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2003 Overview of Europe |
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Since leaving St Petersburg, Florida, in October of 2002, Polaris has covered more than 6,000 miles in a period of 12 months. Our goal for cruising the coast of Europe was to cover the entire coastline from Lisbon to Calais. We wanted to see how people lived all along the coast. The total distance traveled from Cascais to London was more than 1,500 miles with stops in over 50 ports, plus more than 10 side trips inland. From reading other cruisers' accounts of their travels, we knew that fellow cruisers would be sparse in many of these areas. In fact, we did not see another American boat after leaving Cascais until we reached La Rochelle, France. Even British and northern European boats were few and far between on the Spanish coast. Many of these coastal towns are undergoing a transition from fishing economies to tourism. We found many new marina facilities and others under construction. Europe experienced a record heat wave the summer of 2003. Surprisingly along the coast was quite comfortable or even cool offshore. Wind in the Bay of Biscay was very light the entire summer resulting in 100% motoring. On the northern coast of Spain, radiation and advection fog were a problem. Normally it cleared to a haze in late morning. Only once did we remain in the harbor for two days. Radar was not the solution..... many of the boats offshore of the ports were row boats. Hitting a fishing boat or getting caught on a fish trap were major concerns. There was very little rain. Tides and currents increasingly became a consideration as we cruised from Portugal to London. In Portugal, a 6 to 7 foot tide was normal. By the time we reached northern Spain, 12 to 15 foot tides were typical. And by the time we reached Normandy, 25 to 30 foot tides were the norm. Rounding the Channel Island of Alderney, near Normandy, we experienced a 5 knot current. Obviously it was important to be in the right place at the right time. In addition, the Atlantic swell followed us the whole way. We planned our trip using the Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation cruising guides. We tried to cover 30 to 40 miles per day and stay over in interesting ports. Occasionally we had to cover up to 60 miles but never had to do an over-nighter. On the Atlantic coasts of Portugal and Spain, we got early starts, before the wind came up, to avoid the strong head winds along the coast. Interestingly, sunrise in Portugal during the summer was around 7:30 am and dusk was around 10:00 pm due to Portugal being on European time but west of Greenwich. This cruising pattern continued the entire trip. We would normally be underway by 8 or 9:00 am and arrive in the next harbor by 2 or 3:00 pm. This gave us the afternoon and evening to explore. Another major change in lifestyle was the time that restaurants opened for dinner. Usually, 7 or 8:00pm was the earliest that restaurants opened and people usually didn't eat before 9 or 10:00 pm...about the time we wanted to go to sleep. In addition, except in the large cities, menus would only be in the local language. When menu choices included goose barnacles, eels, skate, squid, snails, tripe, chicken feet and other unmentionable animal parts, pointing to something on the menu was a real roll of the dice. Last but not least, ice cubes were almost non-existent. If you ordered a coke with ice, that meant one cube. Buying a bag of ice was impossible. This led to a serious case of CDD, Cube Deficiency Disorder. |
Customs Our experiences with customs officers ranged from one extreme to another. Portugal required 3 separate forms to be filled out in most ports... one for the marina, one for customs , and one for the police. Each form had basically the same information and it was hard to restrain from suggesting that a copy machine could save a lot of wear and tear. Everyone was very polite and the entire process occurred across the bureaucrat's desk rather than on the boat. Spain was a different story... we never saw a customs officer the entire time that we were in the country. France went from one extreme to another. When we first entered France at Ste. Jean de Luz, three customs officers came aboard and questioned us very politely for an hour. They then did a cursory search of the boat. Previous advice said to obtain Une Fiche from the officers which we did. In at least 5 other French ports, showing the Une Fiche stopped the whole process from starting all over again. After visiting the Channel Islands, which are a part of the United Kingdom, we wanted to make sure that we again cleared customs in Cherbourg. To our surprise the French didn't care that we went to the Channel Islands. We entered England at Ramsgate and again discovered that there was no customs process. Entering London was our grand finale with customs. As we passed thru the London Flood Barrier, Patton was up on deck taking pictures. A police boat came up near us and Patton waved. They smiled, so she took their picture. They started laughing and we finally understood that they wanted to board us. We maintained speed, they came alongside and two officers came on board. They were the anti-terrorist unit and board foreign boats. We had a pleasant conversation and filled out another form. They departed without searching the boat. The VAT Discussing the VAT with fellow American sailors in Europe is much like talking about politics or religion....everyone has an opinion. Here's mine, based on United Kingdom Notice 8, "Sailing your pleasure craft to and from the United Kingdom" , www.hmce.gov.uk/forms/notices/8.htm. If you are planning to stay less than 18 months in the European Community, Section 5 explains that "Community law allows pleasure craft from outside the EU to be temporarily imported into the EU without duty and VAT, subject to certain conditions." If you are staying longer than 18 months in the EU, then you can transfer your residence to a place in the EU according to Section 4, "If you are moving your normal home from a non-EU country to an EU country, including the UK you may import your vessel free of customs duty and VAT providing you..." To do this in the UK, you fill out a very simple Form C104A (Vessels), www.hmce.gov.uk/forms/forms/c104a(ves).pdf and mail it to HM Customs and Excise, Personal Transport Unit, PO Box 242, Dover, Kent, CT17 9GP. Did I mention Notice 8 also states "This notice is not the law. It is our view of the law and nothing in this notice takes the place of it." So even the people enforcing the VAT will not say that this is the final word. One other interesting point in Notice 8, Section 4, "If you are arriving directly from another EU Member State you do not need to fly the "Q" flag." Out of Touch Everywhere we went people were extremely friendly and went well out of their way to help us. But the language barrier was significant. Outside of the larger cities, few people spoke more than a few words of English. Portuguese is a difficult language and few people outside of Portugal can speak it. Patton's Spanish and French were enough to get us by. Bob basically did a lot of pointing and hand-waving. Needless to say, we did not have many in-depth conversations. Added to that, English-language newspapers were almost non-existent as well as television. The end result was that we didn't have a clue about what was going on in the world. The VHF radio was often useless for contacting a marina due to the language barrier. Usually we simply pulled into a vacant slip and did a lot of pointing to explain where we had docked.
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We had heard a lot about internet cafes, but in reality, except in larger cities, they were few and far between. Sailmail on our SSB radio was our primary contact with the outside world.... it was invaluable. Marina Facilities Most of the towns we selected to visit had marinas with floating docks. Also, they typically had visitor berths reserved. Over-crowding was seldom a problem except for Brittany. The typical floating dock berth, however, was only 25-30 feet long. Since Polaris is 43 feet, securing the boat was often quite a challenge. The finger piers were narrow and very wobbly which meant a balancing act each time you boarded the boat. The typical cost for Polaris was $20-30 per night. Usually the bigger the town, the higher the price. Perhaps 10 percent of the time we had free dockage for one reason or another. Electricity was always a new adventure. Supposedly Europe has standardized on a 3 prong plug using 220 volt 16 amp power. Perhaps a quarter of the marinas, especially older ones, had a unique outlet in their marina. In most cases they were able to furnish adapters to connect to the outlet. This, however, was only step one. Step two was to find an outlet that worked. And step three was to find an outlet that continuously worked. Water hose faucets are also non-standard. When you buy a European hose, it comes with a insert for a smaller size thread. Even within the same country, it was a roll of the dice as to which one would fit. There is one common hose connection between the US and Europe... snap on fittings. Having a generous supply of these fittings enables you to connect your hose to European hoses... you still need the threaded adapter which can be purchased at the local hardware store in Europe. In the British Isles and Northern Europe, marinas provide hoses fixed to the faucet, however it has no fitting on the end. By having snap on fittings, you are able to attach your own nozzle. The propane situation has changed in the British Isles with a consolidation of companies. Calor is now the dominant provider. You can no longer have American bottles filled. Instead you must put a modest deposit down and use the British bottle which has essentially the fitting than the American. We learned from other American boats in London to use Teflon tape on our existing American fittings...probably not technically acceptable but it has worked for us. If you have questions, check out Calor's website, www.calormarineshop.co.uk or email peter@socal.co.uk In Northern Europe, there is no standard propane fitting. We were unable to fill either our US or British propane bottles in Finland and Germany. It would be useful to have propane fitting pigtails to cobble up transfer hose to fill bottles. Prescriptions In Portugal, Spain and France you can usually have your American medications filled just by bringing in the empty bottle. Prices were typically half of the United States. England is a different story. You need a prescription from an English doctor. Fees for this service range from $30 to $90 per prescription depending on the doctor. One way around this is to order your medications on the internet and have them shipped to your stateside mail handler who can then forward the medications to you. Cost of Living The exchange rate for the US dollar at this time, November, 2003, is weak.... 1.18 Euros = $1US dollar and 1.69 British pounds = $1 US dollar. Fuel costs are double or triple the US. Groceries and restaurants in Portugal, Spain and France were comparable to the US. London is a different story. Generally marked prices in the store are similar to those in the US. But then you stop and realize that with the exchange rate, you are paying 70% more than you would in the US.
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