Mexico still holding foreign boats, affecting tourism

Just 30 of the 337 impounded boats have been released, with the rest ‘embargoed’ under a litany of confusion.

Profligate, a 58-foot catamaran owned by Richard Spindler, is one of about 300 boats under impound by Mexican officials. It has been stuck at the dock in Puerto Vallarta since Nov. 26.

Mexico’s move to impound more than 330 boats – most hailing from the U.S. – has put a scare into the nautical tourism industry in Southern California.

Recreational boaters are canceling slip reservations south of the border, sailboat race organizers are altering courses to avoid Mexican waters, and others are postponing Mexico-bound regattas due to a lack of interest from participants.

Two months after surprise permit inspections, Mexican officials still haven’t lifted the “temporary embargo,” leaving boaters worrying when, or if, their boats will be released.

“It’s a public relations nightmare down here,” Richard Spindler of San Francisco said in a phone interview earlier this month after his 58-foot catamaran Profligate was impounded in Marina Riviera Nayarit near Puerto Vallarta.

The confusion started with the Thanksgiving weekend audit by a new subagency of Mexico’s Tax Administration Service. Tasked with finding vessels not adhering to Mexico’s Temporary Importation Permit requirements, the agency inspected 1,647 boats across 11 marinas, resulting in 337 vessels impounded.

While the boats weren’t removed or taken away, marina managers and boat owners have been ordered by the newly created General Audit of Foreign Trade Administration to leave the boats where they are, leading to concerns about what might become of the private yachts, sailboats, sportfishers and other vessels suddenly out of the owners’ control.

Of the 400 boats inspected at Puerto Los Cabos Marina in San Jose del Cabo, only three were impounded, all owned by Mexican nationals.

“We were lucky here, but people from the States are calling me scared to make the trip down to Mexico, and the tenants in the marina are scared of traveling to another marina where inspections could happen again,” manager Enrique Hernandez said.

The fears have reportedly affected boat entries to the Corona del Mar to Cabo sailboat race. Organizer Gary Davidson said the 800-nautical-mile race scheduled to start March 14 would be postponed until more interest is drummed up.

While 25 boats had expressed interest, only four signed up.

Even the Newport to Ensenada International Yacht race appears to be feeling the crunch. Only 90 boats have entered to participate in the 125-nautical-mile race into Mexican waters this April – about 50 fewer than at this time in the 2012 campaign.

“Mexico wants the nautical tourism, and in the past they’ve made it easy for boaters,” Spindler said. “But this is suicide.”

And while Spindler, a 30-year veteran of Mexican cruising, has been vocal about the issue, writing almost weekly updates for his sailing publication Latitude 38, most local boaters are keeping quiet, fearful of aggravating the Mexican government and hopeful the issue will blow over.

Luis Eduardo Lara Gutiérrez, head of the General Audit of Foreign Trade Administration, oversaw the marina audit, which he said was ordered to make sure boaters had correct and updated paperwork to legally keep their vessels in Mexican waters.

In an email sent to the Register on Jan. 23, Gutiérrez said the inspections were ongoing, with just 30 of the 337 boats released as of Jan. 24, and the agency had the right to hold the remaining boats in impound for up to four months.

Mexico still holding foreign boats, affecting tourism