Customs Regulations
 

Hope someone in Dubai can give me some simple advice.

I hope soon to be moving to Dubai from France. When I move, I would like to ship my personal belongings/household goods. I have two sailing dinghies and I would like to bring them with me also.

Does anyone have any experiences (either good or bad) of bringing in these sort of things? I also have a motorbike and wonder if it's worth bringing that too or if it would be too much trouble.

Are there any particular European moving companies which tend to specialise in moves to UAE?

Does anyone know if a sailing dinghy is required to be regisetered in UAE?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Re: Customs Regulations
 

I presume you are talking about a boat such as a Laser. There aren't many in Dubai, I looked into it as I wanted to bring a 505 over but there is no real competitive sailing. The only club is Jebel Ali Sailing Club which has a few boats but I don't know how long they will be around as they are being surrounded by an increasing number of 7 star hotels and they are on prime land.
The main drawback is that the temperature really dries the boats out and when you are going over waves, you notice that all the rigidity has gone from the hull. As a result your boat will not be worth taking back with you after a couple of years and ypou will get a very low price for selling it. There is a guy called Brian who runs a shop in Sharjah called ULO Systems. He is the only guy in the area who knows anything about it- a nice guy too, I sailed Laser 5000's with him in Oman a couple of times. I think you do have to register boats individually, but Brian or Jebel Ali Sailing Club will be in a better position to aid you there.
As far as the bike goes, I'm no expert but I believe that you can buy really good bikes second hand for very good prices. There is a big Harley shop and you see a lot of guys riding Ducati and Fireblade type bikes.