Foreign-Flagged Cruisers Have To Pay Up in Washington State
Arnstein Mustad has sailed thousands of miles delivering sailboats, but finds, once again, there’s always more to learn. He’s helping the owner of a foreign-flagged Oyster 66 sail to the Pacific Northwest and has discovered Washington state requires a special permit for foreign vessels. Cruisers confront all kinds of unique local rules, regulations and fees as they travel the world, but it seems unusual to find new fees as you move from state to state in the US. Arnstein sent us his thoughts:
“The most restrictive cruising area I have ever seen/sailed was right under my nose and I didn’t know it.
“I have an owner assist in the works for an Oyster 66 going to Washington and Canada. The owners wanted to spend a couple of months cruising around before they set off for a circumnavigation. So this is a shakedown/vacation/learning voyage for them. The vessel is foreign flagged and is my first foreign-lagged vessel for a trip to WA (except for one or two Canadian-flagged vessels).”
“I came to learn — thanks to the owners — that Washington has an extremely strict “pilotage” rule for foreign-flagged vessels (not including Canadian-flagged), and the nationality of the owners/sailors doesn’t matter.
“As told to me by the ‘Board of Pilotage Commissioners,’ these rules include ALL vessels from ‘Canoes to Mega Yachts/Ships’ unless an exemption is applied for and approved in advance.”
“So I, a licensed US skipper, can take a non-exempt foreign-flagged vessel only as far as Port Angeles before a licensed WA state pilot would be required to board for the remainder of the passage and every leg thereafter. I don’t count, no matter my experience sailing those waters.
“To be exempted requires filling out a six-page form detailing the vessel’s equipment and owner’s experience, as well as the proposed itinerary. In some places, prior knowledge and experience are required to transit certain areas like Deception Pass (about as difficult as transiting the Golden Gate Bridge). And since the boat is “66 feet” LOA it is required to pay $1100 for the exemption (65-ft and less is $100).
“This regulation basically kills all foreign-flagged vessel cruising opportunities in one of the best cruising areas available. The only alternative is to skip WA and head straight for Canada.”
With a quick search we discovered Alaska also has fees for boats over 65 feet, and the Great Lakes have some special fees for foreign-flagged vessels. Has anyone else found any other unique state fees as they’ve cruised the US?
The West Coast has only two state lines to cross, but if such fees existed while you cruised the Northeast you could pay fees when you cruised 200 miles, crossing state lines from CT to NY to RI to MA to NH and finally, ME.
Imagine you’re an experienced French sailor having sailed across the Atlantic, negotiated poorly charted waters along the way, transited the Panama Canal, made your way up passed Tehuantepec, up Baja in Spring, passed Pt Sur and Cape Mendocino, skippered safely across Oregon bars, and then being told you’re NOT experienced enough to transit WA state waters in daylight!
To add insult, the exemption process is decided by committee every 30 days or so. And if approved, the skipper is often restricted and/or required to enlist a Pilot for educational services. I admit there are some places in the PNW that require extra attention to nav, weather and tides, but I think this level of bureaucratic control is a bit of an overreach.
Disappointing but not surprising, given WA State’s persistence and ingenuity in coming up with taxes and fees. Washington is a state that has no income tax. So they run the state on sales taxes plus a veritable encyclopedia of taxes and fees on every imaginable activity. I’m an Oregon resident and when we took our Oregon registered (and US documented) 37′ sailboat up to Anacortes for a year to enjoy periodic cruising in Puget sound and the San Juans, we found that we had 90 days grace before we had to register the boat with WA and pay “sales tax” (since we’d never paid it in no-sales-tax Oregon). But at least we didn’t have to deal with this “pilotage” baloney in order to cruise our neighbor state’s waters. Seems to me that a State applying this only to foreign vessels might possibly violate some Federal laws about foreign trade and relations being reserved to the Federal government? Kind of like a State imposing their own duties or tariffs isn’t it?
I sailed in Alaska, Canada, down the Washington and Oregon coast and for years in California with my Swiss flagged sailboat. No issues anywhere. California required me to register in CA because I stayed more than 90 days. Friends of mine with French and other with German flagged vessels also sailed in the Washington waters, they didn’t have any issues or regulations forced on them either.
Perhaps the problem is with that foreign flagged 66 feet boat owned by a U.S. citizen (I assume). For starts it would be wise for the owner if the owner is a U.S. citizen, to registered the boat under the U.S flag. No hassle afterwards. 66 feet is quite a big boat with probably over 50+ gross tonnage? In that case a captain with the required USCG Master Mariner License would eliminate these troubles. And one more thing, if someone can afford a 66 ft yacht, I would think they can afford the fees that come with it. No?
Message clear; wealthy people with yachts must pay! But given the state wide sanctuary status, shouldn’t they specifically being acceptance of foreigners on boats coming ashore? Very confusing
I am that captain, but under the rules a “licensed WA state Pilot” is required unless an exemption is approved well in advance. In your case, you escaped WA pilotage rules. If you had been caught, a penalty of up to $10,000 could have been charged (as I understand it). It is indeed a very unfriendly burden to levy on foreign flagged vessels.