French vessel registration numbers

[Ed Caldwell]

The USCG is being obstinate about needing a registration number on the Sea Service form used to document my service towards the sea time needed for a license.

I chartered two sailboats from Sunsail in the last ten years for which I need numbers. Sunsail says the owners were French and they don't have a record of the registration numbers in their system. The boats were:

• La Papillon, a Beneteau 411, chartered in the BVI in 2005
• Letitia, a Beneteau 423, chartered in the Grenadines in 2007

Does anyone know

• a searchable database for French vessels similar to the USCG documented vessel database? I discovered that the USCG can even search historical records if you don't find a boat currently documented (for only $4)
• a source for this information in France - Dept of Maritime Affairs for recreational vessels I believe
• anyone in France care to help me?
• by any chance would the owners be somewhere here or in the Beneteau forum? (I have already searched, no luck)

Lesson for anyone planning to go after a CG Captain's license, record the number and get a signature before you come home.

 

[Benny17441]

A Prime Minister of India once said there were 634,786 elephants in the country. An astonished aid came up to him and said "but sir we do not know that" and he replied "if it is such a hard number to obtain who is going to contest the figure I provided?" Ed, just find a charter contract number and submmit it in the space provided. Federal Forms must be completely filled out even if the info don't apply.

 

[Ed Caldwell]

A Prime Minister of India once said there were 634,786 elephants in the country. An astonished aid came up to him and said "but sir we do not know that" and he replied "if it is such a hard number to obtain who is going to contest the figure I provided?" Ed, just find a charter contract number and submmit it in the space provided. Federal Forms must be completely filled out even if the info don't apply.

Thanks, Benny, that was my backup plan. However, I found the numbers I needed on the two charter boats by calling Sunsail's brokerage operation, which had much better records for the boats compared to the normal charter ops customer service.

 

[capta]

You are just at the beginning of your not so wonderful relationship with the USCG licensing, I guess.
After more than 30 years of jumping through hoops that change at the whim of each person you talk to even though it's a federal system that has absolutely no latitude or flexibility, I am sincerely hoping that I can let my license expire instead of renewing next time. It's always a nerve wracking, detail oriented and massive amount of paperwork which contains EXACTLY the same information as the last 6 renewals other than sea service and one's age. And don't forget to start 6 months or more before expiration if you do not want your license to lapse.
And yeah, and there's the TWIC card, the unusable, unreadable, useless, expensive, worthless necessity.
So document everything which you think you may need for the USCG and keep copies of everything, forever (and reference). I've used log books to document sea time should you get really stuck.
So good luck and hold your temper; the USCG licensing division will definitely try to get you down.

 

[Captn TJ]

My new license came 3 weeks after submission of paperwork and that was during the recent holidays and while somewhat redundant docs were submitted - it wasn't too bad.

I did have the luxury of a regional exam center close by - so hand carried the paperwork and they checked it for completeness.


In terms of sea experience don't forget that if you are not the owner you need to have proof/sign off from the owner or master of the vessel.