4 in 5 UK Boat Owners May Quit Cruising Due to Post-Brexit Schengen Rules

Boaters from the United Kingdom will be eligible to visit some famous sailing places, such as the Spanish coast, Greek islands, and the French Canals, only for 90 days for every 180 days, under the current Schengen Zone rules.

Based on a study in which participated Cruising Association (CA) persons who keep their boats on canals and rivers of the Schengen Zone countries,80 percent of these boaters are likely to sell their crafts and abolish cruising altogether. Another option is to move their base to a country that does not belong to Europe’s Schengen Area, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

The current situation results from the UK and EU negotiations’ failure to reach a joint agreement, due to which UK citizens can now only travel to Schengen countries for 90 days every 180, impeding boat owners to spend a whole season on Europe’s coast.

 “It will weaken the long-standing cultural ties between UK and EU boating communities and damage efforts to rebuild tourism post- Covid. The knock-on effects could do serious damage to UK boat sales and the British marine industry in general,” the President of Cruising Association (CA), Julian Dussek, pointed out in this regard.

He added that “unless we can find practical ways of overcoming this debilitating 90-day rule,” UK flagged boats will be permitted to stay for a very limited period of time in the Schengen Area waters.

“For a proud seafaring nation, this would be a real tragedy,” he emphasized.

Cruising Association’ Patron, Robin Knox-Johnston has urged the UK’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport to find a solution to end the difficulties that about 30,000 British sailors are facing keeping their boats in EU waters.

The CA initiated a 180-day Visa Campaign in order to encourage individual EU states to reciprocate the UK provision to permit EU citizens to spend uninterruptedly 180 days per visit in Britain.

Since the United Kingdom is officially out of the European Union, its citizens are treated as third-country citizens. While the UK was part of the European Union, its citizens could stay in the rest of the Member States as long as they wished to, but that is no longer the case.

Previously, a  British retiree Gordon Knight initiated a petition calling on the UK authorities to negotiate with France to permit British citizens to stay for six months visa-free in France.