[WHOOSH]

Ron, thanks for the thorough reply. I didn''t realize things were so serious that golf was a possibility. <g>

Your comments about the ICC don''t seem inconsistent with my general take on the matter: despite lots of hand waving over here in the U.S., it appears there are easy ways in which non-EU yachts & their crews can demonstrate ''paper competence'' when they are requested. And I should add: these requests appear to still be very, very rare from all the reports I hear (fellow cruisers, SSCA Bulletins, personal experience). This issue is certainly not a complication that should cause a non-EU sailor to reconsider visiting Europe.

I''m not familiar with CEVNI. My limited exposure to canals in W Europe is that each country establishes, publishes & administers their own rules in their own fashion, rather than there being an EU standard. E.g. the Dutch have their (in)famous Deel 1 (Dutch language only, if you please), the Germans their Kiel Canal Regs, the French their Canal rules, the Brits their Inland Waterways System. Who issues the CEVNI ''certificate'' and what does it...err, ''certify''? I must admit I''m a bit doubtful a single set of rules does or will ever exist inside multiple national waterways, even if EU-wide ones exist. (My impression is that the EU is less successful than the EU bureaucrats like to admit at eliminating national regulations when Brussels'' regs are added.)

I''ll check the RYA website and appreciate the referral. Your closing observations about increasing regulation is absolutely on target, and it does dampen the pleasure and increase the risk for a foreign yachtsman. In the Caribbean, the rule of thumb is that the officials are friendly and easy to work with (or disinterested altogether) but that the wretched living conditions and local island economies can breed rampant petty theft and occasionally serious bodily harm. In Europe the risks seem to come from bureaucrats and officials at every level while the cruising venues are hospitable and all but crime free. The saving grace in all this is that, in some places and despite centuries of Euro officials perfecting rules, procedures and taxes, local officials are less than enthusiastic about enforcing them. In Europe, it often seems as tho'' the rules are there to be applied when a problem arises, rather than to be applied uniformly or with vigor. Or at least that''s the general sense I''m getting...

Jack