"Can I be on board with my wife and a couple of friends?" - The editorial team receives these or similar questions almost every day. The regulations are different in every country, and for the Netherlands they are not clear. "The distance of 1.5 metres must be maintained between people who do not live in the same household," explains Stijn Boode, who is responsible for holidays on the water at the industry association Hiswa-Recron. He adds: "However, there is no maximum number of people per boat."
The regulation is therefore not very clear, but the fines certainly are. 390 euros per person. But what should a skipper do to avoid such a fine? How to implement the regulation on board? There is no concrete information on this, for example from the official side. However, the charter company Enjoy Sailing from Lemmer has posted some examples online which, in the company's opinion, make it possible to implement the 1.5 metre rule on board:
- with 1 household (2 to 8 persons);
- with 2 friends on a sailing yacht up to 32 feet;
- with 3 friends on a sailing yacht from 33 feet;
- with 4 friends on a sailing yacht with 4 cabins;
- with 5 friends on a catamaran;
- with 2 couples on a sailing yacht from 37 feet
- with 3 couples on a catamaran
Essentially, this means one chamber per household. In addition, travellers themselves can also help the law enforcement officers, because they don't want to impose fines on tourists, they want the rules to be observed. Anyone who draws up coronavirus rules on board and perhaps even displays them on board shows that they have thought about the rules and want to comply with them as well as possible. This is exactly the kind of personal responsibility that the Dutch government has been focussing on for weeks. Possible regulations are:
- Separate meals per household. This can be one after the other or in the lounge and cockpit
- A maximum number of people in the cockpit, depending on the size of the boat (1.5 metres apart!)
- Disinfection of shared WC rooms after use
- Ventilate as often as possible
ATTENTION: All these measures are suggestions. They have not been officially confirmed, so no rights can be derived from them. Have you had any experience with corona controls in the Netherlands? Write to us at worms@yacht.de.
