Pleasure Navigation on the River Danube

by Commander R.W. (Bill) Cooper ^[1]

article presented at the XIV International Conference "Danube - River of Cooperation" (November 13-15 2003) and published in Danubius 3-4/2003

The Aim

To consider how the Middle Danube River could be exploited for amateur driven water tourism. (Professional water tourism in huge hotel-boats must already be near saturation point, and is largely confined to the "romantic" cities such as Regensburg, Passau, Vienna and Budapest. It is difficult to see how the operators of these enormous craft could be induced to expand much downstream, though the Kazan Gorge might tempt them.)

The Navigable River Danube

This is usually taken to run from Kelheim in Germany at kilometre post (kp) 2414.69, downstream to one of several mouths, the chief of which is Sulina, (Romania) from which port the kilometre posts are measured. The upper Danube is a comparatively narrow, fast-flowing and often dangerous river, liable to flash floods, with usually a strong current. (We have personally experienced a current of 21 k.p.h.) Stretches have been "tamed" with barrages, locks and hydro-electric schemes but the rest has fallen under the negative attitude of the Green movement. Two important sectors await amelioration and in the meantime, much freight has to go by road. The area round Grein (Austria) is particularly difficult.

We suggest that the river changes character at Gabčikovo lock (kp 1819) near Bratislava, and that this is the logical place, from a navigator's point of view, for a sector known as the Middle Danube to begin. This continues until it becomes the Lower Danube, which we suggest from experience, happens at the Iron Gates Lock (kp) 863, which is the lowest lock. From there down, the river widens and ends up flowing through meandering and ever-changing channels that can shoal dangerously. Large sea-going ships can penetrate as far as Giurgiu (kp 485)

So we define the Middle Danube as running from just south of Bratislava in Slovakia to the Iron Gates Lock in Romania/Serbia.

Serbia has the left bank from kp 1433 (Mohács) down to kp 1075 (confluence of the Nera River), a distance of 358 kilometres. Formerly, the old Yugoslavia had the right bank from kp 1433 down to kp 845 (confluence of the R. Timok), a distance of 588 kilometres. Since then, some of this distance is now Croatian but I do not know the exact boundary. In any event, Serbia has about 900 kilometres of riparian assets, assets which the riparian countries have failed to exploit to the full. Towns and cities #quot;turn their backs on#quot; the river, leaving it to heavy industry, but these riparian assets can contribute massively to the state economy if tourism is sensibly exploited, without too much upset to the environment for water tourism needs a minimum of permanent civil engineering construction.

Though this paper is written largely for the Serbian authorities, tourism on the Danube cannot, in my opinion, be considered solely in terms of Serbia because both up and downstream the river has different nations on opposite banks. Also, in river navigation, national boundaries seem to dwindle in importance, especially to foreign tourists. It is the river itself that chiefly impinges on the navigator's mind. I think some form of co-operation with neighbouring states will greatly enhance the size of the total cake, from which all will benefit.

Types of water tourism

1. Pleasure craft on passage to or from the Black Sea.
2. Racing in boats under
   • power
   • sail
   • canoeing
3. Cruising in privately-owned medium sized motor craft such as small converted barges (of which there are very many, chiefly of British, American, French and Dutch ownership.)
4. Yacht cruising under
   • power
   • sail
   • canoeing
5. The small/medium professionally crewed charter boat.
6. The massive (often 200 metres long) hotel boats.

Passage makers

I think class No 1 can be set aside for the time being. The journey downstream from the North Sea to the Black Sea is over 4000 kilometres and requires a certain amount of haste and application to be done between spring and late summer. It cannot be started too early in the year because of floods from melting snow, and one needs to get out of the Danube and Black Sea before the ice forms in late September. This gives little opportunity for sightseeing and a relaxed enjoyment of the country through which one passes. And thus little chance of spending money en route. The journey upstream against the current takes even longer and sometimes cannot be achieved without a tow.

Boats on this sort of passage can reasonably use facilities provided for other types. There will not be many and they could easily "slot in". At the moment facilities are virtually non-existent, and there is little of this traffic. There could be more.

Wintering

There is an opportunity to provide facilities for boats on passage to break their journey and lay up for the winter and thus take two summers of more leisurely travel. Clearly they will pay for the facility and there will be opportunity for engineers, painters etc., and this would be of economic interest to the riparian states. Good places in Serbia for this might be Veliko-Gradište at kp 1059, or at Novi Sad (kp 1257). In Hungary, there are many ideal places. This would need a building, notably a hangar (boats scheduled for a life in Mediterranean sunshine do not take kindly to sub-zero temperatures) and cranage (travelift), and the return might not justify the investment unless traffic increases. Even though I expect traffic to expand considerably over the next ten years, it is starting from a very low base. Facilities of this type will anyway be needed for any locally owned charter boats. Winter for the occasional boat on passage should be considered as a by-line.

Holiday cruising

If we take out the birds of passage, the cruising is done by foreigners or by locals. One of the dangers is that state funded facilities intended for foreigners so as to gain foreign exchange or to stimulate employment, are all too often quickly filled with craft belonging to local people (which has happened everywhere in Greece to facilities provided by EU funds.) The facilities thus do not earn their keep as a tourist attraction and this possibility must be watched.

Charter and hire-boats

It is not likely that many foreigners (apart from perhaps Austrians and Germans) will pause for long to cruise these waters in their own boats. The exploitation lends itself to the charter industry, crewed, bare-boat and flotilla.

These formats appeal to different types of person. The individualist will take a bare-boat because he thinks he can cope on his own. The large, rich family party might opt for the crewed boat. Those with fewer sailing skills seek the reassurance of being under the eye of a "leader" and the reassurance of a shared experience. The leader is in another, similar boat which accompanies several boats in a flotilla, or little fleet. The tourist can thus have some privacy, but has the support of the leader in any difficulty. In both of these categories, it is necessary to provide enough boats of a suitable type, to train the leaders, and to provide small "pleasure ports" off the river (for safety) or the occasional halte nautique (which can be a simple pontoon mooring, preferably in a backwater.)

Racing

I know nothing about power-boat racing. I will leave that to others. I did notice however some reaches of the river where it should be possible to sponsor international small boat regattas for sailing yachts or dinghies. There is a river widening near kp 1000 and Donji Milanovac which would be ideal for this and bring some little prosperity to a small town. The current here is not that strong and seems to be fairly even across the river which is about 1.7 km wide, enough to provide a course for quite significant dinghies.

I know nothing about canoeing, but it is popular. When I passed through Bezdan, the frontier police showed me the log of pleasure boats which had passed since Yugoslavia split apart. Understandably, there were not many, but canoes and canoe clubs accounted for 25% of entries.

Tributaries

What about other local rivers? I am sure people would like to explore rivers such as the Tissa and Drava. Looking at the Danube Commission's data book, there are dozens of other tributaries. Ideal places for small boats away from the big commercial barges which the inexperienced will find hard to cope with. For the benefit of those who have not made this passage, let me say that these commercial push tows can consist of two tugs of 60 metres length pushing eight 2000 tonne barges all lashed together. Coming across such a tow on a narrow stretch of the river concentrates the mind wonderfully. The Arpatin bends for example, though these are so difficult for big tows that they usually split up to pass through singly.

Location

(Beware the word "location". It has a completely different meaning in French.)

Where should the boat chartering bases be located?

Airports. They have to be near an airport capable of taking charter airliners. The punters (as the tourists are called by the English) arrive in numbers, for the cost of air travel is a factor and also, nobody wants a long bus ride after putting up with overcrowding and delays experienced in holiday periods at airports.

The only airport with such runways that I know of along the Serbian Danube is at Beograd. There may be others, you would know. Domestic airports can be adapted, as Greece has done. There are probably airports at or near Dunaújváros in Hungary and possibly at Orsova or Turnu Severin in Romania. It would be worth sharing the benefits with neighbours.

Attractions and sightseeing. If the central base is at Beograd, there must be places to go. Why stay in a boat just to see a big city when everyone knows that nowadays most big cities are each-other's uncongenial look-alikes and full of tension.

Distances. An average day's travel for a small, amateur-driven motor-cruiser is best kept to well under 50 km for a fortnight's cruise. Like this the distance likely to be achieved from the base will not exceed, say, 150 — 200 km. If there were to be two bases, they could be, say, 250 — 300km apart and the holiday could begin at one base and end at another.

Beograd, for instance is at kp 1170. The Kazan Gorge, one of the most spectacular places imaginable, is between 965 and 970, that is to say, about 200 km from Beograd, at the limit for a fortnight's leisurely cruise unless one started at Beograd and finished somewhere close to the Iron Gates lock at kp 943 (to stay in Serbia), or to cross the river and change crews at Orsova, a scruffy but interesting Romanian port on the left bank.

Stops on the way. Where could these be?. Ritopek at kp 1141? I recall it is not very beautiful. Smederevo (kp 1116) is interesting for its Turkish castle, but the oil facilities are not a tourist attraction, except perhaps to someone like Josef Stalin. It's a long haul to Veliko-Gradište, (kp 1059) a nice place. Then perhaps Golubac (kp 1040), with its gothic monsters and drowned forest, and Donji Milanovac.

Upstream one would stop for choice at or near Surduk (kp 1207) and then a "country halt" near nowhere, behind an island near the Tissa confluence (kp 1214), a popular overnight halt for barges and a good place for a barbecue in the wild. The next place I noted was Novi Sad, quite a long way at Kp 1257 and obviously a major stopping place. Above that there is Vukovar (kp 1333), which was bombed on the day we passed through and which will have sombre memories for some. It would be difficult for some time to generate a party atmosphere there. Time will heal it. Bogojevo at kp 1367 (it was at 1380, that we were boarded by a boatload of heavily armed milicia, who, we have to say, behaved impeccably after ascertaining that we were not gun-running.) Then there are the Apatin bends and the town of Apatin at kp 1401. I'll refer to these bends again. There's not much at Bezdan (kp 1425) except a pontoon and a barracks, but something could be done for tourists. Then you are in Hungary at Mohács (kp 1446), site of the celebrated battle against the Turks, where there is everything except a good mooring.

Haltes and Pleasure Ports. What would be needed at these? I avoid the word "marina" because it implies a major development that I think would not be appropriate. Spending too much is as bad as spending too little. On the other hand, Beograd itself should have a marina for both foreign tourists and its own citizens, and it would be best located in the Sava river.

First, bear in mind that the river level varies very considerably, 6 or 7 metres on occasions, even 10 in certain places. I suggest fixed moorings are not appropriate for water tourism. Even big vessels have huge pontoon moorings with buildings on them like a country railway station,

Clearly a pleasure port would need a large central pontoon with some facilities. Fresh water and perhaps coin-in-the-slot plugs for electricity, shower. Some could have a washing machine (coin-operated). If not close to a town a simple cafe-bar-restaurant (like Milan's Treff on a pontoon in the old Petrol basin at Bratislava. Go to see that if you can: the atmosphere is wonderful. It is very popular with Austrians who come down river from Vienna for the weekend. I hope it's still flourishing.) Perhaps a tank of diesel, for fuel is hard to come by in small boat quantities. There should be a few extra places for casual callers.

The halte nautique would be a simpler version of the above, needing only a safe mooring and a water tap. In France these all have a map with directions to the nearest village and what shops are there. Local authorities should be encouraged to enhance them.

Ideally, all of these would be in basins dredged off the river to avoid the wash of passing heavy traffic. Hungary has provided some such though they are usually full of local boats or inaccessible. These are expensive to dredge out, and have to be kept dredged as the entrances tend to silt up.

Facilities

It must be remembered that the tourists will not want to eat in their boats, except for breakfast, though they will want places to buy something to drink. To provide their meals should be a source of profit for somebody, but to achieve a proper provision, the numbers will have to reach a minimum sustainable level, bearing in mind the season is short, and the quality of cuisine (which need not be elaborate or fancy) must nevertheless be acceptable internationally.

These holidays will not come cheap. That means that the punters will expect facilities and "comforts" that they are used to. It is a paradox that they go to a foreign country and expect to enjoy the standard of living of their own country. If the holiday is a fortnight long, the ladies will start to demand hairdressers, for example.

I recall that Romania made a big effort to attract bird-watching tourists to the Danube delta. At Crisan, for instance, they installed a mooring pontoon and provided a restaurant and a camp-site. Within a few years, the place was derelict. They did not follow up the provision of the hardware, possibly because of the Caucescu disorder.

The boats

Ideally these should be of steel because of the knocking about they will receive, but operators in France and Britain have found that the fibreglass boats become shabby inside and have to be replaced for that reason long before their hulls wear out. Because nobody expects a super finish, much of the interiors can be moulded, thus limiting expensive wood joinery. Hulls must be stout to cope with the odd tree-trunk floating downstream, which the inexperienced will not see. Propellers should be in cages, and engines must be powerful because of the adverse currents, though I think that planing or semi-planing boats are not desirable for novices, and they are extra vulnerable to debris in the water, which is a major Danube problem. Even with powerful engines, I would recommend having a small tug at certain places to tow the flotilla through. Imagine a Ukrainian tugmaster with a big tow coming downstream round a corner of the bends at Apatin and finding a dozen little plastic "bathtubs" (to him) scattered in front.

The flotilla staff

There will need to be a lead boat which will take charge in a friendly and pleasant manner. The leader must know the river and know boats, but must also know how to deal with the punters. Flotilla leaders in Greece (many of them Commonwealth or British) say there is always one awkward customer and he must be coped with in a light manner without creating a bad atmosphere that upsets the rest. One does NOT want military discipline. The Leader's boat will also carry an engineer competent in the type of motor fitted throughout. He too will have to be tactful. He will have to deal with marine toilets with which the punters are unfamiliar and things can go disgustingly wrong. No matter what, he has to come up smiling. And because half of the punters are women, there is a hostess, often the leader's or engineer's wife.

When flotillas started in the early seventies, the managers appointed leaders who were primarily seamen. This did not work well. They then appointed macho young Antipodeans who played the guitar and made love to all the girls and upset the male punters. This did not work either. Now there seems to be a happy medium in most flotillas and business has improved.

A full outfit of spares for both motor and domestic fittings must be kept at base and the more frequently used also kept in the lead boat. Ideally, the base should have a fast small boat, a RIB, that could speedily take a part to the flotilla by water because often roads do not run beside a river but at right angles to it. It might also be useful in the event of sickness or injury. Needless to say, the base should have access to a doctor with the appropriate foreign language. A tourist should NEVER be left stranded, even for a day. News travels fast and an upset tourist can soon sour the whole scene.

There are many ideals in the last few paragraphs. Not all of them will be met in practice but most of them should be.

Lastly the flotilla holiday is most popular and most easily sold in Britain. With the exception of the Dutch, the rest of Europe has not caught on to it. Mostly, with the rest (and also with many English) the bareboat is preferred. Here, you still need the back-up boat and supply of spares. And tact.

The Small/medium crewed charter boat

There are many of these in France called bateaux-hotels, usually converted from one of the Freycinet standard commercial barges of about 40 metres. You might say that there are too many of these in France. At sea the professionally crewed charter yacht is usually between 20 and 28 metres, and passengers are carried in proportion to the size and to the standard of luxury offered. Some boats, on sea or river, are highly de luxe, take say 6 passengers in great air-conditioned comfort and meals are provided on board by a professional chef and served by trained stewards. And the price is high, and should be so. At the other end of the scale are boats converted to carry school-children in spartan accommodation and in much larger numbers. These boats are often taken up by educational authorities for children in the school holidays or for short educational voyages in term-time.

For the luxury trade, it must be remembered that the customer is likely to be used to servants and will expect a high standard of service. Distances covered will be greater (a vessel's maximum speed is proportional to its length), and with a professional prepared to drive longer hours than an amateur (while the punters are at breakfast, say), stops can be further apart. Such a vessel starting at Beograd could easily visit Budapest (kp 1647), and the interesting Szentendre (St Andrews) in its backwater at about kp 1650. Further on, Esztergom at kp 1718 might be pushing it a bit far.

Bureaucracy

It is not reasonable to maintain difficult frontier controls and expect a flourishing foreign tourist trade. Europeans have lost the habit of dealing with officious and obstructive border officials, and with the collapse of totalitarianism, the need for them has really disappeared. If a visa is still considered necessary nowadays (and I remain to be convinced that such measures are necessary in Europe) then for the tourists we are discussing, it should be contained in the booking arrangements and it would be best if they were barely aware of it. When we navigated the Danube, much of the pleasure of the voyage was taken away by official inflexibility and even stupidity. More was affected by unconcealed corruption (baksheesh even for officials whose salaries should have put them above such indignities). I should say that Serbia was largely free of this, but in the atmosphere of sanctions that existed, everyone there was being ultra careful and correct. This certainly did not apply to Hungary, Romania or Bulgaria, all of which were appalling and un-European.

The Danube Commission

We now come to the subject of navigational bureaucracy. The most draconian administration for a river is the Rhine Commission, which is geared to keeping pleasure craft off the Rhine. They cannot do this completely so they make the rules restrictive to a level approaching lunacy. And they enforce them at a similar level. The River Rhine is not that difficult unless it is in flood.

The Danube Commission was once dominated by the USSR but now operates in something of a vacuum with Germany and Austria trying to dominate but being largely thwarted by the Dutch. I sense something of a power struggle, and it is likely that the EU will try to stick its oar in before long. Then, heaven help us.

Documents

Certificates for helmsmen would be required at the moment, and normally these helmsmen would be limited to boats under 15 metres. The flotilla boats are likely to be about 12 metres or less. The bare-boats might push the 15 metre limit as the market is partly for large family groups. And there are the privately owned small barges, most of which are above 15 metres. Professional crews will have to be professionally qualified for passenger service.

France has sensibly solved many problems by the introduction of a PP licence (PP stands for Peniche de Plaisance or Pleasure Barge). This licence is awarded to amateurs who pass a written exam, mostly on the signals displayed or used by professionals, and which certainly need to be understood, and then a practical ship-handling test. This then entitles the holder to drive a barge of up to 40 metres on the rivers and canals of France, and on those of some other countries too. I suggest the Danube Commission should accept such a licence for the summer months (May 15 to October 31) unless there are flood conditions, or where the current exceeds 12 km/hr. It does ensure a reasonable level of competence for reasonable conditions of the river. I would recommend this qualification for Europe-wide application.

Policing

Water police activities vary from country to country. There is inevitably a temptation for authority to interfere too much with individual freedom. The worst police in this respect are those of Greece and Holland, which are both a pain in the neck that inhibit tourism. Germany is not far behind. Even in England we have our problems and the authorities on the Broads and the River Thames are little more than interfering busybodies. Governments often justify Interference in the name of safety. They forget that the water and the sea can never be completely safe, and that if they were, then probably nobody would be interested in them. The ability to take modest risks is what freedom is about.

Maps

Some good maps or charts would be essential; sensible, practical strip charts like the French Cartes Guides de Navigation Fluviale, but also a general map with information about the towns and villages. There is much history about, and the history of the Turkish occupation of the Balkans and Eastern Europe is little known in the west but is fascinating.

Consult the Customers

Lastly, I would urge the authorities to take soundings of the customers, especially in the early stages. Some countries achieve less than they could because they think they know best what the tourist wants. A little story:

I was one of the first yachts to winter, living on board, in Bodrum where the new marina was half-completed. The manager, Baysan Gurer, invited all of the 12 yachts' crews for a drink and asked each for a list of what the marina had done wrong or failed to do right. He discussed the answers with all of us together and changes were made. This approach is in marked contrast to the attitude that so often prevails in Greece, even today, where services are provided on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. The result is that Turkey (and Croatia too) have creamed off much of the better quality yachting tourism that might well have been based in Greece. Another factor in the defection of yachts from Greece has been the difficulties with yachts' paperwork, which can take up to two hours in any port, filling in forms. By contrast, Turkey has everything computerised now. (I will not dwell on the formalities that exist at the moment in most Danube countries. These date from Iron Curtain days of paranoia and MUST be changed.)

I trust the above will provide food for thought.

Books

The Danube, A river Guide by Rod Heikell. This is not up to the standard of his sea-guides, but information on the Danube is scant and this book has its place.

Indicateur Kilometrique du Danube by the Danube Commission in Russian and French. Most valuable from a navigational point of view, and more informative than most maps.

Sporthajósok Kézikönyve a Duna by Magyar Dunai Yacht-kikötők Egyesülete. In Hungarian and German, but dealing only with Hungarian waters. A very good navigational book. Serbia should produce something on these lines.

Danube Commission's maps, large scale, in great detail, more than is strictly necessary for navigation. Very difficult to obtain.

Back Door to Byzantium by Bill and Laurel Cooper, an account of a voyage down the Danube during the days of sanctions.

Danube by Claudio Magris, in Italian, but translated into English. This is not about navigation and is little more than a cultural name-dropping exercise. (Never make one quotation if you can find a hundred). It does, however go some way into the history of the Danube, not always accurately.

There are older accounts of voyages down the Danube, most notably a very readable one by Negley Farson which is now a little dated and out of print, and another by Tristram Jones, which errs on the side of melodrama and fantasy.

[1] British Royal Navy (Retired), Master Mariner, and Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation
As a Navy officer navigated or commanded a variety of ships, from aircraft carriers down to Motor Torpedo Boats. After retiring from professional sea-going, he took to ocean racing and yacht cruising. With his wife Laurel they have cruised the world, on both inland waters and seas.
Theye recived awards for voyages and seamanship, like those of the Royal Cruising Club, the Little Ship Club and the Royal Naval Sailing Association. Also from the Portuguese Government for help in developing the marina at Horta in the Islas Açores.
Author of books: Sell Up and Sail, Watersteps Round Europe, Back Door to Byzantium

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