Dear G.B.A. Members,

Well, none of us can complain about the weather this season. 

2022 has been excellent for boating. Plenty of sunshine, no real storms and calm seas. However, most of us have kept to local waters due to on-going problems with travelling to French ports coupled with higher fuel costs due to increasing inflation.

We are so fortunate that we live amongst a group of islands. Whether visiting Herm, Sark or venturing up to Alderney or down to Jersey, the welcome we have received in all these destinations has always been very warm.

This exciting project could not only provide 200+ new local moorings but also free up some marina berths as some of you may decide to move your boats into this new deep-water facility.

It would also offer over 200 berths for visiting vessels and the added protection of the new development would enable Guernsey Harbours to promote the use of the Victoria marina for wintering foreign boats on short term contracts in a VAT-free environment outside of the EU.

Guernsey used to be the No.1 destination for leisure vessels from all over Europe but statistics show that these numbers have dwindled during the past 30 years by more than 50% due to lack of facilities and modernisation.

We are being left behind!

Our economy needs schemes like this to generate much-needed income to the island.

It’s not about catering for a minority section of the community, it’s about promoting Guernsey as a major player in an expanding leisure industry.

All of us, whether a boater or not, will benefit from this wise investment and the return  on capital employed will cover the costs several times over.

You and I must impress upon our States members the merits of these plans if they are to succeed and equally persuade the Guernsey public that this is also in their best interests economically.

Pool Marina Consultation Document

2022 saw a year start with Covid infections again causing disruptions to boating but things began to get better as the year went on, and French Ports welcoming Guernsey vessels.

We had long delays in getting our lay by moorings along the East Coast of Guernsey reinstated with the new deadmen into position and chains and mooring buoys in place. It was well into the summer season before they were finished so we took the decision to leave them in use later into the autumn depending on weather conditions.

From 21 October 2022, the vessel CS Sovereign will be conducting an emergency fibre optic cable repair in the vicinity of 49 18.330 N 02 58.506 W.

Vessels should maintain a distance of at least 1NM from the cable ship during operations and ¼ NM from any cable buoys deployed during the repair.

See the map here

Guernsey Boat Owners Association - Brittany and Normandy Marinas

26th October 2022

The Brexit rules require that Schengen border arrival and departure requirements for third (non-EU) countries to be applied. This is to ensure visitors do not exceed 90 days within the last 180 days.

This is a simple rule but has had a massive impact on boating in the Channel Islands.

The French government set up Official Ports of Entry (PPF) for the Schengen area, where you had to “check in” before proceeding to other marinas and “check out” at the end of your trip.

The closest ports were Ouistreham (Caen), Cherbourg, Carteret, Granville, Saint Malo, Saint Brieuc (Le Legue), Roscoff and Brest.

2022

In 2022 we saw the following developments

May - Saint Cast and Saint Quay were made Temporary Ports of Entry until September 2022. You could check into one and out of the other. Granville was also willing to check in and out visitors, mostly aligned with the ferry timetable.

The customs from Cherbourg were initially willing to visit Carteret and Dielette to check people in and out. After a few weeks, this became Carteret only.

July - Dielette, Port-Bail and most of the marinas from Saint Vaast towards Honfleur, introduced the rule that you just had to send in the forms before your arrival and departure and they would return your stamped form. A much more practical solution. Strangely this did not include Carteret which still required a visit the Ferry Terminal building.

This is a brief summary of the massive changes and the enormous work people put into trying to get the rules changed and keeping boaters informed of the rules and processes as they changed.

What does 2023 bring?

This is an unknown at the moment.

We are hoping Dielette and the other Normandy ports will remain with the policy of allowing the sending of your forms in advance and we hope this will be extended to Carteret.

We hope Saint Cast and Saint Quay will follow a similar approach for the whole of the year.

The year 2023 marks the delayed launch of two new EU travel systems – the EES entry and exit system and the ETIAS tourist visa system.

The EES system – scheduled to come into force in May 2023 – is a way of keeping track of visitors within the EU and will apply at all external Schengen borders, while ETIAS – scheduled for November 2023 – is a €7 travel visa for tourists.

While the EES system means a few seconds of extra time on passport scanning at airports, it may be a lot more disruptive at ports as the passports need to be scanned and people provide facial scans and fingerprints. Time will tell how these initiatives are implemented and the effect they have on our boating from the Channel Islands.

So, no clear answers, but do follow Digimap Marinas https://marinas.digimap.gg for further information or follow the Facebook site “Cruising in Company – Guernsey”

Mariners are advised that for the period Saturday 10th December 2022 – Saturday 17th December 2022, the Guernsey Hyperbaric Chamber will be unavailable.