It was the result of a bureaucratic dilemma: According to Croatian law, the scope of the sports boat license for sea is only sufficient for ships with a "gross ton" tonnage of a maximum of 30: Large catamarans, mostly from about 45 feet - depending on the manufacturer - were therefore only allowed in Croatia a Sport-See-Schifferschein or the Sport-Hochsee-Schifferschein. Very few skippers have these very learning and training-intensive certificates. Croatia was the only European country in which such a high number of charter skippers existed.
Because of the lack of practice of this regulation, the VDC had argued against the law for years; Most recently, Christian Zaloudek, third chairman of the association, was even involved in various rounds of talks with representatives of the Croatian authorities. That has finally paid off, according to the VDC.
"According to this, the '30 gross tons' regulation is to be changed to a length limit of 18 meters. This became known during the boot Düsseldorf trade fair. Allegedly this has already been passed and the only thing missing is the publication of the written amendment to the law," says Christian Zaloudek. The next few weeks will show whether the regulation already applies to this charter season. If in doubt, customers should contact their agency or fleet operator.
If you want to know exactly: The "gross tons" are the gross tonnage GT (formerly gross registered ton). So it has nothing to do with the weight of the ship "hanging on the crane". The GT is mentioned in the survey papers. The GT is calculated using the following formula: GT = K1 times V. V stands for the measured ship space in m³, i.e. length x width x height. The height (attention - not the draft) means the "closed" ship's space, with SY without a mast! K1 depends on the type and size of the ship. The EU has set 0.24 for yachts. According to this formula, catamarans of more than 45 feet come in over 30 GT and thus in the SSS / SHS area!
UPDATE FROM 7.2
YACHT reader Tonislav Stonjan, a native of Croatia, who was affected by the regulation himself, asked the responsible Ministry for Transport, Sea and Infrastructure in Zagreb when exactly this regulation would apply if the ship is owned by the change. He was then verbally informed that the new regulation was in progress, but it was will not apply before 2021. The reason for this is that the training content for driving licenses and the guidelines for examinations would have to be changed accordingly. This takes so long.