Italian sailor rescued off Durres. They are so good these Albanians!
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Sailor Vittorio Vegni got into serious trouble in mid-August off Durres and received prompt and impeccable assistance. Here is his account.
SO THEY RESCUED ME OFF THE COAST OF DURAZZO
I would like to share an experience I had in Durres. On our way from Corfu to Croatia, we were scheduled to stop in Durres, Albania’s largest port. After a sail with a steadily increasing wind with peaks of 25 knots, we approach the channel marked by the red and green medas and about 2 miles away and proceed to start the engine which, after a few minutes, goes into shutdown due to temperature over 100 degrees.
As if that were not enough (and as if there was occult direction), from the northwest a dark front “materialized” approaching accompanied by lightning and thunderbolts, and before you know it the wind and swell inevitably increase greatly in intensity as the lights of sunset are about to give way to the darkness of evening…
Having secured the boat with foresail in order to remain in a sort of hood (which takes us a distance of 5 miles from the harbor), I contact the harbormaster to report the breakdown and define assistance.
To make a long story short, within an hour and a half or so, a small tugboat arrives and tows us to the dock quietly despite the rather adverse conditions.
Therefore, I would like to publicly thank the commander of the Durres Port Authority, Captain Tauland Allka, who immediately took action to resolve the problem, and all the people involved, such as the customs clearance agent, for their great helpfulness, friendliness and kindness, among them the customs clearance agent.
The icing on the cake was the intervention of the mechanic, who immediately the next day (mid-August), identified and solved the problem (not easy to identify, by the way). Moral of the story: if you have a mishap or breakdown in those parts, call the Durres Authorities with confidence, they speak very good Italian and will be able to provide you with all possible assistance and in the best possible way!
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