21 September 2011
And then the Insurance circus begins. I rang my UK insurers the next morning, meeting with the usual, 'yeah, yeah, where? what happened? we'll send you a claim form, yawn' type of response. An hour and a half later they rang back and said, 'We've got a surveyor out, he's looking at twenty other boats, when can we see yours?' The surveyor came the next day, took photos and recommended a diver. The diver came on Friday, and found out why the engine had cut out after Pete went overboard. A rope (the water was full of flying debris) must have caught round the propellor and rudder, and tightened up, gouging a deep groove into the rudder before being cut (thankfully) by the prop cutter - a worthwhile investment, it turns out.
So she needed to be properly checked underneath. Dave and I went to the yard, where Maria was still shell-shocked and speechless, and the lads had got a crane in to lift boats back onto supports. We eventually negotiated 4 weeks in the yard to do necessary repairs, but we have to be out by the beginning of November, as we're taking up a space needed then.
We walked along the quayside road, and found the dinghy, in remarkably good nick, given that it had last been seen airborne behind the boat (it has a solid bottom, it's quite heavy). Someone we know was in a car hit by a flying dinghy on that road, we think it was probably ours, as we found it neatly turned up on the quay. Both oars were battered, and the plastic box seat had gone off a frolic of its own, but we found that too, washed up further down, still with fuel and funnel and bailers etc in the box, held neatly by a single popper!
And then the Insurance circus begins. I rang my UK insurers the next morning, meeting with the usual, 'yeah, yeah, where? what happened? we'll send you a claim form, yawn' type of response. An hour and a half later they rang back and said, 'We've got a surveyor out, he's looking at twenty other boats, when can we see yours?' The surveyor came the next day, took photos and recommended a diver. The diver came on Friday, and found out why the engine had cut out after Pete went overboard. A rope (the water was full of flying debris) must have caught round the propellor and rudder, and tightened up, gouging a deep groove into the rudder before being cut (thankfully) by the prop cutter - a worthwhile investment, it turns out.
So she needed to be properly checked underneath. Dave and I went to the yard, where Maria was still shell-shocked and speechless, and the lads had got a crane in to lift boats back onto supports. We eventually negotiated 4 weeks in the yard to do necessary repairs, but we have to be out by the beginning of November, as we're taking up a space needed then.
We walked along the quayside road, and found the dinghy, in remarkably good nick, given that it had last been seen airborne behind the boat (it has a solid bottom, it's quite heavy). Someone we know was in a car hit by a flying dinghy on that road, we think it was probably ours, as we found it neatly turned up on the quay. Both oars were battered, and the plastic box seat had gone off a frolic of its own, but we found that too, washed up further down, still with fuel and funnel and bailers etc in the box, held neatly by a single popper!
The only serious fibreglass damage - a fist-sized hole punched through the top of the sugar-scoop.
The steel is all buckled and crushed. The wooden support for the outboard came to pieces in our hands. All that steel has to be unbolted from the deck, and the surface underneath checked for stress fractures.
Three stanchions buckled, and the bases cracked - more stress fractures.
This is the empty space in the cockpit where the helm seat used to be, covering up the bucket locker. We've got to be careful to remember it's not there anymore, we're so used to stepping over the stern onto it.
The crew, a few days later - glad to be alive. Rachel showing the massive bruise from shoulder to elbow she received when the boat laid flat - she was thrown from the seat by the chart table to the wall near the galley - together with all the pointy instruments in the chart table - several lucky escapes there.
Rachel, Edna, Pete, Simon
The phenomenal gouge out of the rudder - a piece of rope did that.
It's okay, this isn't Tropi - it's her sister ship 'Friday Feeling' which was moored on Vlicho quay. Two big gashes through the fibreglass have been cut out for repairs.
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