Don't get me started on this one since the distance involved (Poole - Alderney) is less than Round the Island but the strict legal regulations for entry and exit to and from the countries involved are as follows:
Most people don't realise that going to Alderney (and the Channel Islands in general) involves going outside the EU (Brexit notwithstanding, currently). Customs controls therefore apply:
a) Before leaving, you must complete Form C1331. Available online at
https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...4211/c1331.pdf
b) Leave one part of it in a Customs Box at a departure point near you (or post it to an address in the form). Leaving from Poole, I use Salternes Marina but others along the South coast (although diminishing in availability) are also available.
c) Go to Braye (if you want to go to Alderney: St Peter Port will do if you want Guernsey). You must report at a 'Port of Entry' before landing anywhere in the Channel Islands. Braye is a 'Port of Entry' and you should go to the Harbourmaster's Office before landing anyone or anything else elsewhere. You don't (currently) need a passport but the form that you have to complete asks for a passport number for every crew member, so have hard copy passports or an incredibly good memory. (You should take a valid passport anyway in case you need (or want) to go to Cherbourg (or elsewhere) in France where the same ridiculous rules do not(currently) apply but where a passport may nonetheless be required).
d) Well done: you're there. Have fun and (unless you have been to France in the meantime) you can, subject to paying your harbour dues, leave without further formality. But...
e) On entering British territorial waters (12 Nautical miles from the nearest British land - the Isle of Wight in my case), you are required to hoist a Q Flag. This is a plain yellow flag (which - currently - denotes both arrival from outside the EU as well as plague on board). It is available from all good chandlers or by cutting up and appropriately sewing a regulation household duster. NB: Do not use a G Flag, which indicates that you are a Harbourmaster. This will seriously annoy the genuine Harbourmaster who will not believe that when marked poorly in felt-tip on a plastic bag the two flags are impossible to differentiate in a shop. I bought the wrong one: how was I to know!
f) You may dock in a British port but nobody is allowed ashore (although docking a rib - or any other type of boat -with nobody going ashore is very difficult - especially when toilets are so close). The Q Flag can only be lowered once you have called Customs (08457231110) and answered a lengthy series of questions (including: 'Did you buy anything while abroad?' 'Yes: lunch.' 'What did you eat?' 'Sea Bass with a langoustine sauce.' 'Oh lovely: was that with capers or lemon?'). Assuming clearance is given (I've never had a problem, given that I've always said that I had no different people on board than there were than when I left, had no illegal drugs, firearms or explosives and no more alcohol or cigarettes than I was entitled to and no animals - kids excepted), you are clear to go about your business .... save that:
g) Form C1331 has a further duplicate part that you are then required to then complete and post back to Customs to prove all the above (Salternes Marina or Royal Mail, as above). You are also required to do it even if you do not do the above (ie if your trip is cancelled or in any way different from how you first completed the form). There is probably some small print that makes you culpable whatever you do.
I hope that the above helps everyone on this forum that crosses the Channel and that they all do the above. It would be very wrong not to but I wonder if there may not be severe consequences for someone who does not do so before long. Brexiteers: you have been warned!
BLACK PIG
Piglet
