Warning about Ireland

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Shanachie

Good for Ireland.

It has imposed tough restrictions on its own people at times to keep covid from overwhelming its population the way that the pandemic has in Florida and other places.


Some inconsiderate Sassenach shows up on a boat proclaiming that he/she has the right not be be vaccinated? Well, Ireland has the right to say keep that person out of the country..

These kinds of attitudes lead to all kinds of fear-driven aggressive behavior.



Bad on Ireland, and bad on you.


No one demanded being let in against a rule requiring everyone to be vaccinated -- where did you get that idea? The person expected to be allowed to test on arrival since it was impossible to test within the two day window before, since they had been at sea longer than that. As was allowed in a friendly way by every other European country they visited.

[Tetepare]

Oh no another 20 page thread.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

These kinds of attitudes lead to all kinds of fear-driven aggressive behavior.



Bad on Ireland, and bad on you.


No one demanded being let in against a rule requiring everyone to be vaccinated -- where did you get that idea? The person expected to be allowed to test on arrival since it was impossible to test within the two day window before, since they had been at sea longer than that. As was allowed in a friendly way by every other European country they visited.

Greece does not allow you to entry by boat without a test. I’ve seen a recent boat on lefkas Marina surrounded by 6 foot chained link barriers and the three on board confined for the quarantined period. ,quite the public zoo it was. 10 days like a monkey in a zoo with every one gawking , nice !! Not allowed off to even provision

The sail from U.K. to Ireland is about 8 hours what part of 72 hours pre test doesn’t he understand, a same day pcr test is widely available in the U.K.

Ireland has over 90% compliant vaccinations ,don’t expect much sympathy for the “ I’m not vaccinated “ BS argument.

[Breaking Waves]

Just as an fyi -

These are the (quite easy to find) current Irish requirements for entry:

All passengers arriving to Ireland are legally obliged to have one of the following:
1.Evidence of having been fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency;
2.Evidence of having recovered from Covid-19 in the previous six months*; or
3.A negative/not detected result from a RT-PCR Covid-19 test taken up to 72 hours prior to their arrival. Antigen or other alternative tests are not acceptable.

I would think it prudent for a yacht owner (and skipper if separate) to have double-checked entry requirements (and crew compliance) before setting out. You can very quickly find entry requirements and direct links to source documents on noonsite.

My experience with Irish entry officials has been uniformly positive in the past - they had relatively few formalities but were quite serious about what there was.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

These kinds of attitudes lead to all kinds of fear-driven aggressive behavior.



Bad on Ireland, and bad on you.


No one demanded being let in against a rule requiring everyone to be vaccinated -- where did you get that idea? The person expected to be allowed to test on arrival since it was impossible to test within the two day window before, since they had been at sea longer than that. As was allowed in a friendly way by every other European country they visited.

They were coming from Scotland ,that’s a few hours sail away , how is it not practical to fit that into 72 hours !!!!!!!

Note only Irish and U.K. residents can avail of the common travel area benefits.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Ireland, like many countries, requires EITHER vaccination OR fresh test. And the require a passenger locator form.



My friends have cruised through the waters of a good proportion of Southern, Western, and Northern Europe and never had this problem before.



You can't bring a fresh test if you've been at sea for longer than the time allowed (but see *). In all other European countries, the one unvaccinated guy was allowed to take the test on arrival, with friendly understanding for the impossibility of fulfilling the requirement.


The behavior of the Irish was just totally different from the norm.


The other issue they had was no passenger locator form -- also impossible to fulfill because they had been at sea without internet for longer than the allowed time window. All other Euro countries allowed them to fill it out upon arrival.

Greece will NOT allow you to fill out the PLF on entry. It MUST be filled out 24 hours prior to arrival. I saw 4 people turned away at stanstead for that very reason.

Note if they sailed from Scotland they would have 4G there and upto 30 miles offshore plus about 30 miles of Ireland , leaving about 4 hours without internet

The PLF takes a few minutes to fill out online

Lets face it they just ignored every rule a d sailed in. What did they expect a free pint of Guinness.

They “ knew “ they had an unvaccinated person on board , they should have contacted Irish authorities in advance. The rules would have been spelt out to them in words of one syllable or less

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

If you were met by”aggressive armed “ agents in Ireland given most of the police, border guards ,and customs are not armed then you were on some form of terrorist watch list or suspected of drug smuggling

The entry rules are simple , pcr test , or vaccination, what part of that didn’t your friend understand

Or perhaps he thought “Ah sure who cares about rules. “ !

Sorry, read the posts.


It is impossible to comply with the PCR test within 48 hours rule, when you've been at sea for five days. Got that? All Euro countries except Ireland understand that and allow you to take a test upon arrival.


I had the same problem with Sweden after our week-long ocean race which ended up near the Arctic Circle, in a Swedish port. I had an incompletely vaxxed young crew member and the rules require arriving with a test no older than 48 hours, which would be impossible.


But I came up with a different solution. You can buy antigen tests in Germany at pharmacies over the counter. One of my crewmen brought some with him. As the captain of the vessel and traditionally ship's doctor (in the absence of a real one), I was going to give the test to him myself, write a certificate myself and sign it as captain, with the vessel's stamp.


I think it might have worked; I think this might have been even perfectly legal. Except I had an intuition that the Swedes weren't going to check so ended up not doing it, and indeed they did not check, since pleasure boat traffic turns out to be entirely unregulated just like in Finland.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Sorry, read the posts.


It is impossible to comply with the PCR test within 48 hours rule, when you've been at sea for five days. Got that? All Euro countries except Ireland understand that and allow you to take a test upon arrival.


I had the same problem with Sweden after our week-long ocean race which ended up near the Arctic Circle, in a Swedish port. I had an incompletely vaxxed young crew member and the rules require arriving with a test no older than 48 hours, which would be impossible.


But I came up with a different solution. You can buy antigen tests in Germany at pharmacies over the counter. One of my crewmen brought some with him. As the captain of the vessel and traditionally ship's doctor (in the absence of a real one), I was going to give the test to him myself, write a certificate myself and sign it as captain, with the vessel's stamp.


I think it might have worked; I think this might have been even perfectly legal. Except I had an intuition that the Swedes weren't going to check so ended up not doing it, and indeed they did not check, since pleasure boat traffic turns out to be entirely unregulated just like in Finland.

You said they were coming from Scotland , why were they at sea for five days. !!

I find the whole story slightly unbelievable as there is no formal entry processes at Irish marinas. Typically you’d be directed to contact passport control yourself ,pleasure boating is entirely unregulated in Ireland , there is no licensing no competency ,, no registration or insurance requirement. There’s no border police even and customs have no role with people only goods.

The Irish police have even limited powers on waters ( I mean they own just two RIbS) it’s hard to stay what agency would actually order then out of port.

[goboatingnow]

“A friend of mine arrived in an Irish port from Scotland, with European citizens on board”

Five days at sea for a crossing that takes 6 hours ( it’s 17 miles to NI ) and you say they were 5 days at sea, were they rowing a dnghy

[hpeer]

Dockhead,

Thanks for relating the story. I appreciate the information.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Greece will NOT allow you to fill out the PLF on entry. It MUST be filled out 24 hours prior to arrival. I saw 4 people turned away at stanstead for that very reason.

Note if they sailed from Scotland they would have 4G there and upto 30 miles offshore plus about 30 miles of Ireland , leaving about 4 hours without internet

The PLF takes a few minutes to fill out online

Lets face it they just ignored every rule a d sailed in. What did they expect a free pint of Guinness.

They “ knew “ they had an unvaccinated person on board , they should have contacted Irish authorities in advance. The rules would have been spelt out to them in words of one syllable or less

They sailed from Orkneys far offshore. No internet for days.

PLF for Ireland doesn't work for pleasure boats. It needs to be done on paper with the help of a friendly border guard, exactly like they did in a dozen other countries.

I just flew through Stansted five days ago and no one checked my PLF. It's checked by the airline before you fly, and they don't check what's in it, just that it exists. It used to be that the airline would at least look at your vax card but this time nothing. Most countries have worked out ways to do this in a friendly and unburdensome way.

There is no reason in the world to be so pedantic with these rules. The risks are extremely tiny and a little bit of friendly flexibility costs nothing. What's the risk to the nation of a boat carrying one unvaxxed person among vaccinated shipmates and three weeks at sea but for a brief stop in the Orkneys? All perspective has been lost here. What risks would be created by filling out the PLF on the spot? It's not an airport. What risks would have been created by testing on arrival? All other countries were happy with that. No, pure, inhumane pedantry.

In my country of residence, which has had 10x less COVID deaths than Ireland, pleasure boat traffic has been entirely unregulated for the duration of the pandemic. The health authorities decided the risks are basically nil and checking too burdensome. That's pragmatic and humane.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

“A friend of mine arrived in an Irish port from Scotland, with European citizens on board”

Five days at sea for a crossing that takes 6 hours ( it’s 17 miles to NI ) and you say they were 5 days at sea, were they rowing a dnghy

Why do you assume they came from the closet point in Scotland? They were coming from the Arctic after a brief stop in Orkneys.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

They sailed from Orkneys far offshore. No internet for days.

PLF for Ireland doesn't work for pleasure boats. It needs to be done on paper with the help of a friendly border guard, exactly like they did in a dozen other countries.

I just flew through Stansted five days ago and no one checked my PLF. It's checked by the airline before you fly, and they don't check what's in it, just that it exists. It used to be that the airline would at least look at your vax card but this time nothing. Most countries have worked out ways to do this in a friendly and unburdensome way.

There is no reason in the world to be so pedantic with these rules. The risks are extremely tiny and a little bit of friendly flexibility costs nothing. What's the risk to the nation of a boat carrying one unvaxxed person among vaccinated shipmates and three weeks at sea but for a brief stop in the Orkneys? All perspective has been lost here. What risks would be created by filling out the PLF on the spot? It's not an airport. What risks would have been created by testing on arrival? All other countries were happy with that. No, pure, inhumane pedantry.

In my country of residence, which has had 10x less COVID deaths than Ireland, pleasure boat traffic has been entirely unregulated for the duration of the pandemic. The health authorities decided the risks are basically nil and checking too burdensome. That's pragmatic and humane.

Err , I’m sure they rang ahead and enquired they’d have 4G all down the coast.

Secondly just where did they enter Ireland. There are no “ armed “ border forces anywhere

You fill in the plf in advance so they can put the data in a database before you arrive.

In a marina , there’s no place to quarantine

As for Portugal , really who cares, if you moved a boat here in Greece before the 14th of may you were hit with a 10,000 euro fine. Entry was completely forbidden by private yacht. You basically got arrested if you tried.

What idiot , yes idiot , sails into any country at the moment without first checking a dotting all the “I”s and “T”s. I’ve spent 300 euros on tests , even to travel between islands here in Greece you are meant to have rapid antigen testing.

Seriously does your friend live in a parallel universe. Has he not realised Ireland has suffered three massive lockdowns , and is slowly opening up ( almost all restrictions finishing on 22nd October ) the population have zero repeat zero tolerance for people playing fast and loose with the rules

As I said your friend presumably has a cell phone. A simple phone call to whatever port/marina they intended to enter would have appraised them EXACTLY of the relevant procedures.

Again Ireland’s PLF can only be submitted in advance. Ireland doesn’t have border guards by the way. It just has a few ordinary policemen at commercial ports and airports. They are no officials present in marinas only the commercial operators.

They could have easily stoped in NI got the test and ventured south etc.

It just smacks of arrogance on the part of the skipper if you ask me.

[Paul L]

They chose both the port of departure and port of entry. In the case of going from Scotland to Ireland it should be easy to comply with the regulations if they had cared to. Why you would think the rules should be interpreted in some casual way for a yachtie that shows up not incompliance is beyond me.
This is clearly not sonpme special case where the sailors really need a break. It is more that someone felt that they could do in one country the same as they did in some other country. Something that just doesn't apply to clearing in to new places.
The fact the authorities were armed and the yachties didn't like their attitude is irrelevant. So is anyones opinion that the rules should be different.
People doing this just makes it tougher on the next yacht that is actually trying to comply.

[Van Der Beek]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I somewhat agree that many of the pandemic measures seem ill-considered and fear driven, however, the underlined part about the CDC and effectiveness of the vaccines is nonsense, and the CDC did NOT say that.


One more time for good order:


1. The vaccines are highly effective against all known mutations.

2. The vaccines greatly reduce transmission as well as symptomatic disease.

Then they have changed their tune. Not that I'm all too surprised. Fauci has a bad habit of doing the same.

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I somewhat agree that many of the pandemic measures seem ill-considered and fear driven

That's an understatement.

With a survival rate of 99,8% the measures taken for the past 18 months have made no sense what so ever. None at all. It's all been fear driven hysteria.


For perspective.
The Spanish Flu killed 50 000 000 - 100 000 000 million people, 5% of the worlds population. It was here for 2 years, came in waves and then it disappeared. Years later a vaccine arrived.

This virus isn't even remotely close to being as bad. As an aside, as I understand it Norway (out of all countries) classifies the virus as a regular flu virus.