We so excited about taking Mojo to Italy – a little bit scared too… it was all very well taking her to Cornwall but a 2 day drive down to Italy was taking us out of our comfort zone! To eliminate some of the risk, we got the boat and trailer serviced, and bought quite a few trailer parts and spares just in case we needed them….

Gadgets

We also backed up our charts with a Navonics app on our ipad – this proved to be a great addition to our comms set. It was easy to use and worked in real time so all we had to do was plot a course to steer and then follow it.

The ipad was handy for road maps, writing the ships log, taking quick shots etc.

Paperwork

We had read a lot about the Italian authorities imposing fines and even impounding boats that did not have the right documentation or certification. We got ourselves on an advanced powerboat course with www.duck2water.co.uk and passed the exams – we then got our ICC’s (International Certificate of Competence). With our RYA Marine First Aid, RYA Day Skipper, VHF Radio Certificate too, we had all we needed to boat overseas.

We put together a pack which had all the boating documentation in it. Certificates, SSI Certificate, Boat Insurance with the required translated certificate too, proof of ownership, photocopies of crew lists for port and harbour entries, van insurance etc..

We were lucky enough to have never been stopped by the police or port officials, but it is better to be prepared then to be scrabbling around looking for documentation!

Preparing Mojo for the Journey

As Mojo is a wide beamed boat, she is illegal to tow on the road with the tubes up. We deflated her and then strapped her up well with a cargo net and lots of straps- For anyone doing the same – remember to take your flares out of the vessel before boarding the ferry! We were lucky and they let us continue on board without having to unwrap her.

We had various road stickers to add to the light board, but also had to buy fluorescent vests, breathalyzers and red triangle in case we had an accident when in France – little did we know that when we were in Halfords, we would be needing them!

Finally, we were ready – with everything we could possibly need ( and some items we were never going to use) we headed down to Portsmouth to start our adventure.