D
elivering a Sunseeker
Superhawk 43 from Malta to
Majorca is one of the joys of
being a professional skipper –
if that’s what the client wants
then I’m only too happy
to oblige. Earlier this year, my route took
me from Malta to Sicily, then on to Sardinia
and across to Majorca. The first part of the
journey went smoothly enough, stopping
briefly to brim the tanks in Marsala on the
north-west coast of Sicily before pressing
on towards Carloforte on the island of San
Pietro off Sardinia.
The Superhawk was running like a dream,
skipping across the sea at 32 knots. But
after a couple of hours, the steering veered
off to one side and an alarm came up on the
autopilot. I went to check the engineroom and
discovered that the steering fluid level was low.
I had half a litre of ATF fluid on board so
I poured it into the system and carried on.
After 45 minutes the alarm went off again,
but with no more spare fluid, I resorted to
siphoning some out of the trim tabs and
used that instead. It wasn’t enough though,
and I could now see that the fluid was leaking
out of the steering rams.
We were still around 10nm from the
southern tip of Sardinia but even at idle,
the propellers pushed the outdrives over to
one side so we could only go round in circles.
It was now around 17.45 and would be
dark in less than an hour, so I contacted the
Coastguard. They put me in touch with Cagliari
port control, who took my position and asked
me if I needed more hydraulic fluid or a tow.
I knew that fluid alone would not solve the
problem and requested a tow, so they gave me the
number of a tug to call. By the time I got through
to the tow company it was 20.35, and darkness
had fallen. The tug could help but would take a
further two and a half hours to reach us. While we
waited, the Coastguard kept an eye on our position
and even sent a boat to check on us, although
they weren’t allowed to tow us in themselves.
The tug boat had trouble locating us but
eventually arrived and threw us a line. We were
around 30nm away from the tug’s home port of
Cagliari so it was 04.00 before we finally arrived and
moored up safely. I thanked the captain and crew
of the tug for their work and collapsed into my bunk.
The next morning, a representative of the tow
company came round and asked for details of
the boat’s insurance as well as my passport and
skipper’s papers. I gave him everything he needed
and asked him the price of the tow. He replied that
I didn’t need to worry about that as his lawyers
would deal directly with the insurance company.I reported this to the owner of the boat and
we waited for further news.
In the meantime, I managed to move the
boat to a nearby marina and arranged for
the outdrive steering rams to be repaired
as soon as the parts arrived a couple of days
later. On the day, I heard knocking on the
boat and rushed out, thinking the parts
had arrived and my nightmare would soon
be over. To my astonishment, the marina
manager and a uniformed Coastguard
informed me the boat had been impounded
until the towing company was paid in full.
It was only then that I found out the towing
fee was €80,000. I almost fainted on the
spot. I went straight to the tow company and
asked for an explanation but was told that
this was standard practice and I couldn’t
move the boat until payment was made.
I passed the bad news on to the owner,
who immediately contacted his own lawyers.
It took another two days for the lawyers to
come to an agreement, having negotiated
the price down to €20,000. I still felt it was
an excessive price but was in no position to
argue. The good news was that the boat’s
insurers had agreed to pay the sum; the
bad news was that it would take a month
for the money to come through!
It was clear I was going nowhere until
the money was in the tow company’s bank
account so, to the owner’s credit, he paid
it himself the following morning. True
to his word, the money arrived on time,
but it still took another two hours for the
lawyers and the judge to agree to release the boat.
I couldn’t wait to leave port and as soon as
the engines were warm, I increased speed to 35
knots and headed straight for Pollença. After my
nightmare few days, it was a joy to feel the wind
in my hair and see dolphins and swordfish jumping
in my wake. I have rarely felt so relieved to arrive
safe and sound in Majorca.COLUMNSA safe tow into
Cagliari soon became
a costly nightmareANTON DIMECH: What should have been a standard delivery trip
turned into a very expensive detour when the steering fl uid ran lowI was charged
€80,000 for a tow
I’LL NEVER FORGET THE DAY...
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