Tony Cross
Well-known member
The following was just posted on the CA forum, I'm posting it here in case anyone knows the yacht.
Yacht Moonchild, Kassiopi Harbour, Corfu, Greece
- Thread starter Tony Cross
- Start date
Melody
Active member
If the owners of this yacht aren't on board and haven't arranged for someone to look after the boat in their absence they are breaking Greek law by abandoning the yacht.
If it is causing a problem you can speak to the Port Police and they will deal with it. I'm always amazed by people who just abandon their boats in Greek harbours.
NornaBiron
New member
And anchorages!
sailaboutvic
Well-known member
At what point would you both say a yacht been abandon ? Every one of us almost every day leave our boat in harbour or at anchor to explore places , go shopping or even just go out for dinner , are we all breaking the law ,? should we all be locked up ?
Tony trying to be a good samaritan here and hoping that the owner or someone who know the owner can sort out the problem not get the guy arrested , for all any of us know the guy may have had a heart attack and is in hosptial . I can think of a lot more things to report to the PP then a yacht that has his anchor lifted by some one who having got the goal stop and sort out the problem he has cause to some one else prorperty , we couLd start by report the culpit who lifted the anchor and them left , if we talking cars it would be a hit and run .
Tony trying to be a good samaritan here and hoping that the owner or someone who know the owner can sort out the problem not get the guy arrested , for all any of us know the guy may have had a heart attack and is in hosptial . I can think of a lot more things to report to the PP then a yacht that has his anchor lifted by some one who having got the goal stop and sort out the problem he has cause to some one else prorperty , we couLd start by report the culpit who lifted the anchor and them left , if we talking cars it would be a hit and run .
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Melody
Active member
We're not talking about going off for a day and I assume you go back on board after dinner? It's when a yacht is left completely unattended for more than 48 hours I think it can be considered abandoned. My understanding is that, under Greek law, if you moor in a public harbour, you are responsible for ensuring someone checks your boat at least once a day to ensure it is securely moored and not causing a problem to other vessels. There's an exemption if you have a paid berth in a harbour as the PP will already have your contact details if they need to get hold of you, and you'd normally be on a fixed mooring rather than using an anchor so you're more secure anyway.
If this yacht isn't causing any problem there's no need to report it but if it is obstructing other yachts and being a nuisance the PP are the only ones who can legally do anything. You shouldn't really get onto someone else's boat without permission, even to help them out. The Port Police would be able to establish if the owner is in hospital and he wouldn't be charged but if he's just being negligent I don't have any sympathy I'm afraid.
I'm sorry if I appear harsh but every year we have people who moor on our pontoons without our permission and then disappear for days or even weeks, causing a lot of inconvenience when our own yachts come back to find their berths occupied. Often these are foreigners who have flown home and just left / abandoned their boats in Greece. The responsible thing to do, if you're going to leave your boat overnight or longer, is to make sure you aren't in anyone's berth and arrange for someone to look after it. It doesn't usually cost much, keeps you on the right side of the law, and could save you from getting damaged.
sailaboutvic
Well-known member
Melody I do agree with you that there people who just leave there boat and go back home we see this quote a few time and yes it should be stopped , I can't understand it ,and some of these yacht are not old cheap boat , I know I wouldn't dare , we worry about our boat ( home ) when we go off for a day what we will find when we return , so I do understand where your coming from , but on the other hand I get very frustrated by people who accidentally and in some case carelessness lift someone else anchor and then drops it back in the water metres from their bow leaving the yacht if the owners aren't on board bounce off the quay or in some cases drifting off in to the sun set ,
As far as not going onto someone else boat to try and stop it damaging it self or someone else boat , I sorry I am of the old school there no way I going to just sit back and watch this happen and I would hope others would do the same to my boat if it was in that position forget this business about you might get sued , I take the chance , too many sailors now just sit back and do nothing , just last night we watch a yacht dragging it anchor once again , it came to our notices when a brit boat was blowing it horn at it everyone else watch while this boat picked up speed and for sure was going to head for the cliff rocks while the owners where asleep down below , most had there dinghy in the water but they just watched on , I had to drop my and chase after it making the owners on board aware of what was going on within a few mins of it hitting the rocks , what up with people these days . Why can't some one just relay this guy anchor if it in the way of others , the CA member who reported it to the CA to get the owner attention great mate but if it in that condition get someone else to help you put it right , wouldn't you want someone to do the same for you .
I notice your a sailing school I would hope you don't teacher your students to stand by and do nothing when another boat needs help .
As far as not going onto someone else boat to try and stop it damaging it self or someone else boat , I sorry I am of the old school there no way I going to just sit back and watch this happen and I would hope others would do the same to my boat if it was in that position forget this business about you might get sued , I take the chance , too many sailors now just sit back and do nothing , just last night we watch a yacht dragging it anchor once again , it came to our notices when a brit boat was blowing it horn at it everyone else watch while this boat picked up speed and for sure was going to head for the cliff rocks while the owners where asleep down below , most had there dinghy in the water but they just watched on , I had to drop my and chase after it making the owners on board aware of what was going on within a few mins of it hitting the rocks , what up with people these days . Why can't some one just relay this guy anchor if it in the way of others , the CA member who reported it to the CA to get the owner attention great mate but if it in that condition get someone else to help you put it right , wouldn't you want someone to do the same for you .
I notice your a sailing school I would hope you don't teacher your students to stand by and do nothing when another boat needs help .
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Tony Cross
Well-known member
When we first moved aboard Little Roundtop in March 2005 and tentatively sailed her away into what felt to us like the great unknown, the one thing I very quickly learned to love about this sailing life is that wherever there are other boats there are friends. It doesn't matter whether you're on an Oyster 64 or an 18-foot home-built cardboard sloop, if you're in trouble you'll find help. This "we're all in it together" attitude is one of the great joys of living this life and it will be a very sad day if we ever get to the stage of closing our "front doors" and shutting the rest of the world out (which is generally what happens on land).
I have no idea who owns this yacht, nor why it's there unattended. I appreciate Melody's point of view but my reason for posting this on here was to try to help the owners by spreading the word as far and wide as possible so that someone who knows of the boat could contact them. It seems to me that the original poster on the CA forum had the same idea, it also seems that the other boat owners there have also being doing what they can to secure the boat.
I'm trying to help. I may not always do the right thing nor do it in the right way, but I'd rather try to help and get shouted at because someone thinks it's the wrong thing than to sit back and do nothing. My dad used to tell me that the man who never made a mistake never made anything.
I have no idea who owns this yacht, nor why it's there unattended. I appreciate Melody's point of view but my reason for posting this on here was to try to help the owners by spreading the word as far and wide as possible so that someone who knows of the boat could contact them. It seems to me that the original poster on the CA forum had the same idea, it also seems that the other boat owners there have also being doing what they can to secure the boat.
I'm trying to help. I may not always do the right thing nor do it in the right way, but I'd rather try to help and get shouted at because someone thinks it's the wrong thing than to sit back and do nothing. My dad used to tell me that the man who never made a mistake never made anything.
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jimbaerselman
New member
Melody,
Thanks for reminding us of the Greek legal position.
Like you, our company had difficulties with the occasional owner leaving a boat on Athos pontoon, Nidri, then disappearing for a few weeks - in spite of clear instructions. In those situations, we had no legal right to move the boat. In practice, the port police usually accepted our offer, and instructed us to move the boat onto the mud in Tranquil bay, just opposite.
Pylos "marina" in the SW Peloponnese suffers a similar problem. Every winter, two or three boats tie alongside, and lay a line or two to haul off, denying berths to others. One is still there in late June . . . since October; two slack lines hanging in the water . . . cut by passing propellers? chafed?
I'm completely in accord with mutual help between people afloat.
And there is a class of cruising folk who don't realise (yet!) that it's unsafe not to be on board when nearby boats depart while you're anchored end on.
I don't tolerate those who leave boats untended in such a way that they deny use of quaysides to others - to save some cash, but maybe lose a boat. Is that sunken yacht still moored up in Trizonia?
Thanks for reminding us of the Greek legal position.
Like you, our company had difficulties with the occasional owner leaving a boat on Athos pontoon, Nidri, then disappearing for a few weeks - in spite of clear instructions. In those situations, we had no legal right to move the boat. In practice, the port police usually accepted our offer, and instructed us to move the boat onto the mud in Tranquil bay, just opposite.
Pylos "marina" in the SW Peloponnese suffers a similar problem. Every winter, two or three boats tie alongside, and lay a line or two to haul off, denying berths to others. One is still there in late June . . . since October; two slack lines hanging in the water . . . cut by passing propellers? chafed?
I'm completely in accord with mutual help between people afloat.
And there is a class of cruising folk who don't realise (yet!) that it's unsafe not to be on board when nearby boats depart while you're anchored end on.
I don't tolerate those who leave boats untended in such a way that they deny use of quaysides to others - to save some cash, but maybe lose a boat. Is that sunken yacht still moored up in Trizonia?
Melody
Active member
I completely agree that we should always try to help others if we can but I assumed that, in the case of this yacht, more assistance is required than the neighbouring boats can give. I just cannot understand how people can leave a yacht for days or weeks. Most conscientious sailors are like Vic and worry if they're away for a whole day.
ITH
Member
It was still there when we passed through last year Jim
sailaboutvic
Well-known member
That's been there for years and there a story behind the sinking ,
Tony Cross
Well-known member
Is it the same story we were told a few years ago when we were there?
The boat was owned by a Greek who sold it (without a survey) to a German. He wanted to use it for team-building sailing trips etc. He was told by the locals that the boat leaked and needed lifting and re-caulking at the earliest opportunity. The German apparently though he knew better and started work inside ripping out cabins and building the bunks etc. that his team-building project would need. It didn't rain whilst he was there of course, but after he went home to Germany and the winter rains arrived the leaking desk allowed rainwater into the bulge and she started to settle. A local boat owner on his own initiative took a big diesel water pump round to it and left it on a float switch pumping her dry whenever she flooded. The coastguard heard about it and told the boat owner that they appreciated his help but that if any oil or diesel was pumped out into the port they would fine him and not the owner. So he took his pump back to his boat. Eventually the winter rains flooded the boat and she sank. Efforts to contact the German owner on his mobile failed, it seems he realised he'd bitten off more than he could chew and has walked away.
Is that what you heard? Or is there more than one story!
RichardS
N/A
And, once she sank, presumably flooded the port with huge quantities of engine oil and diesel?
Yep, that sounds like petty officialdom at its finest!
Richard
sailaboutvic
Well-known member
It also involved a knive and a pipe too .
Tony Cross
Well-known member
It seems you know a different story then? Do tell!!
sailaboutvic
Well-known member
So I understood that the boat was owned by two Germany who ended up falling out with each other and one took a knife to a hose , but that's the trouble with hear say you don't always get the full story , Although in this case it seen at less one owner possible two owners where Germany , we prob find out it was torpedo by a Germany u boat and the owners where French , haha
vyv_cox
Well-known member
Not quite sure we are talking about the same boat, as there was more than one beneath the waves when we were there, but the story we heard was totally different. The boat belonged to a South African man whose son was killed in a road accident back home. He went back to sort things out and never returned.
sailaboutvic
Well-known member
this is the problem with story's and hear says , they are just that , and tthen people wonder why I don't take much notices when I am told " my friend friend uncle say that PP have taxed a yacht men " or some thing else .I sure we going to get a few more differnt story before this thread come to an end , maybe lizzy can tell us what happen
Tony Cross
Well-known member
I sure we going to get a few more differnt story before this thread come to an end , maybe lizzy can tell us what happen
It will probably turn out to be aliens. Naturally the government has covered that up - hence the proliferation of different stories!
Melody
Active member
I have received an email from John Dixon, who has asked me to post it: