My favorite Holland, a mooring training. I took the yacht very carefully, even shot all the scratches on the hull on video.
Charterers did not show any special initiative when handing over a yacht, just handed over to me an A4-format yacht acceptance document specifying the following: condition of the hull, condition of the sails, the main equipment, and some other issues. Mandatory actions that need to be done were also written there, such as: raise the fenders on board before leaving, so that they do not catch on the poles, record the engine operating hours. As it turned out later, they refuel yachts themselves, and the money for fuel is calculated by the engine operating hours. I examined everything, wrote it down and signed the document. The process went on.
The training was in full swing. A side wind gave additional enthusiasm to the students. The crew was not numerous – there were four of us together with me, and the yacht had four cabins. Therefore, it turned out that everyone had a cabin of his own. I had a left front one.
Holland did not indulge in the heat, it was pouring rain more and more, so there was no need to open the hatches. One morning seemed to me less rainy, when I finally decided to ventilate my cabin. I tried to open the hatch, but it just fell off! It completely fell off from hinges with only a 40-cm strip left.
What a fucking ambush! I understand that it will be difficult for me to explain to the charterers that it wasn’t me who broke it, as I just wanted to open it in order to get some fresh air in. Apparently, it was broken before and so successfully closed that I did not notice that during my acceptance. I watched my video, but, as a bad luck would have it, the hatch remained off screen.
Well, I thought that they should have known about this breakage, so I decided to tell everything to the charterers. They came to inspect the yacht and finally said that the breakage was new and it happened because of us, when we were maneuvering under the sails that tore it off with a sheet.
– We carefully check the hatches, after each charter, they are very expensive, they told me.
– We didn’t even set the sails, we just wanted to ventilate the cabin, I argued.
– We don’t know anything, so now I’ll ask the employee who took the yacht in front of you.
The second employee said that the hatch was working properly, as he checked everything.
Here was an ambush, out of nowhere. Well, the deposit was only 1,000 euros, the training was in full swing, but I kept thinking to myself – the devil pulled me to settle in this cabin! I could have chosen any one, because other team members spent the night in the hotel, so no one would have opened the hatch. In addition, I was a fool to tell the charterers of what had happened. Tat was a case to prove that honesty brings no good.
I tried to remember the last time something was deducted from my deposit. It happened to me also in Holland about 5 years ago. We were heeling over, and I crushed a tachometer glass with my knee. Well, it was my own fault. That time they took 150 euros from me. Now I was looking through the local catalog, where our hatch cost around 500 euros plus installation works.
How could I miss it? Moreover, the breakage looked really fresh. I tried to close it so that the crack could not be seen, but it did not work very well – a crack remained visible. Finally, I decided that even if they take money, I would write about my spiteful thoughts on Facebook.
I examined the neighboring hatch and saw another crack close to the hinges – now it was clear that the screws had been badly tightened at the factory. Therefore, what happened was a factory defect! This discovery did not make any change, but I needed to present the new version to the charterers.
I prepared myself, found all the terms in English in order to explain what had happened to the hatch as an engineer. At the delivery of the yacht, I gave them all my explanations. They thought over it, called someone and yes, the entire deposit was refunded to a cent! They agreed with the fact that it was a factory defect, most likely!
Ugh! Here is the full story that ended well, but to be honest, it should not have happened without the help of otherworldly forces. Anyway, I will not tell you about it!)) In general, I wish everyone to have all the deposits returned in full! Peace!
- On the last day of the training, we met a yacht called «Defect», so there was definitely a case of shamanism))).
