters, you should just stay away. We didnt realize any thing was going on. There are always Navy ships out there.
To follow up on what Ike said, in most cases they will just do a quick walk through of the craft. Pull up to the dock, tell them what you did out there, they check you and the boat out, and you go on your way. Kinda like the airport.

 

Hey Fred that's a PRIVILEGE??