eFoil regulations & spots in Vanuatu

Vanuatu does not mention eFoils, electric surfboards or personal watercraft in any maritime text found. The Maritime Sector Regulatory Act 2016 gives the Vanuatu Maritime Safety Authority (VMSA) responsibility for "the regulation of small craft", defined as any vessel under 10 m, and VMSA's Small Craft Rules 2022 require small boats under 10 m to be registered and inspected by VMSA before a safety certificate is issued and to carry life jackets, hand flares, paddles and a charged phone. Those rules were written for outboard-powered boats carrying passengers between islands; whether VMSA would treat a rider-carried electric board as a "small craft" is not settled, and an eFoil is best described as an unaddressed motorised craft.

No licence, age limit, insurance or PFD-wearing rule for a private eFoil is documented. VMSA issues a Boat Master's Licence (examination and certificate fees of 5,750 vatu each) and registers vessels under 10 gross tonnes for five years at 23,000 vatu, but these are aimed at boats in trade or passenger service, and under the Shipping Act a safety certificate is required for vessels engaged in trade or passenger traffic. Commercial jet-ski tours have run from Port Vila harbour and Mele Bay with a safety briefing and equipment supplied by the operator; a business hiring out eFoils should expect VMSA to ask for registration and a safety certificate. Confirm the position with VMSA in Port Vila before importing.

Riding water on Efate centres on Port Vila harbour, the Erakor and Emten lagoons and Mele Bay. Port Vila harbour is a commercial port with cruise-ship, cargo and ferry movements, so stay clear of the wharves and shipping lanes. Mele Bay contains the Hideaway Island marine reserve, owned and managed by the Mele community and leased to a resort, and the wider coast is dotted with customary tabu areas where chiefs close reef sections; these are enforced by the village. Outer islands such as Santo and Tanna run on the same customary system, and landowners control beach access.

There is no record of enforcement against private motorised craft; VMSA's compliance effort is directed at passenger boats, with rural safety training and detentions of unsafe vessels. The practical penalties are customary: a kastom fine or exclusion for riding over a tabu reef or launching from a village beach without asking the chief. Rules are national in name but local in practice and vary village by village. Ask the chief or landowner before launching anywhere outside a resort, avoid tabu-marked reefs and the cruise-ship berth, wear a PFD, and check with VMSA whether it wants the board registered before bringing one in.