Don't you just love Customs...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Phil, ya gotta stop flipping the bird to all the "official" boats that pass you by. Despite the uniforms, those guys are real human beings, almost like a sailor, and their little feelings get hurt when you make obscene gestures towards them. Perhaps you could take a hint from Monty Python and "fart in their general direction" in order to express your feelings. If done at a typical distance, they may not notice, and then not persecute you.

But really, sounds like it came out ok for your and the owner.

Cheers,

Jim

Jim... I'm really glad they did not give me the 'finger'... else they may hve found the 1000kg of coke.. but then again I wish they had.. carrying this stomach round is hard work..

Also.. for anyone looking for steel or Aluminium baots you gotta seriously consider the French designs.. including the chine builds... they are awesome sea boats..

[atoll]

i once did a 10 day charter on my boat from mayotte to madagasgar and back,with the new head of the french police and his family as my guests onboard.

when we arrived back on the island the french customs decided to give us a really hard time because i had declared that i had 19 liters of rum,on my declaration
,but when they asked to see it we could only find 15 liters.................

.this they declared was a false declaration and proceeded to search in every crevice of the boat................

in the mean time the new chief of police now very much delayed silently watched the antics of his countrymen,onboard my british yacht,but said nothing.

the chief of customs finally seaching our 6th cabin found a bag on the bed and in a very rude manner asked" who's bag this" was whilst roughly pulling it open.............

i could only reply in the most polite of tone that" it belonged to his boss."..........the over all chief of police and french surete' on the island,who had been watching him make an absolute ass of himself for the last hour.............

[krissteyn]

had a similar search in Florida USA : They brought in a dog - it was scratching a lower hatch cover - guy opened it to find an old pair of skants I had forgotten to wash ???
Only damage was the damn dogs nails on the wood.
They were a little pissed cause I had come from Cuba ?

[Tellus]

great story, like it.
But now you got reason to get back to Port de l'Aber Wrac'h..you missed a great event, an evening in the port restaurant Le 400 ap.
Few years ago I had the pleasure - best seafood around and a warm and cosy atmosphere.

[MarkJ]

Hey, Phil, you always have exciting trips!
Must have been the Marseilles connection. The French from the north probably still think they are crooks... Or your home port in Portugal...

Have a nice rest of the trip as the weather looks wonderful for an upwind sail into 35 knots



Mark

[socaldmax]

So where did you guys hide all those little blue pills?

[DeepFrz]

The Garcia 45 is such a beautiful boat. I don't think they are making them any more though. Hasn't Garcia gone out of business?

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

The Garcia 45 is such a beautiful boat. I don't think they are making them any more though. Hasn't Garcia gone out of business?

They are still going strong and building fabulous yachts:

http://www.garcia-yachting.com/

Between others the are now finishing new boat for Jimmy Cornell

Cheers

Tomasz

[Arthur Garfield]

Yes-Customs can be ..... well,we all know.Sounds Like an interesting experience
for sure.

As an aside,Garcia is a fine boat.
Was the boat their exploration 45 ??
That boat very similar to a Chuck Paine,Ed Joy design though spiffied up.
The price is right and seems they're making many.
I am curious as to ribbing count and hull bottom wall thicknesses.

[zboss]

The french are on high alert for drugs coming in by yacht since one of their own big players just got caught with the hand in the cookie jar.

[DeepFrz]

They are still going strong and building fabulous yachts:

You are right. Excuse the brain fart. Actually Jimmy Cornell is now in Northern Canada waiting for the ice to clear for his NW Passage run, in his new Exploration 45. I have been following his blog entries.
Aventura’s Logs Archives - Cornell Sailing Events & Publications


Sorry for the thread hijack.

[Cheechako]

French customs in the islands can be a bit unpredictable for sure. Checking in on land they were always quick and easy for me. Basically a "rubber stamp" situation. Yet on one island (after watching a military ship of some sort running around in circles dumping hundreds or thousands of gallons of some kind of oil in the sea as we neared the harbor) two hours after we anchored, a big RIB came around ordering everyone out of the big anchorage. No explanations. A lot didn't leave and it didn't seem to matter. We just stayed. Another time we were told on the radio by friends "no one was being allowed in". Go figure.

[Hydra]

It seems French Customs are very active in the Western Channel presently. Their patrol vessel was moored in Aber Wrac'h when I was there in July. We were buzzed by a plane in Ushant TSS last Monday. They were probably looking for Phil.

But please, don't tell everybody that Aber Wrac'h is so nice: it is already crowded full of Brits, Dutch, Swedes, Germans, etc.

Alain

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Hydra

It seems French Customs are very active in the Western Channel presently. Their patrol vessel was moored in Aber Wrac'h when I was there in July. We were buzzed by a plane in Ushant TSS last Monday. They were probably looking for Phil.

But please, don't tell everybody that Aber Wrac'h is so nice: it is already crowded full of Brits, Dutch, Swedes, Germans, etc.

Alain

The ladies are awesomely friendly... have not been propositioned like that since the 80's...

[boatman61]

Here's the Garcia 45 I delivered from Marseilles to Chatham,UK..
Sailed on the 26th of July.. stopped in Soller 1/2 a day.. Sotogrande 1 night.. Gib 1 night.. Fig da Foz 2 nights then L'Aber Wrach, France for 2 nights.. courtesy of Customs cutter...lol
Got in last night 19th Aug at 8pm and hit the pub for a few beers..