French Med Cruising

[Nick Hearne]

Originally Posted by Louise

Nick - ignore Richard B and stick with Brian's advice!!

(Just going to check our paperwork now - make sure there are no dodgy invoices! )

[Pete7]

When this first became an issue C&E set up an office at Dover to issue the eqivalent document to say the boat was over a certain age and therefore presumed VAT had been paid, on proof of supporting documents.

Might be worth having a chat with C&E.

Pete

[Richard B]

The rule is that the boat should be built before December 31st 1984 to be exempt from VAT. Also (in UK) a valuation of less than £4000 net is considered "negligible" and no VAT would be collected by HMC&E, though whether other EC countries would apply this second rule, I don't know.

The "retyped" invoice isn't necessarily illegal - if it contains all the correct information, then who could ever challenge it?

[Nick Hearne]

Originally Posted by Pete7

When this first became an issue C&E set up an office at Dover to issue the eqivalent document to say the boat was over a certain age and therefore presumed VAT had been paid, on proof of supporting documents.

Might be worth having a chat with C&E.

Pete

Do you mean the Church of England?

[The Jackeens]

That's C of E

No harm in that either tho'

missus

[Geraldine]

We have now found quite a lot of info on marinas in South of France, and have decided to treat ourselves to a cheap flight to Nice after Christmas to look around.

We are now on the hunt for our original VAT invoice - although the VAT law says that records are destroyed after seven years, so who could check whether a 'retyped' invoice is valid or not?

I have been trying to find our invoice - but Falcon Boatbuilders are now no more, I have no idea who bought the boat from new, only that it went to a marina in Norfolk in June 1989, so apart from phoning the C & E in Dover, which I shall do (thanks for that information by the way) I have no choice but to do a 'retyped' invoice and hope I am not hooked up to a polyograph(?) machine on arrival at Calais..........

Geraldine

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

Do you mean the Church of England?

Absolutely, you will need them if the French catch you with a fraudulent VAT Receipt

Gerldine, got any pictures of your Falcon ?

Pete

[J C Hughes]

Why go to France anyway, little bit more to the right and your in Spain nice in land horbour check out pics.

[mark hannaford]

Have trailered my rib to France for two family hols, most recently in august this year. Took my ICC, vat receipt, insurance docs etc but have never been asked to produce them. Taking everything with you means one less thing to be concerned about, you can bet your bottom dollar that if you don't have it then they will ask for it!! Launching fees and marina costs are much cheaper than at home and we never had probs accessing slipways etc.

Yachting monthly publish cruising companions and we found it contained excellent info, ours contained info for west france and the canals from bordeaux to the med. I'm pretty sure there will be one to cover the area you want.

Happy hols

[Geraldine]

Thanks for all the helpful information. Glad to know that we wont have any problems slipping. We seem to have found a very helpful lady working in a marina in Cavalaire who said we should have no problem storing the trailers and cars. Going to do a rekkie in January.

The VAT receipt fiasco is still ongoing. C & E have been totally uphelpful, saying there is nothing they can do if the boat isnt on their records. I asked about the letter stating that VAT had been assumed to have been paid on the boat, (someone suggested asking for that in a previous reply), and they said they would under no circumstances issue anything like this.

What are you supposed to do when you dont have a receipt, have made exhaustive efforts to find one, have tracked down three previous owners who never had the VAT receipt and the company that built the boat is now out of business??

Spain does indeed begin to look inviting...................

Geraldine

[Manos]

Originally Posted by Geraldine

We have now found quite a lot of info on marinas in South of France, and have decided to treat ourselves to a cheap flight to Nice after Christmas to look around.

If you go to nice stay in Altlantis Hotel just right on the prom. Recommend to eat fish and oysters at the restaurant located again on the prom just a few hundred yards to the West of the Atlantis hotel. They do this great dish with 5-6 plates of different Oyster YAMMMM. Don't forget to visit Antibes and the local little restaurants in the Town. There is also an open market there.

Now if you plan to cruise from Nice is best to start from Antibes (my preference), if you start from Nice there is a marina just on the East with slipway if I remember correctly. Check with MAPQUEST for details at http://www.mapquest.com/maps/main.adp?



My suggestion to go East rather than West. You can visit Monaco, Porto Bello and go up to Genova passing also San Remo.


It all depends on how much time you have.

Now people here say to you about the VAT certificate. The French authorities NEVER asked us for a VAT receipt. Howeber, they ask you for the SSR registrtation certificate of the boat and the ICC. You must have those two. If you do not have an SSR registry of the boat then possibly they will ask you for a VAT receipt to prove that you are the rightfull owner of the boat and nothing else. However if you go toward and in to Italy you need the SSR and ICC and nothing else.
But do NOT forget is a MUST have the ICC and the registration SSR certificate at all times. It saves you time and many questions. Also IMPORTANT if you have a VHF you need to have a VHF's licence and also to show that you have paid the VHF fees in the UK.
If you venture it inland in France you need to have this SEVI thing that it was mentioned before. But from Nice I cannot see how you will do it Marceille is your best destination for that short of thing rather than Nice. Never done it although sailed to Marceille a couple of times.
We have cruised there many times in the past in and around Antibes to Genova area and although is not the Aegean with the 100s of islands there are some nice places to see. Good food and wine (if you are into that short of thing) and many places to explore. Sea sometimes not that clean.

[Manos]

PS Just forgot to say that you should avoid visiting the West Coast of France during the Mistarl months. Have a look at http://www.esys.org/wetter/mistrale.html
I also believe that the have something similar in Spain during the summer. However, I don't know how is called and when it happens. Re certification when you visiting Spain by boat you also need ICC, SSR, VHF operators licence and VHF paid sticker thing (if you have a VHF on board).
All in all with very few exception in all EU countries you need the same licences, certificates etc. also they have similar if not the same vessel/boat arrival and departure procedures.
And don't forget all your flares need to be in date and you need to have life jackets for as many people you have onboard plus one.
And lastl but not least the insurance certificate (in some countries you need to have a translation nin the local language and your insurer should be able to tell you which are these countries and produce the translation free of charge).

[Geraldine]

Thanks again for all that information! We have the SSRs and VHF Licences and should all have ICCs in the next month (taking Powerboats 1 and 2 which will be converted into ICC).

We are rekkying in January by way of a cheap flight to Nice from Bristol and then a hired car to most of the marinas on the Cote D'Azur to look primarily for storage of the 4 4x4s and 4 trailers. This seems to be the subject we can find the least information on at the moment.

WE will be trailing the boats down in the last week of July and first week of August - so will check up on the Mistrals - after being marina bound in Cornwall for almost half of this years holiday, we arent really bothered about being marina bound for a few days in the South of France!

Thanks again for all the helpful posts, they are all extremely welcome.

Geraldine