If you fly the Polish flag but are not a Polish owner, there is a draft law heading your way that deserves your full attention. Below is an extract from an extensive article I wrote on the subject,  pulling out the points that matter most for non-Polish owners. Poland has submitted legislation (draft UD305) that reshapes how foreign-owned pleasure craft under 24 metres obtain and keep Polish registration. It is detailed, it has teeth, and parts of it are frankly designed to trim the register down.

A quick note on who this affects: the rules target vessels under 24 metres flying the Polish flag that are not in Polish ownership. In this context, "Polish ownership" means the Polish State Treasury, a Polish legal entity, or a Polish citizen residing in Poland. Living abroad with a Polish passport? Your vessel counts as foreign-owned here.

Here are the points that matter most.

1. A mandatory pre-registration inspection
There is now a compulsory preliminary inspection (przegląd wstępny), carried out by the Polish Register of Shipping (PRS). It checks documentation, general seaworthiness, principal dimensions, and hull identification numbers. Crucially, it applies both at first registration and at every five-year renewal. If your vessel holds a CE declaration of conformity, the inspection may be done remotely. Otherwise, expect a physical visit, wherever your boat happens to be moored. Cost is capped, but you are looking at roughly €750–€1,200.

2. Fees that have gone up rather dramatically
The old flat fee is being retired. In its place:

• Up to 15 metres: 2,000 PLN to register, 1,000 PLN to renew every five years
• 15 to 24 metres: 3,000 PLN to register, 1,500 PLN to renew every five years

A change of ownership costs the same as a fresh registration.

3. A five-year renewal obligation
Every registered vessel must confirm its registration once every five years, within a window running from 90 to 30 days before the anniversary of the registration date. For foreign-owned vessels, that renewal must include a positive pre-inspection result. Miss the deadline and your registration is suspended automatically, and eventually cancelled.

4. Transitional deadlines for existing registrations
Your current registration stays valid for now, but you will have a confirmation deadline based on when you first registered. The windows are staggered, and the tightest one is short: vessels registered on or before 31 December 2021 have just three months from the law entering into force. Foreign-owned vessels must also pass the pre-inspection during this transitional process.

5. Silence can get you deregistered
Under the new framework, if an authority sends a formal notice to your registered Polish address and hears nothing back, that silence can be used as grounds for removing your vessel from the register. No response is treated as, well, an answer.

6. A mandatory Polish delivery address
Foreign owners must maintain a valid Polish postal address. Notices sent there are legally binding, whether or not you ever read them. So an outdated or fictional address is a genuine risk, not a harmless detail.

7. A geopolitical exclusion power
The Council of Ministers can ban registration of vessels owned by citizens or entities from specific non-EU/EEA states. The explanatory notes point fairly clearly at Russian and Belarusian owners.

8. Everything goes electronic
All applications must be submitted through REJA24, authenticated via Poland's e-government platform or a qualified electronic signature. Paper-only routes are being closed off.

9. The stated aim is a smaller register
This is not reading between the lines, it is in the official documentation. The impact assessment projects a 20% drop in new foreign registrations and anticipates around 8,000 existing vessels being removed in the first two years, largely through owners simply not responding in time.

When does it all happen?
Full implementation is expected around mid-to-late 2027 (12 months after publication). A handful of provisions, including the geopolitical bans and the electronic delivery framework, kick in just 14 days after publication.

What would I actually do about this?
A few practical steps, none of which require panic:

• Check your registration date. It determines which transitional deadline applies to you.
• Verify your Polish delivery address. If it is wrong or out of date, formal notices could be sent there without your knowledge.
• Look into the PRS pre-inspection. PRS operates globally, and a CE declaration of conformity may qualify you for a remote inspection.
• Consider acting early. There is nothing stopping you completing the confirmation process ahead of time, and doing so avoids getting stuck in a backlog when tens of thousands of owners are all filing at once.

Some of you may remember my earlier post about the legal action brought against me by Azimut-Benetti following two videos in which I criticised parts of the Italian yacht-building system.

There has now been a significant external development.

The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe — CASE — has included Azimut-Benetti S.p.A. in its “Gallery of Shame”:

https://www.the-case.eu/gallery-of-shame/

For accuracy, this is CASE’s independent advocacy assessment. It is not a court judgment declaring the proceedings to be a SLAPP, and the underlying legal case remains ongoing.

The financial pressure involved is nevertheless very real. Azimut-Benetti requested a penalty of €25,000 for every day of alleged non-compliance. The court’s interim order ultimately set that potential penalty at €5,000 per day.

I dispute the claims against me and continue to defend my right to publish independent, public-interest commentary about the yacht industry.

Whatever anyone thinks about my original videos, I believe the wider question matters to this community:

Where should the line be drawn between legitimately protecting a company’s reputation and using legal and financial pressure against independent industry criticism?

Please read CASE’s assessment and decide for yourself.

It's a good looking boat moving out blew by us on Saturday to get into the salmon grounds.

Spotted outside Elounda bay in Crete.

https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht/opera/

Luminance spotted!

Hey everyone,
I’m looking at spending around $150k AUD on a cruising yacht for me, my wife and potentially our kids. The plan is pretty ambitious — we’d like to live aboard for a while, cruise Australia and eventually sail around the world before settling down somewhere.
I’m leaning heavily towards something around 44–46ft, and ideally something modern enough that we’re not buying a 40-year-old boat that needs a complete refit.
At the moment I’m looking closely at:
● Bavaria Cruiser 44/45 — around 2010ish
● Beneteau Oceanis 45
● Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 44/45
● Dufour 445
The Bavaria Cruiser 44/45 is probably my current favourite because of the space, price and overall layout, but I’m definitely open to being talked out of it.
I’m not necessarily looking for a hardcore expedition yacht — I understand these are production cruisers — but I want something I can realistically prepare for bluewater/offshore cruising and ocean passages with my family.
We’re also in Australia, and the prices here are absolutely criminal 😂 so I’m wondering whether there are some less obvious models I should be looking at that represent better value.

Thankyou for any advice 🙏🏻

Ambassador - 110m Feadship
Katara - 124m Lürssen
Kensho - 75m Admiral Yachts

I just watched this helicopter land on a yacht in Capri around lunch time. Any guesses who it is?

Thinking about chartering a yacht next summer in the Adriatic, probably in June or July. Been eyeing the Sunseeker 88, especially the 2023 ones. Last time we were out there, chilling and swimming off the back of the boat was the main thing, so wondering how the beach club area looks on these?

Also, kinda unsure about the food situation. We usually roll with a chef, but do folks around here let the crew sort out meals and stuff? Would love to just take it easy and not fret over provisions.

And any casual sailing paths between Croatia and Montenegro? Just wanna catch some nice views, nothing too rigid.

My friend and I have a friendly bet on how much this thing costs. First we need to figure put what it is. Anybody know?