Belvedere Takes an Unintended Siesta in Spain

When I last wrote to this blog we were excited to get back to Sant Carles de la Rapita where we first set sail with my family after much Covid chaos back in 2021 to tour The Med. Today, it is September 17th, 2024 and I am finally making myself sit down to write this far overdue update to tell you about life since February of this year.

I am a big believer in a life full of lemons and the constant need to make lemonade. I love lemonade, especially when it comes in a sugar rimmed glass with ice and a shot of vodka. However, no one ever told me about fishing trawlers at 3:30am going 6-8 knots with no one at the helm (auto pilot) cutting through an anchorage. That isn't life handing you lemons, that is just a good old fashioned shit sandwich plain and simple.

We left the safety of the marina in the late afternoon of February 14th with the promise of the Balearics ahead of us and family and friends coming to visit this summer. We went to bed looking forward to sailing the next day but where awakened by a huge bang and shudder (shiver me timbers) at very rude o'clock. Running above deck we found ourselves in the hideously bright lights of a 30 foot steel vessel with a crew of 3 just as surprised as we were. They spoke, or cursed, in Catalan and we cursed them in English. I left Jeff to deal with them and ran back downstairs to listen for water ingress or bilge pumps running but was fortunate to hear neither. After looking port side at our midship we could see the gaping hole where the steel boat came through the deck and into our galley. We knew then all the work done over the winter preparing for summer was for nought. While relieved to know we weren't sinking, we now needed to get Belvedere back into the marina fast!

After calling the Coast Guard and others authorities, to no avail (it is Spain so think "miñana"), we managed to get through to our buddy boat in the marina, Mad2. After awaking Jacqui and Noel, we set about motoring the boat to the visitors pier at the marina for what would surely be an extended stay. Then, in the light of day, the reporting to port authorities and our insurance began. While we knew it would be a long process, we never imagined still being on dry land in the middle of September and hoping to be done by the end of October, which is the current guesstimate. Below, are photos of the damage:

Another drag was calling friends and family to let them know that all their hard earned money spent for airline tickets would most likely not include the holidays we had all planned. Once again, boat life threw us a curveball that no one could foresee. Luckily, we all made the best of it and while Liz, Craig and Ella had a lovely European vacation, they have still not been aboard Belvedere. We did, however, have a wonderful time in Madrid for a few days together in June followed by my sister, Jackie, and her husband and the girls (Bryan, Maya and Laney) aboard for the move to the boatyard in Arenys de Mar from Sant Carles which we were finally able to do mid June!

Madrid with the Corman Stickler Clan.

Family boat trip, first stop Sitges, then Barcelona proper! Click photo for full size viewing.

There is no preparing for this kind of thing and no help given by insurance when something like this happens. The best you can hope for is insurances pays for it, as it should since that is the deal, but all the hours reporting the incident and getting estimates was quite challenging as there wasn't anyone locally that could handle such a big job. Months later with the estimates done, a boatyard chosen, the rigging inspected and the hole patched, the boat was deemed seaworthy by insurance and allowed to move.

On the plus side, the fishing vessel's insurance is footing the bill for putting the boat back to normal, so we are getting some jobs we always knew we'd need to do done since the boat is on the hard (out of the water) and in a shed. The cost of lift, hull cleaning, storage and all the rest is substantial, so we are saving money by doing it now. When all is said and done, she will look like new no matter how difficult the journey has been. Jeff has been working for weeks to get the original teak decking off (an unbelievably difficult job, see photos below) and prepare the deck for the new synthetic teak. We chose synthetic teak as it is longer lasting and maintenance free. Natural teak is rare, not as good as it used to be (old growth having been depleted long ago) making it prohibitively expensive for an inferior product.

This meant Jeff had to do a lot of research regarding synthetic decking, everything from where to get it to having it installed—nothing is simple. Then we had to acquire samples that had to be sent to us in Spain to compare the different products and finishes, UV resistance, warranties, as well as how many joins there would be, and on and on. In the end, we chose Evo Teak Decking https://www.evodecking.co.uk/supplied by Elite Teak from Gosport, England with a key factor being their product looks exactly like teak when so many others did not.

Mast off, into the shed, let the shenanigans begin…last two pics in this serious show Jeff's horrific deck removal and final surface ready for the Evo Teak.

As I write this, the decking has been delivered, the fibreglass is being finished and the boat prepared for anti foul and hull painting. Meanwhile, the galley (kitchen) furniture is being repaired so it can be refitted as everything on the port side was damaged or had to be removed for repairs. The mast and rigging was removed to get the boat into the shed and is being repaired where needed due to the hit it sustained. Turns out when you get hit as hard as we did it affects far more than just the damage you can see. The boat absorbs the shock and it reverberates throughout the entire structure therefore some of the rigging was bent and the fibreglass structure has stress cracks throughout in the gel coat that need to be repaired. It is mind blowing how much work is involved! Our battery bank had to be tested (it's fine, apparently where we were hit can hinder their ability to charge properly) and the bimini will be replaced because it's tore in places and can not be repaired. On the plus side, we are thrilled to get that replaced without spending our own money. The hit jerked the dingy so hard on the davits it stripped the gears we'd replaced about a year ago. They will take up to 8 weeks to be made and shipped to us from England.

Of course, all the above meant we would also need housing. Figuring out where to live close to the boat (think seaside in Barcelona at the height of summer) because we don't have a car, and Jeff needs easy access to the boat, has been daunting. Add to the drama, our insurance wouldn't cover 'loss of use' of the boat, so we are out of pocket at the moment for very expensive mediocre digs. Fingers crossed we get our money back from the boat that hit us because it has cost us dearly.

It has been one difficult year so far and we look forward to seeing the back of it. I know we are lucky we didn't get hurt and Jeff, Pebbles and I are fine, so I am thankful for that. We lost our dear friend John Watts in April https://www.reevesfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/john-watts-jr. That was a very hard and sad time and I still can't believe he isn't hear to talk to anymore. I am so thankful he got to spend a month the year before with us in Turkey. We had such a great time and he met so many of our sailing buddies, which is why we still look forward to getting back to boat life. The happy times and people make it all worth it!

As if all that wasn't enough, my mom (my rock) who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer over four years ago was told her treatment isn't working anymore. She's had 2 amazing trips aboard Belvedere so none of us are complaining. We've known her time is limited and we intend to make the best of it. I went back in early July for a month and am going back next week for another month to be there to spend time with the family and help as needed.

My sister has moved back to Honor, Michigan and is doing it all, while trying to keep up with her own family. It's an up and down merry-go-round, especially for my mom who tries to be strong for us, but it is really hard for her and wearing her down fast. While I hate to leave Jeff and Pebbles again, I can't possibly not be there at this time. I am fortunate to be able go because I can work remotely from anywhere in the world (thank you Kerry Williams and ECF). You only get one shot at life and I'm going to do my best for family and friends as long as I'm here. Money can be made, time can not.