'Greek Wreckers'

jimbaerselman

jimbaerselman

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\'Greek Wreckers\'

An article is published on your website on 'Greek Wreckers'. It's an attention getting headline - for a very one-sided article. http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20080729151937cbnews.html

I have emailed the following to the editor.

Sir,

The article about Greek wreckers in CB is a piece of very sloppy reporting. I suspect the writer's reasonable sympathies towards damage to a lovely old vessel overwhelmed his critical faculties.

I say this because:

1. The incident did not take place off the west coast of Zante if your photo is to be believed. The background is of Alikes, on the East coast.

2. Alikes is very exposed to the regular northerly winds, which usually blow up to F4 or 5 in the afternoons. When there are gales forecast, an onshore F7 is almost a certainty with a quite considerable surf onto the shallow shelving beach. First question you correspondent did not ask - why did the vessel not depart when the forecast was received 48 hours beforehand?

3. 'A swinging mooring', 'a pink pick up buoy'. Whose mooring was this? The laid moorings in the small sheltered area just south of the harbour area are only designed to cater for <10m excursion boats. They would certainly not suit a large, high windage yacht. And if he had laid his own mooring, it was obviously inadequate. What a missing pink pick up buoy (or 'cut' pick up buoy rope) has to do with this is a mystery to me. The article quotes 'dragging', rather than any parting rope. And one would not secure with a pick up buoy rope anyway. The conclusion suggested, that this caused the wreck through deliberate sabotage, does not stand up.

4. 'The engine would not start, in spite of having two one year old batteries'. The comment suggests (we don't know) that the batteries had both been run down. So the probability is that he didn't keep one battery solely isolated for engine starting, and didn't routinely check battery states.

5. It apears there were only two aboard. That's light crew for a vessel this size unless both are very well experienced and good seamen.

All of these items are the responsibility of the skipper, and are four linked causes of the accident. Based on the article 'facts', I'd label the accident as caused by multiple lapses of good seamanship, not sabotage.

That he didn't get help is another issue. First, did those ashore capable of helping actually receive the message? Second, in a gale, could they have helped anyway? And third, had he done anything to rile the locals? (pick up excursion passengers, moor/anchor partly in the way of the ferries).

Once he abandoned the vessel, it was fair game - not for wreckers, but for salvage. He probably did not realise this. Learn the rules of the country you're visiting. However, I can quite understand that emotion takes over at this stage, and the facts all become distorted, paranoia sets in. Your correspondent's job was to sift between the facts and the opinions and to weed out any false conclusions. In my opinion, he failed. But that's only my opinion. I'd like to be proved wrong.
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Jim, I have a Greek friend who is visiting friends on Zakinthos next week, if anything comes to light I will report, I remain very sceptical about this. Good letter by the way!
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Your criticism of the report about my schooner, Yansa, is largely unjustified. One mistake to acknowledge - and a pretty minor one - yes it is the Eastern side of Zante.

As to your other points. The pick-up buoy for the tripping line was 5 to 6 metres. On the day of the gale it was absent. When lines and anchors were untangled, the line was less than a metre and had a straight knife cut. Each morning I inspected the beach for anything washed ashore ; the pick-up buoy was never found. The anchor was lifted by it, the line cut, the anchor dropped back on top of sea bed, dislodged.

As to moving from that spot, the anchor in the same place had easily held the boat during previous high winds two days before.

You fail to note the two further acts of deliberate sabotage : the removal of the plate covering exhaust and also removal of wadding stuffed inside pipe. Egress of engine oil into sea would provoke CG into action and leave me with a €5,000 fine.

Both year-old batteries worked perfectly well and were - again 2 days beofre - properly charged. Battery isolation switch brand new ; engine battery only linked to domestic in emergency. Such as this was. But to no effect.

You also make no mention of the complete - and independently verifiable - blocking of ALL rescue attempts. All communication regarding the whole scenario channelled through British vice-consulate.

As to the crewing. My crewman and I are both experienced sailors. during the 2500kms sail to Greek isles we sailed through - with but one reef in mainsail - a force9, two force 8s and bog knows how many 6 and 7s.

As to the idiot who reckons it was b o l l o x, my sympathies go to him.

Mark - skipper of Yansa.
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Hi,
this is not chain mail, however if you can forward this on to help publicise Marks situation he'll be very grateful.

I met Mark recently when I was on holiday in Zakynthos (Zante), here's his story -

His life's dream was to own a sailing schooner and this was realised a few years ago when he came across the 'Yansa' which needed renovating, so he put his life savings, everything he had into restoring her and completing most of the work himself until after 4 years of hard work she was fully repaired and sea worthy. The Yansa became his home and his business, everything that he has.
Earlier this year he found himself moored up and operating chartered trips out of Alykes on Zakynthos but six weeks ago the area was hit by a particularly bad squall. His schooner started drifting and even with his many years of experience as a Yachmaster and Skipper he found himself in an impossible position of trying to save the Yansa from being beached. Despite radio requests for assistance, none of the local fishermen and boat owners would come to his aid including a couple of ex pats. They watched as Mark struggled for 3 hours to pull his schooner away from the shallows by just using his dingy and an outboard motor but eventually the weather beat him and the Yansa ended up beached. He has been confronted with a wall of opposition as his boat and possessions has been ransacked and vandalised. None of the locals have been prepared to help him refloat her and sadly now the hull has been breached and flooded which means he has to raise the money to get her lifted out and transported to dry dock to try and repair and restore her to sea worthiness. Maritime insurance does not cover certain mooring circumstances and unfortunately Mark has found himself in such a situation.The local coastguard and the British commissioner has been informed and involved but to no avail.
Allegations and evidence of sabotage are coming to light with cut anchor lines, attempts to release the engines diesel fuel into the bay and deliberate vandalism carried out on safety measures that Mark has put into place to safeguard the schooner and the general public. The Mayor has offered a paltry 5K to take the schooner off of Marks hands.The coast guard could have put Mark in touch with someone to tow the schooner out to deeper water before the hull was breached but they did not inform Mark until it was too late. Basically life is being made very difficult for him in the hope that he will walk away from the schooner so that it can then be ripped apart as salvage by the locals so that they can profit from the situation.
The Yansa is worth about 90 - 120 K and it is estimated that it will take about 20-25K to get her into dry dock and for Mark to repair her but this isn't just about the money that Mark needs to save the Yansa from being torn apart it's about the dreadful situation that he finds himself in and what appears to be a corrupt conspiracy that has closed around him leaving him with nowhere to turn and watch everything that he has be taken from him.

If you can offer Mark anyhelp whatsoever, be it emails of support or point him in the direction of financial guidance, please contact him on mj_walker2@btinternet.com also for further information on the Yansa go to crewso.com

Attached are some photos of the Yansa and where she is beached, as you can see she has become a bit of a tourist attraction but for the wrong reasons and holiday makers are not being told the truth about Marks situation and how she got there.
This is one tourist that definitely won't be going back to Zakynthos for this and many other reasons.

Joffre
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Thanks for the reasonable reply, Mark. You will note that I was criticising the report and the reporter for putting points across in such a way that the circumstances were very unclear.

The issue of not shifting at the time of forecast deserved an explanation, which you have now given us. I expect you'd agree with me that the anchorage is pretty exposed to the northerlies . . . frankly, I'd hate to be there in anything over a 6.

Just to wind up people in the forum a bit - you weren't by any chance using a CQR were you? Notorious for not re-setting in hard sand once they've tripped . . .

The writer's use of the term 'mooring' was confusing; did he mean that you were moored with two anchors? Or just being casual in his use of the word?

Unlike your statement, he ducked the issue as to whether a deliberately lifted anchor was a cause of the anchor dragging. I guess that even for you, this was a conclusion, rather than a certainty. If someone deliberately tripped your anchor, there's no doubt that this was a criminal act. I have little doubt (if that's what occurred) it would have been the action of an isolated individual rather than a local consensus. There does, of course, remain the (all too common) possibility that someone picked up your buoy rope on his prop, and cut it free. I have suffered this indignity two or three times over the years sailing in the Med, and as a result don't use tripping lines any more. If my anchor snags, it's on with the wet suit and weights . . .

Sadly, once you're grounded in many Med countries, if the boat is not manned, 'salvage' is permitted and takes many forms - such as stripping the vessel. An unpleasant feature. Much will depend on the local community though, and your standing with them. I must re-visit Alikes to smell out the local culture again.

Your supporter mentions (rightly or wrongly?) that you had been chartering locally. If you had all the permissions, tax codes and inspections, the competition in some places will still work to make life difficult for you and will not come to your assistance if you get into difficulties. If you don't have the right permissions, you will certainly be regarded as 'fair game', foreigner or not.

I have great sympathy for your situation. But I still think the writer of the article should not have posted such an inflammatory headline. Too many people have had only good and helpful experiences in the country. The suggestion, that 'Greeks are wreckers', has worked against your cause. A criminal, maybe, was part cause of your wreck.

Incidentally, my comments have been made from a background of working in the boat charter/day trips/sailing business for 20 year in the Med - in Italy, Sardinia (yes, it's different!), Turkey and Greece.
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Re: Greek wreckers

The responses to “Greek wreckers” have left me feeling disappointed and saddened as they exacerbate and prolong the ordeal this yachtsman who has already had to suffer months of deceit and hostility. Even if he was to blame for being in the wrong place in a storm or for not having multiple anchors, the deliberate obstruction of all rescue attempts by locals and the authorities is surely a matter of concern to fellow yachtsmen or even to those, like myself, who see a unique and beautiful schooner as something which should be saved and restored. To dismiss the report as “bollocks” or to say he must have “riled the locals” is typical of the mentality of those who can only blame the victim. I was in Zakynthos this summer and witnessed some of what occurred, including, Yansa’s skipper, waiting for hours, on two separate occasions, for promised assistance from experts with heavy machinery that didn’t arrive. Chatting later to a Zakynthian, the friendly proprietor of my hotel, I was told that the operators had probably been warned off and that unfortunately this type of thing was typical of the islanders – members of large extended families - who will use whatever means at hand to protect business interests. I also heard that locals were openly discussing the price of mahogany. Ok, so an unmanned beached boat is “fair game” but what an indictment of the British yachting fraternity that all offers of practical assistance or even sympathy for a British skipper who has lost his life’s dream are non-existent.

By the way, Mark (Yansa’s skipper) made many friends amongst both locals and holiday-makers during his time on Zakynthos, all of whom offered the support they could including transport and accommodation. Some Greeks do bear gifts. Can the same be said about those here in Britain?
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

You bounced me from your other email address, presumably being too cowardly and inept a person to acknowledge your 'bollox' opinion after I responded to that with an email to the other address. You can bounce this one now!!

You will note another report on the Greek tragedy - and one which
independently comments on my relationship with locals. And which
comments on your own 'bollox'.

Incidentally, on the subject of a cut tripping line, no-one seems to
have taken onboard that less than a metre remained attached to the
anchor of the orgiinal 6, the remainder clearly cut with a knife (ie,
90 degree clean cut). The only way of doing this is for the anchor to
be lifted using the tripping line. None of the self-appointed experts
commenting on this report has managed to include that important bit
of info. As to my anchor, I will not enter into dialogue with
'anoraks', simply noting that it was the best German type and weighed
40 kgs ; thereby also alluding to more than one person involved in
the lifting of it.
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Mark, again, thanks for your clarifications. It is sad that the original article headline wasn't more specific - 'Greece; Alikes Wreckers?' would have been far less inflammatory, and much more likely to further your cause. It's not enough for the reporter to be convinced. When something happens which goes against the grain of majority experience, the reporter has to argue the cases in considerable detail. He didn't.

Sadly, throughout the world there are pockets of locals who believe external competitors should be eliminated by fair means or foul. On the grander scale I remember violent pickets forcibly trying to prevent publication of the Sunday Times using new technology in the docklands. On a lesser scale I've seen a well respected Englishman forced out of the day excursion business in Spain by repeated complaints that his vessel did not meet one or other regulation; a convenient item having been 'lifted' just before the complaint.

It sounds as though you have discovered one such pocket.

It also sounds as though you were living ashore; otherwise, surely lifting the anchor, even by trip line, would be only too likely to awaken you. And what appalling bad luck, using a modern anchor, that it did not immediately re-set anyway.

The best of luck with your further travails.
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Thanks for your further comments. In my experience anchors always need to be dug in, especially when awaiting high winds. And, no, I live - or did! - on the boat, and was on her awaiting the winds. Also, I think the whole point of hauling up the anchor via tripping line was to complete the act silently, as this would be least likely to move chain which had, over 2 days, spread out as she turned this way and that. I do, however, agree that the article could have been better presented. Although it must be noted that appearing to be a one-sided argument was largely because the coastguard/police and mayor refused to comment - as I think Steffan Hughes noted.

Anyway, the whole sad scenario has now come to an end, as I cannot raise any more money in the UK, so have lost my pension, 4 years resoration, 90% of my possessions, 100% of my tools and she is now breaking up. I think one of the worst aspects I have had to absorb relates to my ever-abiding faith in human nature ; this has shaken me to the core.

Sincerely,
Mark Walker.
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Jim: I’m sorry that you were disappointed with my piece about the wrecking of the Yansa. You are correct about where the incident took place, but in essence I believe the story to be true, especially since having it confirmed through eye-witnesses there at the time. As for one-sided: I have tried to phone the mayor’s office and the police department at different hours of the day for two days. The mayor’s office has one phone line that’s out of order and one which works, but there is never any answer. The police answered immediately, and said “we can’t comment on the Yansa.” This is not, by the way, like any sort of reply I have had from a public body in my time as a journalist, hence the rather strong phrasing in my story “the police refused to comment.” You accuse me of bias, yet I understand from your weblog, and from your obviously detailed knowledge, that you are a long-time supporter and lover of Greece and its islands: I have never met Mark Walker in my life! There is a belief among many on (and off) the forum that the wreck must be Mark’s fault, and that he is probably paranoid in believing otherwise. I lament this naivety (and I am not attacking you here, Jim, but the popular attitude). Corruption exists in all walks of life and is uncovered every single day. A quick Google of ‘Mayor Zakynthos’ turns up a very similar news story concerning the last man to hold the same position. I’m not implying that they’re in any way connected; they’re very unlikely to be. I only mention it as an illustration of how very easily and how often corruption takes place; so much so that it seems to have taken place only last year, on the same island and in the same office of power. Of course some people will not believe that either – especially the scholar of Greek who knows that the reporter has spelt one of the names with a redundant ‘o’. That person might assume that the whole story is, therefore, rubbish. It will be as much his prerogative as it is for you to rubbish mine. But he would be missing the bigger story.

Steffan Meyric Hughes, news editor, Classic Boat
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Thanks Steffan. I wasn't disappointed in your piece, but yes, I was sceptical. I now accept that the story is true, certainly of Alikes, as you'll see from my last post.

Your point about the local government: I'm aware that the development of the great southern beaches of Zakinthos is out of control, and the consequent holiday culture there is destroying the island's tourist image. The fruits of mis-government.

The difficulty was, that since this incident goes so against the grain of most people's experience of Greece, a very convincing case had to be made to change people's attitudes. I asked the questions which lurked in most people's minds, and which (I think) made them sceptical of the article's truth. Most of those questions have now been answered, which is great.

Difficult to anticipate them though, isn't it?
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

I've followed this post with a mixture of interest and to be honest frustration and have thought long and hard about adding to it as my personal experiences of the Greek people have been on the whole very good. Having said that a good friend of mine would beg to differ. Some years ago he flew to Greece with his wife for a fortnights holiday at the end of the season. He had just completed a 12hr shift at work, then picked up by wife and off to the airport, on landing drop bags at hotel and into nearest bar for a drink, (Will add here, they are not louts!) Nice warm evening so he takes drink outside and sits on pavement chair, his wife talks to another customer for a few minutes before joining her husband, as she leaves she is met by the sight of 2 uniformed police officers standing over her husband who is now sat on the floor with his arms raised above his head, as she approached them they began beating her husband about the head and torso with what she later described as long rubber trunchions. She screamed and ran over to intervene at which point she was also beaten to the ground and they were both arrested. They where held ovenight without access to a phone or apparently anyone who even spoke english, They got little help from the British Gov' representative when they were finally allowed to contact them and were dragged up before a Greek court where a 12" 'Rambo' type sheath knife was produced that my friend had allegedly threatened the police officers with. I have known this man over 20 years and he has never even carried a pen knife let alone managed to board a plane and fly abroad with the monster shown as 'evidence'. He holds down a responsible job in the printing industry and has never been in any form of trouble with the law. His wife was charged with assaulting the police with her belt which had a very ornate (and expensive) buckle. This was also produced in court but the buckle had magically disappeared. They were both sentenced, she to 2 years, him to 3, in a Greek jail, they were then informed that they had nothing to worry about as they would be given the chance to buy themselves out! After a number of days this proved to be the case, my friend had to re-morgage his house through solicitors back in England to buy his freedom. I have seen the photographs that show him so badly beaten that the muscles in his upper arms had broken down and were hanging under his arms. His entire upper body was a mass of purple bruising. Prior to this I'd visited Greece twice and had a fantastic time. On principal I will not going back. Not after a slanging match, but there is a side to Greece that rarely comes out, probably as it would hurt the tourist trade, Regards, Mike.
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

About 14-15yrs ago. To be honest I couldn't give exactly where after all these years, but it was not one of better known 'resort' areas, I can however assure you as far as I can tell without actually being there at the time the events took place as described. As I said I saw the pictures taken after the event and the still evident bruising some weeks later. I've deliberately withheld names etc etc, as I know for a fact the gentleman concerned as well as his then wife want to forget the whole nasty incident and wouldn't want it all brought up again, (mud sticks etc) I would also repeat that his experience of Greece is totally at odds with my own, but knowing the parties involved I have absolutely no qualms about accepting their version of events. Regards, Mike.
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

Where was Yansa flagged?

I have often heard stories that running a charter business is effectively impossible in Greece unless the boat(s) are flagged in Greece and are owned by a Greek company which is in turn has at least one Greek partner. I have been told that to do otherwise is dangerous!

This unfortunately looks like an example of what happens if those rules (some of which are unwritten or even illegal) are broken.
 
Re: \'Greek Wreckers\'

It is now legal to run a charter business in Greece with other than Greek registration.

However, if you both taking on and dropping off passengers in Greece (ie, all your activities are Greek based) your vessel must meet Greek charter regulations as to equipment and paperwork, and you have to be registered and taxed as a Greek business.
 
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