Croatia: new distance for anchoring with shore lines
Croatia has changed the rule for mooring with a bow anchor and lines ashore, and it sets out who has to wear a lifejacket, a helmet and the engine cut-off lanyard. Checks concentrate on the season between May and September.
Law NAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH
Mooring with a bow anchor and long lines led ashore is the common way to spend a night in an Adriatic cove. Since April 2026 the permitted distance between the shore and the point where the anchor chain or rode enters the water is 70 metres, up from 50 metres. What counts is that entry point, not where the anchor itself lies on the seabed.
The same safety regulation deals with equipment and with wearing it. On craft travelling faster than 20 knots everyone on board has to wear a lifejacket, adults and children alike, for the whole trip; this includes personal watercraft, inflatables and open boats without a cabin. Anyone riding a personal watercraft wears a lifejacket and a helmet regardless of speed, and the helmsman wears the lanyard of the engine cut-off device.
Croatian authorities check anchorages and bays mainly in the high season between May and September. Breaches are fined, and in the worst case the craft is taken out of service. The German boating press and associations point out that the rules are read differently from place to place, so the harbour office on the spot is the faster answer than an assumption carried over from last summer.
For visiting crews the practical part is short. Measure the 70 metres from where the chain meets the water, keep the lines ashore within that, and treat lifejacket, helmet and cut-off lanyard as things that are worn rather than stowed in a locker.
What this means for owners
A rule like this does not change what an insurance contract says, but it changes the questions asked after an incident: an underwriter looking at a collision or a man overboard case will want to know whether the required gear was actually being worn. The boats concerned are personal watercraft, inflatables and open sport boats, and, once shore lines are involved, sailing yachts, cabin boats and charter yachts. On a charter boat a fine or damage to a neighbouring vessel usually meets the security deposit first, which is worth reading before departure. The useful question to put to your own insurer is whether the cruising area and the way the boat is used are described the way you actually sail.
This paragraph is our view as an underwriting agency, not part of the news. What your own policy covers is written in your own terms; when in doubt, call us.
Where this comes from
- ADAC Skipper: Ankern in Kroatien, neue Regeln 2026 im Überblick
- ADAC Skipper: Regeln für Bootfahrer in Kroatien, Helmpflicht und Rettungswesten
- Trans-Ocean: Kroatien, neue Regeln fürs Ankern seit April
- YACHT: Kroatien, neue Verordnung sorgt für Einschränkungen
- BOOTE: Kroatien, neue Sicherheitsverordnung lässt Fragen offen
The text above is our own. The sources listed supplied the facts and the figures, not the wording.