Mishaps on a cruise: if they happen to you report them to us (as Simone did)

Summer cruising is planned, and for those with boats in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Corsica is one of the classic destinations. Last year, some readers reported to us their misadventures that happened during the Corsican vacation: we report Simone Garellis’s (hoping that such things will not happen again) and we invite you to report to us any bad event experienced around the Mediterranean!

WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR
Simone Garellis, with his wife and a 10-month-old baby, found himself stranded in the bay of Porto Vecchio, Corsica, a few meters from the ferry crossing. When he requested assistance at the marina, he was forbidden to enter: “The excuse of engine failure is always used by Italians to find a place.” Read his detailed testimony. What do you think?

“SO IN OLD PORT THEY REFUSED TO WELCOME ME INTO THE HARBOR.”

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“I wanted to share my just-concluded experience on a boat in Porto Vecchio, Corsica.

We set sail at the end of July from Genoa with my partner and our 10-month-old son on our sailboat, an old Grand Soleil 34. We were away for forty days circumnavigating the whole of Corsica from west to east until we reached Porto Vecchio…

As we entered the bay there is a channel marked by buoys as a corridor to the harbor, we wanted to find a roadstead where we could spend the night but at one point we heard strange noises coming from the engine compartment, opened the compartment and saw sparks half a meter long coming from the back of our alternator, we immediately knew that a short circuit was taking place.

We immediately left the entrance hall and gave again, right out of the channel, tried to turn off the engine but no luck, the short circuit had damaged the engine panel controls, so we resorted to shutting down with the manual stop lever. I immediately cut off the power with the battery cut-off and began to analyze the problem.

All the wires coming from the alternator had melted together ( including copper), the negatives and positives were one. Therefore, I cut off the damaged pieces of cable and rewired the lugs. I reconnected the wires to the alternator but no dice, the engine would no longer run.

It was about 6 p.m. and I contacted the port of Porto Vecchio explaining the problem to them, saying that I had a child on board, that I did not have a working engine, that I had made a makeshift anchorage, and that I was only a few meters from the route of the ferries that were forming 1, 2-meter waves as they passed by, and I was not sure if the anchor would hold.

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Their response was that all the Italians, knowing that it is very difficult to find a place for transit in Porto Vecchio were using the excuse of engine failure in order to get in, and therefore they were denying me access, if I was really in trouble I would have to ask for rescue on channel 16.

We therefore hoisted a lamp at the masthead and hoping the anchor would not ship we spent the night there. The next morning through a friend of ours who is a sailing instructor for Glenans we were able to contact a mechanic who came to us with his small boat.

As soon as he arrived, we secured his boat to the stern bollard of our boat, but in the meantime a speedboat passed by at high speed, jolting the mechanics into the water.

Retrieved mechanic and hoisted aboard, after a few tests, he informed us that we absolutely had to go to the harbor and contact an electrician since he was unable to solve the problem but that if we wanted he could tow us into the harbor with his boat since the marina was just under a mile away.

I therefore called the port back explaining the situation but was told again what I had already been told the day before :they were denying me access to the marina and the mechanic was not authorized to tow. At this point the mechanic, after being paid, waved us off wishing us good luck. At this point, not wanting to spend a second night at anchor without lights, I performed pan on channel 16.

Within half an hour, the Gendarmerie arrived to whom we explained the whole affair; the Gendarmerie immediately contacted the harbormaster’s office and after admonishing them for their behavior urged them to immediately send out a designated dinghy to tow our boat into port.

Within minutes, the captain of the harbormaster arrived and kindly towed us into port. The next day we contacted apparently the only existing electrician in Porto Vecchio. who very rudely told us that he would not take responsibility for replacing the alternator because if he got the connections wrong it would be his responsibility and then having a lot of work for him to be just an extra hassle, the only thing he recommended we do was to have the boat repatriated.

Amazed at the electrician’s drastic solution, which frankly seemed excessive, I contacted Nanni of Genoa (my engine is a Nanni 30 hp) where I finally found helpful and knowledgeable people. They immediately put me in touch with their electrician mechanic who explained how to make a ” bridge” from the batteries to the starter motor thus bypassing the shorted alternator; he advised me to disconnect the batteries once the engine started and to make port-to-port stops so that the batteries could be charged overnight. So we did and so we arrived in Genoa safely!

I would like to thank Nanni again for their assistance and remind everyone of the inefficiencies that can be found at the Porto Vecchio marina!

Simone Garellis”

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