+xDick,
Your cruising methodology is a bit simpler than some (including Kestrel's) - in that you traveled back to the US during the winter - opening up time-frames that some of us don't have - we live on our boats 100% of the time.
Kestrel does seem to have a solution - and they are certainly available - but getting more and more difficult as new countries join the EU and Schengen. The difficulty is that scheduling some of the time's out of Schengen requires travel when you might not want to travel (like the North Sea or Biscay in December) in order to meet a deadline.
Your question of 'has anyone actually been fined/penalized over the years' is a great one - and one that I wrote the jist of on the FB thread (I didn't mention you or copy your words). So far nobody has come through - and I suspect that Odette's information that the immigration concern (in the UK at least) is about trying to sneak residency - which we cruisers are not...
As a 100% liveaboard boat, currently in the UK, it's a worry for us... the penalties talked of (boat impoundment, etc) would be totally catastrophic to us if they happened to come to pass. Fingers crossed!
Cheers!
Hi Bill,
Thanks for extending the reach of the Schengen questions I posed and I appreciate your passing it on the way you did. Please, could you post on the Forum any results as I think it would be of interest to cruisers to see what is actually occurring in this area.
I believe you may have mis-represented my position somewhat and perhaps I was not clear. I was 3 years in Northern Europe (over-wintering and living aboard full-time in London) and 5 in the Med where I also considered myself full-time live-aboard. It was only the last couple of seasons that we left the boat for the winter (grandchildren are a compelling draw). That said, we did not spend every night of the year aboard any more than I spent every night in my home when I had a land base. In my experience, a 100% every night on board life was quite rare (I can’t think of any). Many/most I know, like Ginger and me, did some land cruising/touristing during the winter (over to the continent for ex.) and many/most slipped to their home country for a couple of weeks if only to let their drs., dentists etc. have a shot at them. And, in doing so, upon each return to the UK, we received a 6-month stamp whether returning from the continent or from the US allowing us a good deal of flexibility in making cruising plan choices.
And I very much appreciated the generosity of the UK in having this 6-month visa and I hope the UK knows that they benefitted as we spent a fair amount of money during our stays, and chose to have a lot of boat work accomplished, again more money spent. Maybe more important was the high regard Ginger and I developed for the UK in our extended time there. It is my take, that for most of us cruisers to Northern Europe, the UK’s generosity in this regard, makes cruising Northern Europe workable for those boats where Schengen is an issue.
If you are unable, uninterested or unwilling to leave the boat at all in the winter, then you are correct, this is a challenge for staying in the UK as it is in all of Europe and, I suspect, is a challenge in any country save your home country. In the UK, though, you have 6 months. It is a bit of a stretch, but arriving late in the season (we stayed in the protected waters of the Netherlands enjoying that marvelous country till we had a nice weather window in late Oct or early Nov.) and leaving early (we left the UK in April for Cuxhaven) is quite doable in the 6-month window and in this way, being within the 6 months limit while not having to leave the boat during this period.
(BTW, to return to the original question: Kestrel could do the above and stay with the boat all winter if choosing not to do any out-of-the-UK traveling. It entails some cool/cold weather sailing in a time where weather is often deteriorating, but crossing the channel is not a long trip and will get a boat to some lovely over-wintering spots on the east coast of England.)
You write that boat impoundment is talked about and, if true, that would be a huge repercussion: can you cite where that is reported as a sanction? And for what violation? I wonder, in the context of a Schengen conversation, whether you are conflating Schengen with VAT. Perhaps a Schengen violation could result in confiscation of the boat, but that seems unlikely for a visa violation. It does seem more likely that this could occur with over-staying VAT’s safe window of 1.5 years: impounding at least until the VAT fee and penalties were paid (plenty repercussion enough). In the 2 Schengen violations I cited in earlier posts (and the only ones I have ever heard about), neither included any sanctions or repercussions on the boat or threat of such, just repercussions on the people (fines or barring admittance).
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy