L5: A Sailor's Yarn

Schengen shenanigan sends summer sojourn onto the rocks. Will Simon be considered to be an illegal immigrant?

Simon and Anne own a boat which they keep in the Mediterranean. Like the majority of British sailors they spend May and June on their boat, return to the UK in July and August (when it is hot and expensive to be on The Med) and then return to their boat for September and much of October. This year, 2021, they went out for a shorter period in May and June and then had an enjoyable few weeks sailing in September. They planned to leave their boat on the quay in Gouvia marina on Corfu.

Simon had calculated the number of days he had spent that year in Greece and was aiming to be in the marina on day 84 which would give him time to tidy up the boat and have it craned out of the water. Their flights home were booked. Returning to Gouvia he decided to stop at Gaios on the island of Paxos for a night. They moored up as usual to the town quay and then ate ashore in the evening. The next morning, when he came to start the engine a nasty smell and smoke came from the engine bay which he identified as coming from the starter motor. It was destroyed. It is not possible to sail out of the narrow entrance at Gaios and a flat calm was forecast anyway. A thirty-five mile tow back to Corfu was out of the question. Fortunately, he was able to arrange for a new starter motor to be delivered to him but it would take five days.

It was easy to fit the new motor and the engine started well but by then a typical Mediterranean storm had developed suddenly blowing force eight from the north, the direction in which he needed to go. He was forced to remain in Gaios for another two days. By then, he had exceeded his 90 day allowance and his boat still needed to be craned out of the water and winterised. At the marina he asked the Port Police if it would be possible to stay a few more days. They said “No.”

He managed to rearrange flights home, but had to wait a further two days as flights from Corfu at that time of the year were reduced. When they got to the airport he and Anne were fined heavily and they are now not sure if they will even be able to return to his boat next year as technically they had become illegal immigrants.