ovftool - CURL error buffer: error:1408F10B:SSL routines:SSL3_GET_RECORD:wrong version number

[hidra2000]

I'm trying to export a VM using ovftool on linux.

 ovftool --X:logFile=upload1.log --X:logLevel=verbose --noSSLVerify vi://[user]:[pass]@[ESXi IP]:[port]/my_datacenter/vm/my_vm_folder/my_vm_name /tmp/test.OVF 

and i get the following error in the log:

2016-11-11T11:40:30.287+02:00 verbose -[7F5C76E3F7C0] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Getting version of the VI host : [ESXi IP]

2016-11-11T11:40:30.287+02:00 verbose -[7F5C76E3F7C0] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Initializing new curl session

2016-11-11T11:40:30.288+02:00 verbose -[7F5C76E3F7C0] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] WebRequest set basic http authorization, username : [user]

2016-11-11T11:40:30.288+02:00 verbose -[7F5C76E3F7C0] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Getting http page: https://[ESXi IP]/sdk/vimServiceVersions.xml

2016-11-11T11:40:30.299+02:00 verbose -[7F5C6F1CF700] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Curl_perform error code 35 (SSL connect error)

2016-11-11T11:40:30.299+02:00 verbose -[7F5C76E3F7C0] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] CURL error buffer: error:1408F10B:SSL routines:SSL3_GET_RECORD:wrong version number

2016-11-11T11:40:30.299+02:00 verbose -[7F5C76E3F7C0] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Curl session torn down

2016-11-11T11:40:30.300+02:00 verbose -[7F5C76E3F7C0] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Backtrace:

-->

--> [backtrace begin] product: VMware Workstation, version: e.x.p, build: build-2459827, tag: -

--> backtrace[00] libvmacore.so[0x003D9C74]: Vmacore::System::Stacktrace::CaptureWork(unsigned int)

--> backtrace[01] libvmacore.so[0x001DBF37]: Vmacore::System::SystemFactoryImpl::CreateQuickBacktrace(Vmacore::Ref<Vmacore::System::Backtrace>&)

--> backtrace[02] libvmacore.so[0x0018481D]: Vmacore::Throwable::Throwable(std::string const&)

--> backtrace[03] ovftool.bin[0x0020DFB3]

--> backtrace[04] ovftool.bin[0x00248E5D]

--> backtrace[05] ovftool.bin[0x0024C5C9]

--> backtrace[06] ovftool.bin[0x00295BC4]

--> backtrace[07] ovftool.bin[0x0029714C]

--> backtrace[08] ovftool.bin[0x00299744]

--> backtrace[09] ovftool.bin[0x001EC2B4]

--> backtrace[10] ovftool.bin[0x001EEB04]

--> backtrace[11] libc.so.6[0x00021F45]

--> backtrace[12] ovftool.bin[0x001626B9]

--> [backtrace end]

-->

You'll note that the command is run with --noSSLVerify.

So I checked the SSL versions on both the client and the ESX server using:

openssl ciphers -v | awk '{print $2}' | sort | uniq 

and both returned:

SSLv3

TLSv1.2

no difference between the two...
looked around for this curl error and while it is fairly well known I haven't seen a solution applicable to my situation.

Any ideas?