Update On Mexican Boat Impoundments

[Rick D]

They are beginning the release of boats. Meanwhile, a lot of sailors have elected to bypass Mexico. Will take a while to undo the damage. See: "Heading In The Right Direction" http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2014-01-31#Story5

 

[RECESS]

So without a captains licence, you are now rolling the dice to enter Mexican waters.

 

[Benny17441]

Is no secret many owners and representatives were not paying their duties and fees. It became a common practice to hide from the inspectors and blend into the absentee owners numbers to avoid payment. I applaud the gutsy administrator who decided to turn the tables and force the owners to come to them in order to sort out who had paid and who had not. The International community of sailors recognizes this occurrence as a collection action and will not bypass the country. Only those irresponsible persons that were not taking care of their obligations and those looking for a free ride may do so. I don't see how an absentee owner or a long time visitor can claim they are been detained. Detained from what? Making a run to avoid paying? There could have been a couple of bona fide boats in transit and these people may have a real claim but if visitors stopped coming to the US because a few got ripped off we would have no tourism at all.

 

[gettinthere]

From the article:
" It's our understanding that all but a very few of the boats that had been impounded for two months had met every legal requirement to be in Mexico all along. "

 

[dalefarnham]

Which reminds me....I was bringing a friend's boat back to Mexico from Cartagena in '03. Just before we were to leave, the agent says " if the owner isn't aboard, there must be a licensed captain aboard". I asked " is there, perhaps, a fee that one could pay?" He responded "yes! $40 should do it."
Sorry, off topic again.

 

[Merlin Clark]

dalefarnham,
We don't call each other names here. You may not agree with another poster but let's keep it on a civilized adult level.

 

[Benny17441]

How many trips? Lived there for 5 years. Don't believe everything you read.
Welcome to the forum.

The troll.

 

[zeehag]

we here in mexico have not been advised of need for captain on anything other than crewed vessels without owner present., that leaves us cruisers ok.
there are many corporate yachts , fully crewed, from which the crew leaves and boat is sitting in slip for extended periods.

if you wish not to come to mexico, all the better for us.. we will have more free space in anchorages and more availability of slips in marinas.
thankyou.
stay away.
and for the disbelievers in appearing to free your own boat.. awesome. be arrogant and do not free your boat in a timely fashion. others have done this..why cannot all.....we are guests in this country, not residents....
here in mexico one appears in person with all papers to the sat and liv¡berates his own boat.
usa arrogance is equal to disrespect. have fun.

 

[RECESS]

Zeehag,

Did you read they just added a new law that all sailboats entering Mexican waters must have a licensed captain on board but are leaving it to the local officials to enforce or ignore?

If there is a maritime law like that, you are at the mercy of the official you encounter.

 

[zeehag]

is why i be nice and try to remain respectful with port captains....
many boats here are corporate yachts with crew..i believe these were the ones being addressed with this..i hope..lol they know we full time cruisers whose boats are our homes do not do that captain thing for most part. there are some, but not all. hopefully they consider us our own captains as we are the boat owners. we will see.

meanwhile i will ask my amigo in port capt office in one of the ports i visited, see what he has to say about this...

 

[Winkfish]

Another piece of the article:

"The owner of a Hans Christian 38 said that when auditors came by his boat, there were a bunch of locals working on her. They asked if the owner was aboard. Not knowing that man’s wife, a co-owner of the boat, was aboard, the boat workers said nobody was around."

I find that hard to believe, that the wife/co-owner would not have made known to the workers that she was on board. It really sounds like me that there are a bunch of whiners who don't want to be inconvenienced, least of all by Mexico. Same people who get pissed off that in France, many people speak French and not English.

 

[rgranger]

meanwhile i will ask my amigo in port capt office in one of the ports i visited, see what he has to say about this...

Please let us know what you find out. Cozumel is on my bucket list.

 

[zeehag]

was cozumel hit by inspectors or was this only on west coast

 

[Pilgrimtex]

Another piece of the article:

"The owner of a Hans Christian 38 said that when auditors came by his boat, there were a bunch of locals working on her. They asked if the owner was aboard. Not knowing that man’s wife, a co-owner of the boat, was aboard, the boat workers said nobody was around."

I find that hard to believe, that the wife/co-owner would not have made known to the workers that she was on board. It really sounds like me that there are a bunch of whiners who don't want to be inconvenienced, least of all by Mexico. Same people who get pissed off that in France, many people speak French and not English.

Not to side track this thread but could not let this go. I worked for a large French company and traveled all over France. When off and on weekends I would travel around and I found that there are a lot people particularly in public workers such as tube and train ticket sellers that when your trying to work out a route or refuse to speak English even though you can see that they understand every word you say. The same holds true in Quebec. I used to make calls to the Quebecan Gov't and had to bring my distributor to interpret. You saw the same knowledge that they fully understood me but would only speak in French.
Back to Mexico.
I also did business in Mexico. The laws are very complex and you need inside help to understand them. I had personnel get in trouble because they would forget to go thru the immigration office when leaving Mexico in order to inform them that you are leaving. Upon trying to re-enter at a later date were held because it showed in the records that they never officially left. Mexico is not on my list of desired places to revisit. Of course these were business visas and not your ordinary run to Mexico to get non approved meds or a booze run. LOL

 

[justsomeguy]

Please let us know what you find out. Cozumel is on my bucket list.

Depending on your schedule, I suspect this'll all be over by the time you get there.

 

[rgranger]

Depending on your schedule, I suspect this'll all be over by the time you get there.

Yes.... trure.... I was inquiring about the need to have a Captain's License. Not so much the boat impounding issue.

 

[justsomeguy]

Yes.... trure.... I was inquiring about the need to have a Captain's License. Not so much the boat impounding issue.

Are you dragging down your Balboa, or what?

And I'll agree with what RECESS said:

If there is a maritime law like that, you are at the mercy of the official you encounter.

But with an addendum: It's pretty much like that everywhere you go in the world!

 

[justsomeguy]

http://www.bajainsider.com/baja-cal...temporaryimportpermitmexico.html#.UvAf2n-9KSM

 

[Chris Patterson]

I've said it before, and it just bears repeating. In these other countries like thus, a pocket full of bills keeps the constabulary away or at bay.

No different than this country, it just costs more here..

 

[zeehag]

mordida doesnt buy this , sorry to disappòint you.
this is a paperwork fix.
you bring your correct papers into sat, matching the boats numbers, and is clear.
too bad more folks with boats here didnt think along same lines, as those without respect to arrive and bring papers to sat are not cleared yet., funny thi8ng about that.
the mexican govt is making the marinas the clearing places now.
funny how folks with no understanding of the attempts being made here to standardize entry and importation of our boats can understand this...