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What you want to do, with how many people.
Deinze · On the water since 2010
Carried,
Carried,
or in charge?
Two completely different things in law. Carried means the vessel is certified for passengers and someone qualified is at the helm. In charge means you are, with your own licence and your own insurance position. We tell you which one you are buying.
- 2010since
- 12the threshold
- Hireor carried
- Freeif we cancel
What we do
Four things, one question first
Whether you are carried or in charge decides the certificate, the licence and the insurance, so it is settled before anyone pays.
Passenger trips
Carrying passengers on the water, with the vessel and the helm certified for it.
See the programHire without a crew
Hiring equipment and craft for you to use yourself.
See the programLeisure equipment
Renting leisure and sports equipment, maintained and explained.
See the programAdvisory work
Business and management consultancy, separate from the water side.
See the program
How it works
How we work
Settle whether you are carried or in charge before anyone pays, match the certificate and the licence to that answer, and treat the skipper's decision not to sail as absolute, refunding it in full rather than arguing about weather.
The arrangement named
Carried, or hiring and in charge.
Certificates and licences
Matched to the arrangement, not assumed.
The day itself
Judged on conditions, refunded if cancelled.
Working together
What things cost
Quoted per trip or per hire in euro. If we cancel for any reason, including a decision not to sail, you get everything back.
A passenger trip
We carry you, on a vessel certified for it.
- Vessel certified for passengers
- Qualified person at the helm
- Safety equipment provided
- Full refund if we cancel
- No route or sighting promised
Hire without crew
You take it out, and you are the person in charge.
- Required licence checked
- Instructions before you go
- Equipment checked and sized
- Your insurance position explained
- Be carried instead if unsure
Advisory work
Business and management consultancy.
- Commercial advice only
- Not investment advice
- No authorisation claimed
- Written output
- Referral where it belongs elsewhere
Every engagement is quoted after a free consultation. No subscription.
How we work
One question decides everything on the water
A2 INVEST SRL was created on 20 April 2010 and is registered with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises under number 0825.215.919, with its registered office at 27 Biezestraat in Deinze, East Flanders. The registered activities cover passenger water transport, the hire of leisure and sports equipment, and business and management consultancy.
Whether you are being carried or whether you are in charge is the distinction everything else follows from, and almost nobody is told about it. Being carried means the vessel has to be certified for the carriage of passengers and the person at the helm has to hold the professional qualification for that work, which a pleasure licence does not provide. Hiring something without a crew makes you the person in charge: you need whatever licence that requires, you are responsible for the rules of navigation, and your insurance position is simply not the one that protects a carried passenger. There is also a legal threshold worth knowing, because people assume it is about seating. Carry more than twelve passengers at sea and the vessel is a passenger ship in law, under a completely different certification regime. And one rule that overrides every commercial consideration: if the person in charge decides not to sail, or to come back early, that decision stands. We treat it as our cancellation and refund it in full, because a skipper who feels commercial pressure in that moment is the most dangerous thing on any boat.
Frequently asked
The questions we get most
What is the difference between a trip and a hire?
Who is in charge. On a trip we carry you, which requires the vessel to be certified for carrying passengers and the person at the helm to hold the professional qualification for it. On a hire you take the craft out yourself, which makes you the person in charge, responsible for holding any required licence and for the navigation rules. The insurance position differs fundamentally between the two, and that is the part people discover too late.
Why does twelve passengers matter?
Because it is a legal threshold rather than a question of how many seats there are. A vessel carrying more than twelve passengers at sea is a passenger ship for the purposes of the international conventions, which brings an entirely different and much heavier certification regime. So a group of thirteen is not simply one more person than a group of twelve, it is a different kind of operation.
I have a pleasure boat licence. Can I take a group out commercially?
No, and this catches people out regularly. A pleasure navigation licence does not authorise carrying passengers for remuneration. Doing it anyway means operating outside the regime the activity requires, and the predictable consequence is not a fine but an insurer declining a claim after something has gone wrong. If you want to carry people for money, you need the vessel certified for it and the qualification that goes with it.
What happens if the weather turns?
The person in charge decides, and that decision is absolute. Weather, sea state, visibility, the condition of the vessel and the condition of the people on board are all proper reasons not to go or to come back early. When that happens we treat it as our cancellation and refund everything you have paid, with no administration fee. A skipper under commercial pressure to sail is the single most dangerous thing on a boat, so we remove the pressure.
Will you check whether I am capable before hiring to me?
We will check any licence the law requires for what you are taking out, and we will give you the instructions you need to use it safely. We do not assess your competence beyond that and we are not going to pretend we do, because a reassuring glance is not an assessment. If you are not confident in the conditions on the day, be carried instead. There is no embarrassment in it and it is usually the better afternoon.
Your name says invest. Do you offer investments?
No. The consultancy we provide is commercial advice on business and management questions. We are not an investment firm, we manage nobody's money, we hold no authorisation from the Financial Services and Markets Authority and nothing on this site is an offer, invitation or inducement to invest. The name is a name, and it is worth saying so plainly.
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