Report from Maria and Allen Wadsworth
We are both British so we deregistered our Amel with the US registry and registered her in the U.K. We had the MMSI reprogrammed on the 11th August and launched her at the boat yard on the 14th. Whilst on the dock the boatyard manager came and told us he’d had a visit about our boat. The man who came was ( a boat pilot) living in Anacortes who had seen our AIS appear as a foreign flagged vessel. He had said we needed to carry a pilot on board or apply for an exemption whilst we were sailing in Washington state. He left the exemption application form. We’d not heard of this rule so Allen went to the Customs and Border Protection office to obtain our cruising permit. They had never heard about foreign flagged vessels requiring a pilot.
Allen went to Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes and asked the harbour master if he’d heard of it, he hadn’t.
To apply for an exemption we had to pay $700 fee ( see the link to the application form)and apply 30 days in advance of entering Washington. It also said that payment could only be made by cheque.
Allen rang the phone number on the paperwork, the Board of Pilotage Commissioners and left a message on a voicemail.
The next day we hadn’t received a call back, so I rang and left another message. I then called the pilot who had left his card with the boatyard manager, he explained that he had just moved to Anacortes and wanted to give us the heads up, if we were found to be without a pilot or an exemption then we would have serious questions to answer. He said it would only cost $50 to apply for an exemption, we are over 50ft so it would have cost €700 and we had no means of making payment as they only accept payment by cheque.
I received a call back from the Board of Pilotage Commissioners and a similar conversation ensued as with the local pilot. In addition to the information he gave me she said that if we applied for an exemption the committee was meeting on the following Tuesday and they could hear our application. I said that wouldn’t help as we were leaving on Sunday and also that we had no means to pay for the application. She explained that as we had no experience in Washington waters then our application would probably be refused anyway and our $700 lost! We asked how much it would cost to hire a pilot, about the same price ( presumably to take us directly out of the area) and the pilot would leave our vessel at Port Angeles. I said that the boat is our home and we really don’t want someone else onboard when we are more than competent in piloting her ourselves. We also didn’t want anyone else because we are still in the middle of a pandemic and trying to restrict our contact with people.
I asked if it’s only foreign flagged vessels then how do others pay the fee, as any foreign flagged cruiser wouldn’t have a US bank account. She said we don’t get many sailing cruisers with foreign flagged vessels coming to Washington and that the pilot who reported our vessel to them was new. She then admitted that it was really aimed at the cruise ships and chartered motor vessels that come to the area and they are owned by large companies who have the means to write US cheques. Canadian vessels are exempt because they have a reciprocal agreement with Canada.
I told her that we knew of a number of US citizens who live in other states, buy boats, sail them around this area without any knowledge of how to handle a boat or the area but because they are American they can cruise around. This didn’t make sense that they making it a rule in regard to foreign flagged vessels. If you are trying to protect the waters, which was the claim for the reason we needed to take a pilot onboard. Surely the best thing would be that anyone taking a boat out would need to have some form of training to skipper a boat. Nothing about this rule made any sense, it would seem that we were caught up in a rule that really shouldn’t apply to us.
She thought about things for a bit and then said, it is a Washington State Rule (not a law), as an organisation we have no teeth and we don’t have boats that would come out and slap a ticket on your vessel. She then said “I didn’t say this, but if I was you, I’d just leave” We explained we were planning a couple of stops on the way out and she said that we MAY get asked about it by another local pilot but that the other pilot was a bit over cautious. She also said they are going to be looking at the rules again very soon.
We then switched off our AIS transmitter and left our British ensign wrapped up and proceeded to leave Washington State! Such a shame because it’s a beautiful place and the people were lovely.
Link to the application form;
https://nebula.wsimg.com/e3aa0d14ba6ff24bac663d03ec488edb?AccessKeyId=F86D0A1E7A0091C2061F&disposition=0&alloworigin=1Kind regards
Maria and Allen Wadsworth
S/Y Jamala