How not to have your boat stolen and live happily with your vessel

We told you here about the proposal for a “mini-boating license” designed to approach a public of boaters who, for a variety of reasons give up taking the classic license, and dedicated to the world of watercraft (i.e., unregistered boats less than 10 m long).

A poorly regulated world, where non-registration makes it difficult to track the boat in case of theft and where the owner is often required to “jump through hoops” to prove ownership of the vessel.

Vessel registry, why not?

Hence our proposal: why not launch a digital vessel registry? A solution that in 2020 has already been applied to the world of “light” vehicles, such as bicycles, in some Italian municipalities. And that would make the vessels easily identifiable: this would ensure that, once recovered after theft, they could be returned to their rightful owner without hiccups.

DON’T MISS THE CUP PAPER!

Every day at 1 p.m., we bring you live coverage of the America’s Cup and regattas
of Luna Rossa with prestigious guests, technical insights, videos, photos, background and anecdotes. Don’t miss the Cup Newspaper in the area dedicated to Milan Yachting Week!
Click HERE to access all the episodes!

A “Big Brother” solution? Absolutely not, since registration, in our opinion, should be done on a voluntary basis and would not be a kind of registration (no certifications, no bureaucracy).

How could the system work? Once the vessel has been registered electronically, entering the make, model, photo, special features and “chassis number” (the CIN, Craft Identification Number, to stay with the nautical theme), this would be associated with the personal data and the purchase invoice. The digital registry could be viewed by shipowners and also by law enforcement: of course, there would be a need for the owner to be identifiable with certainty.

Coming to our aid is SPID (which is on everyone’s lips right now, aided by the cashless plan), or the public digital identity system, which provides access to online government services.

We know how such an initiative, especially when implemented in the public sector, can have a long and tortuous process. The solution could be to outsource the creation of the boat registry to a private company, after a call for bids. What do you think? Let us know with a nice comment!

HELP US KEEP YOU UP TO DATE

The journalists of the Sailing Newspaper, strive every day to ensure quality, up-to-date and correct information about the boating world free of charge through their websites. If you appreciate our work, support us by subscribing to the magazine. The annual subscription costs only 49 euros and we also give you two gifts!

DISCOVER THE SAILING NEWSPAPER YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Daily interviews, boat trials, webinars. The whole sail, minute by minute. But on video! CLICK HERE To sign up, it’s free!

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

To stay up-to-date on all the news from the world of sailing, selected by our editorial staff, sign up for the Sailing Newspaper newsletter! It’s super easy, just enter your email below, agree to the Privacy Policy and click the “Sign Me Up” button. You will then receive on your email, twice a week, the best sailing news! It’s a free service and you can unsubscribe at any time, with no obligation!