ICC requirement

[bound4bvi]

Hi.....does anyone have any experience with the requirement of an ICC while cruising in the Med? I see that it is required for Charters, but what about personally owned boats? And how do you get one in the US? Thanks in advance for any help.

[Ausluke]

Mate i did extensive research into this to try avoid a headache.
I bought my boat in greece, and was not asked for an icc in 3 months( at that point we had to leave being australian. Shengen visa thing)
In order to leave europe shengen zone, we came up to croatia. Wich i was expecting to be asked for icc from what i had read. So before leaving greece i did it through a local charter company that provides a yachtmaster to tick and flick your competence.
Then you send the signed bit of paper off to the RYA.

I had never stepped foot onto a sail boat 3 months prior to this. I learnt the practical via the rya book. Fairly simple. And prior to the actual assessment, i did a day or theory via downloading icc hand book ( tide work, plotting fixes ect) most of it i knew. And passed the assesment very easily. I was suprised. Obviously 3 months does not make and experienced yachtsman..

All that aside when we got to croatia 2 months ago, no body asked for it in cavat were we cleared in, no one asked for it in italy on the way here ( 3 day stop over) , and no one has asked for it since we have been cruising here..

The only other place my research said i might need icc is montenegro.

The cost was 200 euro to have a yachtmaster on my boat. Another 100 odd euro to pay to RYA.

Cant help you with the U.S way of going about it. I was gona do it in Aus but like anything at home it would have cost double to be accessed.

[Matwill]

do your rya dayskipper then you can pay 50 to get an icc.

[ccannan]

Originally Posted by bound4bvi

Hi.....does anyone have any experience with the requirement of an ICC while cruising in the Med? I see that it is required for Charters, but what about personally owned boats? And how do you get one in the US? Thanks in advance for any help.

To my knowledge only Croatia and maybe Montenegro require an ICC. Mark Thompson is an RYA instructor conducting ICC practical exams in the USA.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by Ausluke

All that aside when we got to croatia 2 months ago, no body asked for it in cavat were we cleared in, no one asked for it in italy on the way here ( 3 day stop over) , and no one has asked for it since we have been cruising here..

The only other place my research said i might need icc is montenegro.

There are a lot of threads about this exact same topic so maybe the OP will want to search through them. But the end result is that almost zero people have ever been challenged on their own yacht about having an operators certificate. I did get one in the US because of the rumors in Croatia. In Cavtat I tried to give it to the PP and they had zero interest.

The only time I was challenged was in Milos Greece and it didn't last long.

[steve77]

Before leaving the US, my wife and I both got our 50 ton Masters licenses with Sail endorsement . I was asked to see it in Montenegro. In Navplion, Greece, I was asked for my “sailing diploma “. My USCG license met that requirement, also.

Cheers!

Steve

[Rapanui]

Depends how lucky you feel. As Palleran says there are numerous threads on this subject. The fact is that several countries require a qualification ICC or equivalent. Our experience from 8 years in Croatia is that the ICC and VHF operators cert have been checked twice. The only other comment is that Croatia has now got an increasing fleet of Police and Customs to police the outer border of the EU, so common sense says they will find things to do. Likewise, you are probably at greater risk of being checked near the southern fringes near Cavtat, Dubrovnik, Mjiet and Lastovo, we have never been checked in Dalmatia.

[Q. Helm]

I just did a charter in Croatia through LateSail. Croatia accepts ASA certification as well as RYA. You don’t need ICC. I did need to provide a radio operator’s license (though, according to LateSail, if you do get your ICC, this is covered). I had to pay the FCC $210 and navigate their confusing website to obtain it.

[jckb]

Individual national certificates are generally acceptable, especially if you provide translations of key phrases (limitations on boat type, size, tonnage, engine power etc). Croatia has a list of acceptable certificates issued by all nations whose boats commonly visit.

Apart from charter, the other situation for which inspection of qualifications is normal is after any incident/accident.

There's a list of personal documents worth carrying for trouble free cruising in European waters on this page of JimB's site.