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Canadians stuck in Havana
Mary Vallis, National Post
Published: Friday, February 24, 2006
Stranded on the ocean on a life raft in the middle of a stormy night,
wearing only a T-shirt and swimsuit after watching the US$2.5-million
luxury yacht he captained sink, Rob Aitchison thought he had reached
his lowest ebb. He had even lost his shoes.
He was wrong. The raft washed up on Caya Coco, a tourist island off
Cuba's northern shore, near dawn. Mr. Aitchison, his wife, Kelly, and
two crew members -- all from Ontario -- were whisked eight hours away
to Havana in a paddy wagon, locked up in an immigration facility and
questioned about illegally entering Cuba.
Twelve days later, the Aitchisons are still stranded in Havana: Cuban
authorities have seized their passports and are refusing to let them
leave the country.
"This is a country of contrasts," Mr. Aitchison, a Canadian Coast Guard
officer, said in an interview from his hotel room in Havana yesterday.
"On the one hand, it's very nice. On the other hand, it's just so
unforgiving, and we're stuck."
The saga began in the Virgin Islands on Feb. 8, when the Aitchisons met
Aubrey Billard, an engineer with the Canadian Coast Guard, and Jim
Beatty, an advertising executive with the National Post. The foursome
planned to sail the Downtown -- a 25-metre, custom-designed "maxi
yacht" -- to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., from St. Martin. The Downtown is
registered in Canada and owned by Luigi Boschin, a retired Canadian
businessman who hosts a radio show in China.
As the Downtown sailed past Cuba on Feb. 12, the vessel hit a storm
with three-metre waves and began filling with water. Mr. Beatty and Mr.
Billard searched for the leak but couldn't find it. Mr. Aitchison, the
captain, sent out maydays as it got dark and one engine failed.
The crew made contact with a nearby ship, but Mr. Aitchison was not
ready to abandon the Downtown. Instead, the crew guided the yacht
toward the nearest land -- Cuba. The Canadian Coast Guard alerted the
Cuban coast guard. The crew was even in contact with the Canadian
embassy in Cuba before they abandoned ship.
"It's the black of night. We're in a gale. The seas are big," Mr.
Beatty said yesterday. "There's a lot of motion in the yacht. Doors are
opening up; things are spilling out of cupboards."
After realizing the boat would sink, the Canadian crew of four kept
calm while trying to radio for help. Mr. Beatty collected his luggage
and shaved with his electric razor. To lighten the mood, he joked with
Mr. Billard that it was sure to be a long night.
The crew lost their last engine and dropped anchor about three
kilometres off Caya Coco, so close they could see lights twinkling on
shore. The Canadians lit flares to help local authorities pinpoint
their location and decided not to abandon the Downtown in life rafts
until the boat capsized or sank away beneath them.
Around 4:30 a.m., hours after their first mayday, the Downtown finally
rolled over and the crew -- in two small boats tethered together --
dropped into the water. Before long, the Aitchisons piled into the
other crew members' motorized boat and cut their dinghy free.
Reaching the beach, the survivors were greeted by a crowd of locals who
had seen their flares and about 15 Cuban officials who flashed lights
to help guide them.
The crew were taken to a medical clinic for treatment. Mr. Aitchison
had taken a bad fall and badly bruised his left hip.
The next morning, they returned to the beach. Wreckage from the
Downtown stretched for six kilometres, but the yacht was still visible.
"There were waves washing over it," Mr. Beatty said. "It was this great
big groaning, moaning, dying beast.... It was like watching a creature
die. It was terrible to watch."
Mr. Aitchison found his canvas shoes in the abandoned dinghy, which had
washed up on shore.
Cuban officials then took the Canadians to an immigration centre in
Havana, where they were briefly held in lockup until local officials
understood their plight. A representative from the Canadian embassy
soon arrived and helped them check into a hotel. They have been working
to help resolve the case ever since.
The group have nothing but praise for the way the locals and Canadian
embassy officials have handled their case. But Mr. Boschin, the yacht's
owner, insists Canadian officials should have done more to help his
crew.
"It is just unfair that people that were in an emergency are being held
hostages," he said from Switzerland yesterday.
"We live in a world where you should be able to come and go unless you
have committed a crime, and they have not committed a crime. [Mr.
Aitchison] did the best he could for the vessel. He saved the lives of
people on board. If it wasn't him being a captain and having the
training of the Canadian Coast Guard, this boat would have been lost at
sea and we would never know what happened."
Mr. Beatty and Mr. Billard have returned home, but not without their
own share of problems. After Cuban authorities escorted them to the
airport, they had cleared airport security and were about to board a
flight to Toronto, local authorities reappeared and took them back to
the immigration centre in Havana for more statements. They were
eventually released.
The Aitchisons say Cuban immigration officials have also cleared them
to leave the country. But the Cuban Coast Guard is insisting it have
written authorization from the insurance company, assuring them the
cost of cleaning up the wreckage is covered, before the captain will be
allowed to leave.
"It's a dollar issue," Ms. Aitchison said yesterday. "They want to make
sure somebody is going to pay for it, and they're holding us as the
guarantee that somebody will take care of that."
The boat is insured with Lloyd's of London, but the company has been
reluctant to commit to the cleanup of the wreck, Mr. Boschin said. The
vessel does not have coverage in Cuban waters, but the incident began
in international waters, he explained.
Pamela Greenwell, a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs
in Ottawa, said Cuban authorities will prevent the Aitchisons from
leaving Cuba until "the insurance company or the owner give assurances
to local officials that a process is underway ... to clean up or
salvage the sunken vessel."
A meeting between the insurance company and Cuban officials is
expected to take place today. Despite the setbacks, Mr. Aitchison
expects he and his wife will return to their home in Kingston, Ont.,
early next week.
The Aitchisons say they are under virtual "house
arrest" at their hotel because it is not safe to venture out without
their passports. It took Mr. Aitchison an hour to buy shorts in the
hotel without his identification, his wife said.
"I'm calm. I
would really like to get home and see a Canadian doctor," said Mr.
Aitchison, who thanked his crew for the way they handled the affair.
"But my wife and I, we're handling it. There are worse prisons to be
in."