The Rúna Life

From Sardinia to Tunisia, and Back to Europe

For British sailors Andrew and Ruth, cruising aboard their Excess 11 also means keeping an eye on both the Schengen rules and the 18-month Temporary Admission period for their VAT-unpaid catamaran. This time, the paperwork dictated the route: from Sardinia to Tunisia, then back to Europe via Sicily.

The Rúna Life

Published 02/10/2026

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Issue: 210

Published: dec. / jan. 2027

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Who: Andrew & Ruth
Where: Mediterranean Sea
Multihull: Excess 11
YouTube: @TheRunaLife

One of the less glamorous aspects of life aboard is all the administrative formalities that come with the boat. As British citizens, we have to juggle not only the 90-day limit in the Schengen Area, but also European Value Added Tax (VAT) and customs regulations.
We bought our catamaran Rúna VAT-free, which means it can remain in European Union waters for only
18 consecutive months under the temporary admission regime.
Traditionally, that means sailing to a non-EU country such as Tunisia, Montenegro or Albania. It’s becoming possible to simply sail beyond 12 miles offshore and turn back to reset the clock, but this practice isn’t widely accepted among customs officials. We wanted proper paperwork proving Rúna had physically left the EU.
After sailing the length of Sardinia’s western coastline, Tunisia became our next destination: a 125-nautical-mile crossing to Bizerte. The sail couldn’t have been better, with a fairly consistent 20 knots directly behind us all night making for a fantastic downwind run. Bizerte sits almost perfectly between Sardinia and Sicily, so while it’s not exactly top of a traditional tourist itinerary, it made a brilliant stopover.
Arriving in Tunisia was where the fun with paperwork really began. Thankfully, police and customs were both based within the marina, though the whole process still took around three hours. We had to declare almost everything on board, including alcohol and electronics, and hand over our drones, which aren’t permitted in the country. Our boat was searched, our passports stamped, and eventually we were officially in Tunisia.
The stop also let us take advantage of remarkably cheap fuel, at just € 0.66 a liter – quite a contrast to the prices we’d grown accustomed to around Europe.

Checking out was another three-hour process, complicated by a regatta leaving Tunisia that same day. After settling our marina bill (€ 55 a night), Rúna was searched once more, our passports stamped and our drones returned. We were free to head back into the EU.
Our second 125-mile crossing took us to Trapani, on Sicily’s west coast. This was a much slower sail, with around 12 knots overnight, though we held a single tack the whole way. Unfortunately, I fell ill, leaving Andrew to sail for 21 hours largely solo, though I managed to give him a couple of breaks. If we thought the paperwork in Tunisia was hard, Sicily had other ideas. What should have been a straightforward check-in became a three-day saga as we were passed between authorities who couldn’t agree who was ...

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