hi folks,

any cruisers out there know if you can navigate the volga don canal
from the black sea to the caspian sea ? i know you "can" navigate it,
the question really is "may" you navigate it, that is, is it possible
to get permission from the russian federation to do so as a private
sailboat. if so, does anyone know what the draft and height
restrictions are on the journey ?

thanks in advance!

Greetings,
I have heard/read that the Russians don't allow foreign flags, i.e. you may
have to register your boat as a Russian boat.
Have read about people navigating the Russian rivers from the Baltic Sea
down to the Black Sea...if I find info I will post it.
Rgds,
Martin

any cruisers out there know if you can navigate the volga don canal
from the black sea to the caspian sea ? i know you "can" navigate it,
the question really is "may" you navigate it, that is, is it possible
to get permission from the russian federation to do so as a private
sailboat. if so, does anyone know what the draft and height
restrictions are on the journey ?

Martin Hinders wrote:
Greetings,
I have heard/read that the Russians don't allow foreign flags, i.e. you may
have to register your boat as a Russian boat.
Have read about people navigating the Russian rivers from the Baltic Sea
down to the Black Sea...if I find info I will post it.
Rgds,
Martin


any cruisers out there know if you can navigate the volga don canal
from the black sea to the caspian sea ? i know you "can" navigate it,
the question really is "may" you navigate it, that is, is it possible
to get permission from the russian federation to do so as a private
sailboat. if so, does anyone know what the draft and height
restrictions are on the journey ?

I know nothing about navigation restrictions but draft = 2.5m is
likely to be o.k. and height = about 8m is likely to be o.k.

I designed a few vessels for the Caspian with these dimensions and
they were going to be delivered on their own bottoms through this
canal system. No mention of air or water draft restrictions during
the design work (and the company I worked with would have known)

Evan Gatehouse

I have heard/read that the Russians don't allow foreign flags,
i.e. you may have to register your boat as a Russian boat.
Have read about people navigating the Russian rivers from
the Baltic Sea down to the Black Sea...if I find info I will post it.

hi marin, thanks for the response. i don't know anything about this
idea of registering the boat in another country, is that something
pretty easy to do, i mean, something that happens from time to time ?
or is it more of an act of god type of effort that you wouldn't do
unless you were really desperate to get around the rules ? any risks
in doing it ? i will try to find some more information online about
this idea and read up on it, but i thought i would ask in case you knew
more about it and could post some more info. thanks a lot! anyone
else got any ideas on it ?

I know nothing about navigation restrictions but
draft = 2.5m is likely to be o.k. and height =
about 8m is likely to be o.k.

I designed a few vessels for the Caspian with these
dimensions and they were going to be delivered on
their own bottoms through this canal system. No
mention of air or water draft restrictions during the
design work (and the company I worked with would
have known)

thank you evan for the information, it's so rare to get information
first hand like that. i would think that the canal would be pretty big
too, because i understand it is used to transport big cargo ships
to/from the caspian sea and out into the open ocean. how big were the
ships you were working on, were those big cargo or fishing vessels ?
thanks again!