We're in
Mexico, and we had a 92'
aluminum megayacht crash in to our
davits.
We had a crew working on the
deck. I was down in the aft
cabin with headphones on watching TV. Suddenly I heard some loud noises, and started to get up to investigate, when the
boat suddenly lurched and heeled over. I knew we were being hit, I figured a
boat was coming in to the slip next to us. I ran on
deck and saw this 92' boat smashing us into the
dock. Our
davits were bent all to port, there wasn't anything I could do. A moment later the boat backed away.
They went over and docked, I went over and asked for a copy of their passport, the ship
registration, and their
insurance. A woman pretended to be the owner, claimed she didn't know where the physical pieces of paper are, because her husband isn't there, and said she was emailing me the information. I waited and watched my
phone, but no emails came.
We're pretty sure the owner was drunk when they shuffled him off to a cab, promising to be back with paperwork from the "other marina". They emailed me the info later that night.
When I find out who the owner is, I
google him. He doesn't seem like a very reputable person. The way the whole thing went down, I figured he was going to try and run. The next morning I find out they worked late into the night (Sat), and Sun morning, to
paint over all the damage on their boat.
Luckily I have before pics, cover up pics, lots of pics. We have video from the marina showing him hit us. The locals have been very supportive.
So the damage to Volare seems like:
Davits are a total loss, the tubing has collapsed in several places
Stern rail, same.
Bow rail/pulpit, the
dock line pulled one side over collapsing it, total loss
Boarding ladder was crushed between the boat and the dock, total loss
Fiberglass damage where the ladder was crushed into the boat
Fiberglass damage around the davit
backing plates on the stern.
The guy who has plead guilty to tax evasion and paid millions in fines and been on probation, the guy who tried to install cameras in his daughters tanning
salon, is saying he thinks we're exaggerating the damage!
So we have pictures, we have video, we have witnesses, a retired USCG commander who saw it, we have a lloyds of london yacht manager who can attest to the condition of our boat before the
accident, we even have recent before pics that show none of this damage.
So they're sending a
surveyor down from
San Diego to review the damage. We're getting quotes.
We used to have
Seaworthy but they were bought by Geico. So far things have not been going as smoothly as we hoped.
Here's a link to the video. If anybody has any useful insight, from the video, or in a similar situation, please share.