Cruising Home Page

Royal Van organises Cruises for Members throughout the year. Winter Cruises usually visit the Wigwam Inn Offshore Station, while the spring and summer cruises focus on other Offshore Stations.

The Staff Captain is the Executive member responsible for Cruises. Please direct any questions or inquiries to staffcaptain@royalvan.com .

The following cruises are organised for 2008. Contact information is provided in the Cruise section of the Yearbook and on the Cruises/Events pages in the Members Only section of the Royal Van Web site.

Cruise	Dates	Destination	Cruise Chairs
New Year's	Dec. 29-Jan. 1/08	Wigwam	Steve Kurrein & Linda Edwards
Iceberg	Feb. 15-17	Wigwam	Jamie & Nicola Lott
Easter	Mar.  20-23	Wigwam	Derek Holmes & Victoria Belcher
Commodore's	May 16-19	Tugboat	David & Holly Everett Bob & Carolyn Matthews
Canada Day	Jun. 29-Jul. 2	Scott Point	Iain & Moya Drummond
Dog Days North	Jul. 27-Aug. 2	Desolation Sound	Bill May & Corinne Ambor Normandie Chubra-Smith & Hugh Smith
Dog Days South	Jul. 26-Aug. 3	Gulf Islands	Ruth & Henry Voss John Tulip & Anne Synnes Andrea Walters & Gary Kinsman
Labour Day	Aug. 29-Sep. 1	Scott Point	Ron & Carla Hepting
Thanksgiving	Oct. 10-13	Wigwam	Doug & Kim Gartland

Cruiser's Code of Conduct

Being on a cruise does not exempt members from the normal expectations of conduct or obeying the Rules for Offshore Stations.

Contraventions of this Code, any Rule for Offshore Stations or behavioural norms should be reported to the Staff Captain, or any member of the Executive.

Code of Conduct

All Rules for Offshore Stations apply during Cruises. Particular attention is drawn to:
** No smoking is permitted ashore, and no open fires are allowed.
** Dinghies and personal watercraft must be operated safely and in a      
     courteous manner.
** Generators must not be operated between 2200 and 0800, and the use
     of sound equipment, power tools or participating in noisy activities must
     be done with consideration at all times, and particularly between 2200
     -0800 hrs.
** A request to raft must not be refused.

Members are responsible for the supervision and conduct of, and damage caused by, their guests, children, and pets during a Cruise. Minors shall not be in possession of alcohol on Club property.              

Participants in a Cruise are responsible for registering for the Cruise at the Jericho Front Desk. Members must supply their Member Number, size of boat and number of guests attending. Members may be charged the full cost for any cruise if cancelled with fewer than 7 days' notice. Additional charges and penalties may apply if a Member brings more than the registered number of guests.

Members are not allowed to attend Cruises without pre-registration. Members who have not registered, or who are on the waiting list, for any designated cruise may be asked to leave the Offshore Station. They must do so when asked.

Most cruises have a wharfinger appointed to manage berthing at Offshore Stations. Members must cooperate with the directions of a Wharfinger. If Members have safety concerns regarding supplied instructions, they should be worked out with the Wharfinger.

Failure to adhere to these directions will result in reprimand and offenders may be subject to a one-year suspension of their Offshore Station privileges.

Going Cruising?

Members with moorage at Jericho Marina or Coal Harbour Marina are requested to file Sail Plans with their respective Harbour Masters. Regardless of whether you're away for a week or a month, keeping your Harbour Master informed keeps the marina running smoothly. It eases your moorage bill to sub-lease your berth and if they the dock staff know when you're coming home, they'll have your spot all ready for you to keep make your homecoming a good one. 

Here's the form for you to fill out!

Cruising to the US of A
(thanks to Royal Vic for doing the legwork for this section)

Current food prohibitions (Easter 2008):
Beef, chicken & eggs are OK; lamb is not. No Produce, particularly citrus and potatoes. As always, no products originating in Cuba. Regulations about food change all the time. Call US Customs in Friday Harbor (360 378 2080) before you leave to confirm current food prohibitions.

U.S. Customers and Border Protection Web site: www.cbp.gov 
Follow the links to Travel and to Pleasure Boats

Canada Customs and Border Services Agency Web site: www.cbsa.gc.ca 
Follow the links to Travellers

NOTE: Canadian citizens should have a passport to enter the US.

If your vessel is over 30 feet it must have a yearly cruising decal. The current cost is $27.50 (US). Forms for this decal can be found on the CBP website. An easier way to obtain this decal is to obtain a temporary one at the Friday Harbor or Roche Harbor Customs office on your first visit. They will then mail you your boat decal and a reminder every year thereafter.

If you have crew on board who are not Canadian or US citizens, they must have a US visa in their passport or they will not be cleared. They may enter the US via a US approved carrier such as the Sidney/Anacortes ferry. Before boarding the ferry they will undergo a clearance process including photographing and digital fingerprinting.

Entering the US WITHOUT I-68 or Nexus identification:
Friday Harbor:  When approaching the Friday Harbor docks, there is an outer dock (the breakwater) with a "CUSTOMS” sign on it. You MUST stop at this dock. A phone in the hut connects you to the customs office on shore if they are not present on the dock. The customs officer will ask you all the usual questions and ask you to place passports or ID on a tray so they can be read by a camera. The office may also ask the skipper to bring crew identification to the shore office at the top of the dock while the others remain on board. If everything is in order the US official will issue an 18 digit clearance number over the phone. Be prepared to write it in the boat log. ONLY THE SKIPPER should proceed to the hut with vessel identification, the US decal number (if applicable), and crew identification.

Roche Harbor:  In the off-season, head for the fuel dock - the Customs office is attached to the Marina Office. In summer, the Customs office moves to Dock G, the outside dock. Moor there. If the Customs Office is manned, clearance is done face-to-face. If it is not manned, there is a phone to connect you with Friday Harbor.

Other Ports: You can also check with Customs and Border Protection at Anacortes, Point Roberts and Port Angeles.

Entering the US WITH I-68 or Nexus identification:
Travel into U.S. waters is simpler if you have either I-68 or Nexus identification. You can clear by phone: 1-800-562-5943.
Be prepared to answer the following questions:
- Vessel number
- Vessel name
- Vessel length
- Customs decal number, if applicable
- Each crew member's passport number and birth date
- Each crew member Nexus or I-68 number
- length of stay, nature of visit and what items are being brought into the US.
Important: If clearing by phone using an I-68 or Nexus pass, each person travelling on your boat MUST have this identification with them. If you are taking guests and they don’t have an I-68 or Nexus pass, you will have to clear Customs in person per above.

To obtain a Nexus pass: You can get information regarding Nexus applications from www.cbp.org and follow links to the Trusted Traveler section. You can also get information from Canada Customs and Border Services at www.cbsa.gc.ca and follow links to Travelers. Download and submit the GOES forms. In about 8 weeks you will be contacted by US Immigration requesting an interview at the Blaine truck crossing, or hopefully at the CBSA Office on Dunsmuir Street in Vancouver. You will be interviewed, photographed and digitally fingerprinted. A Nexus pass is good for 5 years and is good at any air, land or marine port of entry. The current cost is US or CD $50/person. 

HOORAY!  NEXUS NOW WORKS FOR BOATS RETURNING TO CANADA.

To obtain an I-68: Log on to the same www.cbp.gov Web site mentioned above and download the forms. Once filled in you can take them to a port of entry as above, or make an appointment at the Blaine Customs Office. If taking them to a marine point of entry on your first visit, do not arrive at a busy time. The cost is $16 U.S. for each form with a cap of $32 for a family including children up to the age of 21 (although each family member over 14 must fill out their own I-68 form).

Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB)

Although recreational boaters are not required to carry an EPIRB, they are strongly recommended for all boaters, especially those who venture outside the Strait of Georgia or Puget Sound or beyond VHF radio range. When activated in an emergency, your EPIRB sends a signal to Cospas-Sarsat satellites, which prompts an alert to Search and Rescue (SAR) authorities worldwide.

What If You Called 911 and No One Answered?
Starting February 1, 2009 that is exactly what will happen for boaters who have the older model Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPRIB) that transmit a distress alert on 121.5 MHz or 243 MHz. The activation of an EPIRB is like making a 911 call to Search and Rescue authorities. After February 1, 2009, the older model EPIRBs will no longer be monitored by satellite, and are likely to go completely undetected in an emergency. Only distress alerts from beacons transmitting at 406 MHz will continue to be detected and processed by SAR satellites worldwide.

The 406 MHz EPIRB offers many life-saving advantages over the 121.5/243 MHz units. A 406 MHz EPIRB is digitally encoded and sends a unique identifier that allows SAR authorities to retrieve essential information about you and your vessel and reduce time sorting out false alarms. It also provides: global coverage, faster alerting time, and a signal power 50 times stronger than the 121.5 MHz. Units with embedded GPS are even more helpful in quickly finding distressed boaters.

Remember: 406 MHz ELTs must be registered with the Canadian Beacon Registry

After you purchase your EPIRB, it must be registered with the Canadian Search and Rescue Secretariat. This can be done online at www.beacons.nss.gc.ca .

If you purchased your EPIRB outside of Canada you will still need to register it in Canada and will possibly need to have it recoded to a Canadian Country Code at an authorized retailer. You can determine whether it has a Canadian Code by checking that the 15-digit UIN (unique identification number) that is on a sticker on the unit, starts with one of the following prefixes; 278, 279, A78 or A79.

Homing Signals and GPS
All 406 MHz emergency beacons offered for sale in Canada also include a 121.5 MHz homing signal to guide search and rescue crews into a distress site. This signal is particularly helpful in hours of darkness, or where visibility is limited by fog, precipitation, or dense vegetation. This is the same signal many search and rescue crews are currently equipped to home, and this equipment is readily available on the market. Cospas-Sarsat will stop processing 121.5 MHz signal as of February 1 2009, but this frequency can till be used as a homing signal.

Not all EPIRBs are equipped with an integral GPS, but having one will make locating you in an emergency much quicker. Your EPIRB will still establish a position in the absence of GPS, but the Cospas-Sarsat satellites may need to make several passes to triangulate on your position and the position may not be as accurate as that provided by GPS.

Please note that there are no finse or penalties if an emergency beacon is accidentally activated. One signal is all it takes to reach Canadian Mission Control Centre (CMCC). In case of accidental activation, CMCC must be advised by calling 1-800-211-8107.

Sewage Discharge and Holding Tanks

There is a legal and practical side to dealing with your boat’s sewage. New regulations passed by Transport Canada in 2007 have tried to make these the same, although they can sometimes be hard to interpret.

The basic requirement is that you must have a holding tank if you have a head on your boat. If you haven’t already installed a holding tank, you should be ashamed of yourself – install one as soon as possible. The only exceptions are if you use a porta-potty (and discharge ashore only) or if you have an expensive certified sewage treatment system (known as a marine sanitation device).

The practical side of dealing with sewage from your holding tank is that you hopefully will be using a shore-side pump out. If this is not practical (and it is not in most locations on the West Coast) then your sewage should not be a nuisance to anybody, and should only be discharged well away from shore (preferably 3 miles), in the deepest part of the channel and traveling at speed. Under no circumstances should you discharge in a bay or harbour.

You should also be aware that it is illegal to discharge into fresh water lakes or streams or into “Designated Sewage Areas”. These “DSA’s” include Montague Harbour and many of the popular anchorages around Desolation Sound. Please note that this also includes Cortes Bay.

Although this is common sense, the regulations also require that the holding tank be constructed from sound materials so as not to leak, not be subject to corrosion from sewage, and be equipped with a means to determine tank level without opening the tank.

There is lots of information and misinformation regarding the legal requirements. In case you want the letter of the law, here it is:

Canada Shipping Act (2001)
Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and for Dangerous Chemicals (SOR-2007-86)
119. (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (4), a ship in Section I or Section II waters that has a toilet facility shall be fitted with a marine sanitation device or a holding tank.
(This says you need a holding tank)
(2) If a ship referred to in subsection (1) that has been fitted with a marine sanitation device operates in an area where the discharge of sewage from the marine sanitation device is not authorized under section 129, the ship shall be fitted with facilities for the temporary storage of sewage.
(3) For the purpose of complying with subsection (1), a Canadian ship may not be fitted with a marine sanitation device referred to in paragraph 124(1)(d).
(4) A ship referred to in subsection (1) that is less than 15 tons gross tonnage, is certified to carry 15 persons or less and is not operating in inland waters of Canada or designated sewage areas may be fitted with facilities for the temporary storage of sewage if it is not practicable for the ship to comply with subsection (1) and the ship has measures in place to ensure that no discharge is made except in accordance with section 129.
(This gives the out for using a porta-potty)
129. (1) The discharge of sewage from a ship is authorized if:
(e) in the case of a ship in Section I or Section II waters, but not in inland waters of Canada or a designated sewage area, that is less than 400 tons gross tonnage and is not certified to carry more than 15 persons,
(i) the sewage is comminuted and disinfected using a marine sanitation device and the discharge is made at a distance of at least 1 nautical mile from shore,
(ii) the discharge is made at a distance of at least 3 nautical miles from shore while the ship is en route at the fastest practicable speed, or
(iii) if it is not practicable to comply with subparagraph (ii) because the ship is located in waters that are less than 6 nautical miles from shore to shore, the discharge is made while the ship is en route at a speed of at least 4 knots or, if it is not practicable at that speed, at the fastest practicable speed
(A) into the deepest waters that are located the farthest from shore during an ebb tide, or
(B) into the deepest and fastest moving waters that are located the farthest from shore.
(This part allows you to empty your holding tank using practical methods)
Designated Sewage Areas
(formerly known as “No Discharge Zones”)

Cortes Bay
Carrington Bay
Gorge Harbour and Manson’s Landing
Montague Harbour
Pilot Bay (north side of Gabriola Is.)
Prideaux Haven
Roscoe Bay
Smuggler’s Cove
Squirrel Cove

You can look at the full text at: http://www.tc.gc.ca/acts-regulations/GENERAL/C/csa/regulations/400/csa450/csa450.html#p2d4-sewage
 

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3811 Point Grey Road ~ Vancouver ~ BC ~ Canada ~ V6R 1B3
Telephone: 604-224-1344    Fax: 604-224-4146    Front Office: reception@royalvan.com