Orcas, Portugal and Unexpected Inspections

cimota

cimota

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Northern Ireland and soon Almeria
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Hey folks,

Last Saturday I became a statistic - my yacht was attacked by orcas and left disabled off the coast of Portugal. I was towed into harbour by the port (££) and have been resting in the marina since (£). The local maritime police stopped by and issued a notice that I can't leave unless my vessel is seaworthy. Which is fair enough.

I decided to ship my yacht overland to a repair place and went to tell the Police, only to be told that even though it's being hauled out and shipped off to repair, they still want to do the inspection and they say there's a charge for it!

What do you think? Bluffers? Am I paying for a couple of rounds of drinks at the local policemans bar?
 
cimota said:
Hey folks,

Last Saturday I became a statistic - my yacht was attacked by orcas and left disabled off the coast of Portugal. I was towed into harbour by the port (££) and have been resting in the marina since (£). The local maritime police stopped by and issued a notice that I can't leave unless my vessel is seaworthy. Which is fair enough.

I decided to ship my yacht overland to a repair place and went to tell the Police, only to be told that even though it's being hauled out and shipped off to repair, they still want to do the inspection and they say there's a charge for it!

What do you think? Bluffers? Am I paying for a couple of rounds of drinks at the local policemans bar?
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If you are a member of the Ocean Cruising Club or Cruising Association have a chat with the local port officers.

Have a chat with the Embassy.
 
Normal practice here to impound damaged boats, it happened to us when a passing ferry hit us on mooring. First survey declared vessel unfit for use because the bow nav light was missing, second survey after refitted cleared us. Surveys carried out by Maritime Authority and about 12 years ago cost IIRC €23. Can even be impounded for inspection if they spot a boat aground.
 
Graham376 said:
Normal practice here to impound damaged boats, it happened to us when a passing ferry hit us on mooring. First survey declared vessel unfit for use because the bow nav light was missing, second survey after refitted cleared us. Surveys carried out by Maritime Authority and about 12 years ago cost IIRC €23. Can even be impounded for inspection if they spot a boat aground.
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It's not impounded though and the only movement this boat is making is to be shipped overland to somewhere it can be repaired. So a check for seaworthiness on a vessel that's only being lifted out seems like grifting. I guess I'll find out when the chief grifter arrives. No-one could tell me the fee and there's nothing about it on the forms they gave me.

Thank you for giving your experience. I was envisioning €500.
 
cimota said:
It's not impounded though and the only movement this boat is making is to be shipped overland to somewhere it can be repaired. So a check for seaworthiness on a vessel that's only being lifted out seems like grifting. I guess I'll find out when the chief grifter arrives. No-one could tell me the fee and there's nothing about it on the forms they gave me.

Thank you for giving your experience. I was envisioning €500.
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"Impounded" doesn't mean literally locked up, just that it can't be used until cleared. As a matter of interest, where is it being transported from and to?

One funny tale a few years ago - chap doing the survey had a check list of things to inspect and he got very frustrated when the owner couldn't show him the keel bolts which MUST be inspected. Took a while to make him understand the keel was welded on, not bolted.
 
Graham376 said:
As a matter of interest, where is it being transported from and to?
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I was sailing from Ireland to Almeria. Got caught by a pod of Orcas about 2-3 miles off the coast of Sines, Portugal. We could SEE the sea wall of the harbour. We could see small GRP fishing boats just outside.

Now rather than ship her from Sines to Lagos (closest repair facility), I decided to ship her straight to Almeria because I'm not quite over being roughed up by the pod of Orcas and don't want to risk her being damaged again.

 
cimota said:
Now rather than ship her from Sines to Lagos (closest repair facility), I decided to ship her straight to Almeria because I'm not quite over being roughed up by the pod of Orcas and don't want to risk her being damaged again.
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Not a fun experience! Maybe the best solution to transport direct as winter weather will be here by the time repairs completed, as well as risk from another attack. Check any proposed yard allows living on board during repairs, many Spanish yards don't.
 
Graham376 said:
Not a fun experience! Maybe the best solution to transport direct as winter weather will be here by the time repairs completed, as well as risk from another attack. Check any proposed yard allows living on board during repairs, many Spanish yards don't.
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This one does. Thank goodness. The weather thing I wasn't worried about. After some pretty hairy stuff in the Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay I was enjoying some day sailing down the coast. Only a few hours out in good weather and then tucked back into the marina for the evening. Was idyllic until those a-holes turned up.
 
Ouch. Thank you for sharing. We've just done the same stretch of coast, fortunately without incident. I was planning to run the engine in astern if we were attacked, at least one yacht has reported that this immediately stopped the attack.
 
chrishscorp said:
Glad to see you are safe and the boat is tied up alongside.

2-3 boats a day being attacked that is crazy, Sailors in the port there must have a view or idea as to why this is happening ?
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The most sensible theory I've seen is that this is a group of juvenile (teens) orcas who have lost their "parents" and therefore are following instinct. They don't understand that the big plastic things with the moving parts that they "play" with are boats. They play with them until they stop moving and making noise (engine off, depth sounder off).

And they don't realise that messing with sailing boats annoys a few skippers and insurance companies. Messing with fishing boats (2 near here) will get them shot.
 
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