CAPALL MARA
90 DAYS IN SPAIN
We are still here in Spain after 90 days; our visas are about to expire and our dream boat still
has problems. I think its time I share some of our trials and tribulations.
We have been wanting a bigger boat for many years. Originally we bought Jaraman as a
coastal cruiser. The live-aboard offshore adventure was not on our horizon in 2004. But offshore we
went and loved it! We sold our apartment and embraced the vagabond lifestyle. By 2009 we felt
we needed a bit more space but the logistics of selling one boat and moving on to another seemed
too hard when there was no house to go to. Besides Jaraman was home...and I felt very safe and
nested.
In 2014 as we got nearer to Australia, yacht brokers lurked in the marinas offering to sell
your boat. These mainly targeted the Americans who had done the Coconut route or the Puddle
Jumpers and found they were sick of it; but it started up our bigger boat longings again. Finally and
fatally, I contacted Vicsail in Sydney and asked if a trade-in scenario was possible. They had sold us
Jaraman all those years ago. Things happened very fast from then and something that had been a
vague wish became a imminent possibility very quickly. Maybe too quickly.
The dream was hatched and we were thrilled and awed by what we had done. The possibility
of Med delivery was the next issue. The combination of much reduced transport costs and deferred
Australian taxes added up to savings of many, many thousands of dollars. I balked at the logistics
but John thought the savings outweighed my qualms. I raised my doubts at Vicsail and all assured
me that delivery in Spain was no problem; that our extras would be handled by skilled
professionals and that the Vicsail/Flagstaff team would support us all the way. I can, to this day,
picture being in their office and all the staffs assuring me that Javier was a great guy, awsome, in
fact, and all the tradesmen were here waiting to please us. Ha!
When we arrived we found that despite being sent our list of post-factory extras, Javier, the
local agent, had not ordered anything. Okaayyy! We'll just start at the beginning. Next we found that
most companies in Spain do not keep stock. It seems that they have not recovered from the
recession. Delivery time on most items was 4 weeks or more! Once things arrived we still had to
wait....it seemed we couldn't have two lots of tradesmen working on the boat together. First this lot
do their thing then the next lot come. And 'working' is a different concept here in Spain. They might
turn up at 11AM, do a bit then go off at 200PM. We wouldn't see them again until the next day –
maybe. We were reluctant to leave the boat in case someone actually did arrive to work. May trailed
into June, the busy time for getting boats ready for the season
We wanted a Bimini which would incorporate support for a large solar array and dinghy lift.
Ramon was the only stainless steel man there. But we had seen some of his work and thought it a
bit rough so Davide, Javier's 2IC went to Ramon and said we were very particular and could he do a
special job. We visited his work shop every morning to see the progress. He proudly showed us
each bit. It was very good work. Smiles all round.
Pt Ginesta, the marina where all this was happening, is about 35km south of Barcelona. It
surprised me how few people speak English and even Catalan is more common! This included most
of the workers. Javier speaks good English but he is in Barcelona and we didn't see much of him.
Davide speaks quite good English and we soon learnt his peculiar phrases eg ''I like it too much''
meaning ''I like it a lot". And ''We have to crash your boat'' ! This did in fact happen. Gaining access
to fit the Bimini frame required removal of two fiberglass panels. They were destroyed in the
process; new ones ordered from Beneteau – delivery 4 weeks! In the mean time we had two ragged
gaping holes in our beautiful new boat!
From the start it was obvious that the standard of finish was not what we had had on
Jaraman; another casualty of the GFC – Beneteau put off many staff starting with Quality Control.
Shane from Vicsail was there for the commissioning and ordered many replacement bits; shouldn't
be necessary on a new boat. There are big issues still not resolved : the floor boards are warped and
in places sit up 10mm, these places being where you walk. New ones have to be made. They will
send them to us – somewhere, some time! The bilge design is such that a lot of water collects in
compartments before it drains to the lowest point where the pump is. The automatic bilge switch
turns the pump on but does not turn off presumably until the batteries are flat. These two points are
obvious safety issues. Shane says everyone knows that that type of automatic switch is no good and
we should go and buy another type and fit it ourselves!!! On the bilge design and how to rectify it
there is no response. And this was the biggest problem – slow response from Vicsail and no way to
contact Beneteau directly at all. With Javier difficult to deal with, Davide very busy and no one else
speaking English we came to feel very isolated.
We ordered and paid for cockpit cushions in a custom colour scheme. This order was placed
by Vicsail in March. The idea was that they would be delivered inside the boat but they were not.
After continual emails to Vicsail they finally arrived in June. They were the wrong colour! At the
time this seemed like the last straw.
June marched into July and our Schengen visas were running out. For those of you not
familiar with this, non EU citizens can only spend 90days in each 180 days in the participating
countries. So after our 90 days we have to leave for 90 days. This makes cruising in the Med a
logistical challenge at the best of times but we hadn't been out of the marina yet! We applied
through an Immigration lawyer to get a temporary Residents Permit. All a bit dodgy [and
expensive] but they assured us ut would would be OK
It seemed the boat was jinxed. At every turn there were hitches; difficulties in installing
extras eg the battery monitor. The smart regulator we bought was not compatible although we were
assured it would be OK. The spinnaker pole was the wrong one but had taken 6 weeks to arrive and
was already cut so we accepted it. The canvas cover for the Bimini and dodger was the last job. We
specified best quality Sunbrella fabric, Tenara thread guaranteed for ever and the best quantity clears.
The cost quoted was astronomical with enough canvas to cover the whole boat but we accepted.
Javier had adopted a pattern of ripping us off by over charging like this. We went along with it as if
we challenged him he spat the dummy. He had us over a barrel by this stage and we just wanted to
get out of there. Piadad, the canvas lady, was clearly out of her depth. She couldn't make it fit and
had it off and back to the workshop four or five times. This resulted in the clears being damaged. At
this stage Javier became quite rude and aggressive. He said every one disliked us and our job was
''doing his head in''. I had paid him well over half the money. I dont think he was paying the
contractors in a timely fashion. We still got smiles and waves if we saw them around so I dont think
that part was true. He said if we'd wanted a very good job on the canvas we should have said so!!
Anyway he pulled the pin, told us Piadad could not finish it and that we should not pay that amount.
Unfortunately I had already arranged a transfer that included some money for the canvas work.
Asking for that back would be a stretch.
We finally left the marina on a sunny Sunday morning. We had been there 10 weeks. But the
problems were not over. The autopilot did not work and we could not calibrate its compass. The
dinghy lift did also not function. This part of the bimini/davit design had been altered by Ramon.
He insisted his design was better. We could not test it before as we were stern to in the marina. A
light shower of rain revealed the bimini and dodger both leak extensively.
We came to Barcelona as we finally had a date for our meeting with the Government
department. That went OK and we were told we would have to wait a week. They kept our
passports. We had the autopilot fixed. When the week was nearly up we started to phone and email
the lawyer – no response. Days ticked on. Our problem was that if the visa was refused we would
have to leave and go straight to a non-Schengen country. Tunisia is closest but not safe; next is
Croatia over 1000nm. I felt very vulnerable without our passports and no contact.
So today is the 90th day in Spain. We have heard that we will get our new visa next Friday
and on Monday can pick up a document allowing us to be in Spain. The problems with the boat are
far from resolved but things are starting to get better. It has been a nightmare so far but John and I
are hopeful that the dream is about to begin.
90 DAYS IN SPAIN
We are still here in Spain after 90 days; our visas are about to expire and our dream boat still
has problems. I think its time I share some of our trials and tribulations.
We have been wanting a bigger boat for many years. Originally we bought Jaraman as a
coastal cruiser. The live-aboard offshore adventure was not on our horizon in 2004. But offshore we
went and loved it! We sold our apartment and embraced the vagabond lifestyle. By 2009 we felt
we needed a bit more space but the logistics of selling one boat and moving on to another seemed
too hard when there was no house to go to. Besides Jaraman was home...and I felt very safe and
nested.
In 2014 as we got nearer to Australia, yacht brokers lurked in the marinas offering to sell
your boat. These mainly targeted the Americans who had done the Coconut route or the Puddle
Jumpers and found they were sick of it; but it started up our bigger boat longings again. Finally and
fatally, I contacted Vicsail in Sydney and asked if a trade-in scenario was possible. They had sold us
Jaraman all those years ago. Things happened very fast from then and something that had been a
vague wish became a imminent possibility very quickly. Maybe too quickly.
The dream was hatched and we were thrilled and awed by what we had done. The possibility
of Med delivery was the next issue. The combination of much reduced transport costs and deferred
Australian taxes added up to savings of many, many thousands of dollars. I balked at the logistics
but John thought the savings outweighed my qualms. I raised my doubts at Vicsail and all assured
me that delivery in Spain was no problem; that our extras would be handled by skilled
professionals and that the Vicsail/Flagstaff team would support us all the way. I can, to this day,
picture being in their office and all the staffs assuring me that Javier was a great guy, awsome, in
fact, and all the tradesmen were here waiting to please us. Ha!
When we arrived we found that despite being sent our list of post-factory extras, Javier, the
local agent, had not ordered anything. Okaayyy! We'll just start at the beginning. Next we found that
most companies in Spain do not keep stock. It seems that they have not recovered from the
recession. Delivery time on most items was 4 weeks or more! Once things arrived we still had to
wait....it seemed we couldn't have two lots of tradesmen working on the boat together. First this lot
do their thing then the next lot come. And 'working' is a different concept here in Spain. They might
turn up at 11AM, do a bit then go off at 200PM. We wouldn't see them again until the next day –
maybe. We were reluctant to leave the boat in case someone actually did arrive to work. May trailed
into June, the busy time for getting boats ready for the season
We wanted a Bimini which would incorporate support for a large solar array and dinghy lift.
Ramon was the only stainless steel man there. But we had seen some of his work and thought it a
bit rough so Davide, Javier's 2IC went to Ramon and said we were very particular and could he do a
special job. We visited his work shop every morning to see the progress. He proudly showed us
each bit. It was very good work. Smiles all round.
Pt Ginesta, the marina where all this was happening, is about 35km south of Barcelona. It
surprised me how few people speak English and even Catalan is more common! This included most
of the workers. Javier speaks good English but he is in Barcelona and we didn't see much of him.
Davide speaks quite good English and we soon learnt his peculiar phrases eg ''I like it too much''
meaning ''I like it a lot". And ''We have to crash your boat'' ! This did in fact happen. Gaining access
to fit the Bimini frame required removal of two fiberglass panels. They were destroyed in the
process; new ones ordered from Beneteau – delivery 4 weeks! In the mean time we had two ragged
gaping holes in our beautiful new boat!
From the start it was obvious that the standard of finish was not what we had had on
Jaraman; another casualty of the GFC – Beneteau put off many staff starting with Quality Control.
Shane from Vicsail was there for the commissioning and ordered many replacement bits; shouldn't
be necessary on a new boat. There are big issues still not resolved : the floor boards are warped and
in places sit up 10mm, these places being where you walk. New ones have to be made. They will
send them to us – somewhere, some time! The bilge design is such that a lot of water collects in
compartments before it drains to the lowest point where the pump is. The automatic bilge switch
turns the pump on but does not turn off presumably until the batteries are flat. These two points are
obvious safety issues. Shane says everyone knows that that type of automatic switch is no good and
we should go and buy another type and fit it ourselves!!! On the bilge design and how to rectify it
there is no response. And this was the biggest problem – slow response from Vicsail and no way to
contact Beneteau directly at all. With Javier difficult to deal with, Davide very busy and no one else
speaking English we came to feel very isolated.
We ordered and paid for cockpit cushions in a custom colour scheme. This order was placed
by Vicsail in March. The idea was that they would be delivered inside the boat but they were not.
After continual emails to Vicsail they finally arrived in June. They were the wrong colour! At the
time this seemed like the last straw.
June marched into July and our Schengen visas were running out. For those of you not
familiar with this, non EU citizens can only spend 90days in each 180 days in the participating
countries. So after our 90 days we have to leave for 90 days. This makes cruising in the Med a
logistical challenge at the best of times but we hadn't been out of the marina yet! We applied
through an Immigration lawyer to get a temporary Residents Permit. All a bit dodgy [and
expensive] but they assured us ut would would be OK
It seemed the boat was jinxed. At every turn there were hitches; difficulties in installing
extras eg the battery monitor. The smart regulator we bought was not compatible although we were
assured it would be OK. The spinnaker pole was the wrong one but had taken 6 weeks to arrive and
was already cut so we accepted it. The canvas cover for the Bimini and dodger was the last job. We
specified best quality Sunbrella fabric, Tenara thread guaranteed for ever and the best quantity clears.
The cost quoted was astronomical with enough canvas to cover the whole boat but we accepted.
Javier had adopted a pattern of ripping us off by over charging like this. We went along with it as if
we challenged him he spat the dummy. He had us over a barrel by this stage and we just wanted to
get out of there. Piadad, the canvas lady, was clearly out of her depth. She couldn't make it fit and
had it off and back to the workshop four or five times. This resulted in the clears being damaged. At
this stage Javier became quite rude and aggressive. He said every one disliked us and our job was
''doing his head in''. I had paid him well over half the money. I dont think he was paying the
contractors in a timely fashion. We still got smiles and waves if we saw them around so I dont think
that part was true. He said if we'd wanted a very good job on the canvas we should have said so!!
Anyway he pulled the pin, told us Piadad could not finish it and that we should not pay that amount.
Unfortunately I had already arranged a transfer that included some money for the canvas work.
Asking for that back would be a stretch.
We finally left the marina on a sunny Sunday morning. We had been there 10 weeks. But the
problems were not over. The autopilot did not work and we could not calibrate its compass. The
dinghy lift did also not function. This part of the bimini/davit design had been altered by Ramon.
He insisted his design was better. We could not test it before as we were stern to in the marina. A
light shower of rain revealed the bimini and dodger both leak extensively.
We came to Barcelona as we finally had a date for our meeting with the Government
department. That went OK and we were told we would have to wait a week. They kept our
passports. We had the autopilot fixed. When the week was nearly up we started to phone and email
the lawyer – no response. Days ticked on. Our problem was that if the visa was refused we would
have to leave and go straight to a non-Schengen country. Tunisia is closest but not safe; next is
Croatia over 1000nm. I felt very vulnerable without our passports and no contact.
So today is the 90th day in Spain. We have heard that we will get our new visa next Friday
and on Monday can pick up a document allowing us to be in Spain. The problems with the boat are
far from resolved but things are starting to get better. It has been a nightmare so far but John and I
are hopeful that the dream is about to begin.
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