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Boat detained abroad: who puts up the bail before you can leave?
Short answer
After an accident or an alleged offence abroad,
the authorities can keep the boat or the skipper in port until bail is lodged.
Who puts it up?
Not the hull cover.
Bail loans sit in liability, legal expenses or assistance wordings,
so check yours before you leave.
British, Irish and Dutch owners cruising the Mediterranean meet a procedure that rarely happens at home. After a collision with injuries, a complaint about speed close to a beach, anchoring in a protected zone or incomplete papers, the port authority or coastguard in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy or Croatia can detain the boat, or stop the skipper leaving the country, until a security is paid. That bail is due on the spot and in local currency, often before anyone has looked at the facts, and the sum can easily exceed what a holiday account will cover.
Bail is not damage to the boat, so a hull policy has nothing to pay. It is money you get back once the case ends or the authority releases it, which is why the help available is usually a loan rather than a payment. Read your liability, legal expenses and assistance wordings for a bail or security clause and note four things: whether one exists at all, the maximum, how fast the money can be transferred abroad, and when it has to be repaid. Some limits are tied to the value of the boat, and repayment can fall due within weeks once the authority refunds the bail. With us, the liability cover provides a short-term bail loan abroad from Basis Plus, up to 50,000 euros, and in Premium up to 200,000 euros, at most the value of the boat.
Preparation saves days. Keep the emergency numbers of every policy in international format in the ship's papers, together with the registration document, whether Small Ships Register or Part 1, the insurance certificate, your ICC or other certificate of competence and a crew list. On the quay, stay calm, ask for an interpreter and sign nothing you cannot read. Report the incident to your insurers at once, get a receipt for any money lodged and keep every official document, because the refund of the bail depends on them.
Worth remembering
Hull cover
nothing to pay, the boat is undamaged
Bail loan
only if a wording provides one
Check the bail clause and keep the emergency numbers on board.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Will my boat insurance pay bail if the boat is detained abroad?
Hull cover will not, because bail is not damage to the boat. Some liability, legal expenses or assistance wordings provide a loan for bail; read the clause, its maximum and its repayment terms before you sail.
Is a bail loan a gift?
No. It is lent to you and has to be repaid, usually as soon as the authority releases the bail and often within a short fixed period. Keep every receipt so the refund goes smoothly.
What papers should be on board to avoid detention?
The registration document, the insurance certificate, your ICC or other certificate of competence, a crew list and the emergency numbers of your insurers in international format. Missing papers are a common reason for a boat to be held.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Boat detained abroad: who puts up the bail before you can leave?” or another question: send us your residence and the flag your boat flies. You will get a straight answer in one email; including a no, if that is the answer.
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