US Customs has form #1300 for clearing out and clearing in. Generally US boats don't use this form. However, it has a use and I have had my nose rubbed in it and as we all know life is nothing if not an education. If the boat is US and you are taking it in or out of the US and the owner is not aboard, you are well advised to use form 1300. If you are the long time regular captain and you want to take the risk of not using form 1300 US customs personnel may or may not object. Form 1300 is the form to be used if you want the added protection as acting as the owner's agent. It is a misunderstanding by most delivery captains and almost all recreational boat owners and many customs personnel, that form 1300 is not needed. And, in many cases the customs people will let you enter using the typical recreational procedure and the $27 decal. So, here are the rules of thumb. 1. ALWAYS use form 1300 when leaving the US. 2. When entering use form 1300 if the owner is not aboard. 3. When asked by US Customs personnel, don't lie or even fudge about the circumstances of the entry or clearance. None of this applies if the owner is aboard. Some poor devil got in trouble over this recently because his owner mislead him about the reason for bringing the boat into the US. Now he is crosswise to the Customs Service because he did not use form 1300. You can assume that the boat will be given a more thorough going over if you use 1300, but you will not be as responsible. I have all this by a most reliable source in US Customs, who has almost as much experience with this as I have with boat deliveries. You can bank on it. The charge for form 1300 is about $20. Regards, Mike _____________________________________ Capt. Mike Maurice Tigard Oregon(Near Portland)

Mike Maurice <mikem@yachtsdelivered.com> writes: >3. When asked by US Customs personnel, don't lie or even fudge about the >circumstances of the entry or clearance. Further to this, here are some facts you might want to consider. I'm not a lawyer, but I am a non-US citizen who crosses the US border between 25 and 50 times a year. Fact 1: US Customs has the right to refuse anybody at the border, at any time, for any reason they see fit. Fact 2: Lying to a US Customs officer is a federal offence. Fact 3: One of the question often asked is "Have you ever been refused entry to the US". If you answer "yes" to that question, be prepared for unpleasantness. And if you answer "no" but have in fact been refused in the past, they *will* find out. There is no way to "erase" an entry refusal, and there is no appeal. And don't forget Fact 2. The long and short of this is that before you get up to any monkey business with US Customs, you want to ask yourself "Do I really want to be hassled every time I cross the border, for the rest of my life?". And for those of you who do find yourself in a pickle, do *everything possible* to beat a hasty retreat without being "refused" entry. I have twice found myself in the situation where the vehicle I was driving was turned back, once because a passenger (unknown to me) had a criminal record and the other because my girlfriend at the time was Australian and had forgotten her passport. In both cases we were able to simply turn around without being officially "refused". Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com Those who make no mistakes rarely make anything.