The latest guidelines from the Italian Ministry to reboot recreational sailing and charters

Recreational boating © Confindustria Nautica

In the later hours of yesterday afternoon the Italian Ministry for Transport published its guidelines for marinas, recreational sailing, charters and diving. Yesterday afternoon also saw Confindustria's leaders take part in a virtual press conference focusing on the same issues in front of the national press, streamed live via the Association's official Facebook page, during which a first glimpse of these new measures was given to the nation.

"Having achieved the reopening of manufacturers on 27th April and of dealer networks on 5th May," stated Saverio Cecchi, President of Confindustria Nautica, "we have now managed to make boating once again possible, albeit within the framework of the general rules of travel, as there is still a ban on trips between regions and on arrivals from abroad, which will be lifted from 3rd June. In the meantime, we are still working to improve the regulations, especially with regards to restrictions on boarding between non-cohabitants".

Unfortunately, a number of uncoordinated or local initiatives pushing for the legal equivalence of boat and home have led to a restriction on the boarding of non-cohabitants. Confindustria Nautica continues to believe that the recreational craft, due to its inherent limitation to social contact and the possibility of sanitisation, monitoring and tracking, offers the a greater degree of mitigation of exposure to contagion and social aggregation than any other tourism activity; for this reason we are asking the Minister Paola De Micheli to amend these constraints.

The following are the new guidelines' key points as issued by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport:

• When it comes to recreational sailing, users' individual responsibility remains the key factor in making sure the now well-known social distancing measures effective. On board private recreational boats, the same rules apply as those for residences. The primary measure, therefore, remains that of "social distancing", maintaining, that is, a distance of at least one metre between one another unless those onboard also share the same home.
• When leasing a recreational boat (without a crew) the same prevention measures apply as those for private boats. Individuals can share the same cabin if they share the same home. Personal protection equipment must be used during docking procedures, when setting sail, bunkering and for any form of dock assistance. Guests must also follow the same general social distancing and interpersonal contagion prevention measures.
• When providing crewed charters, measures include the sanitising of every unit after each use, the regular sanitising of the crew areas, the use of personal protective equipment at all times during docking procedures, when setting sail, bunkering and whenever a unit is towed by another of a marina's boats. As for personnel onboard, everyone must be tested for CoVid-19 before boarding, the results of which must be kept onboard, and have their temperature measured daily. Third parties must not be allowed access to charters.