Having A Bad Day? (boats swept away on the Lot in France)

[Vaughan]

Something I forgot - I don't know what they do now, but the boats used to go out towing a dinghy with an outboard, so that they could get a message to the nearest town if they went off the channel somewhere and ran aground, as they often did.  The Lot runs through mountainous gorges.  Spectacular scenery, but no mobile phone signal!

[Vaughan]

I remember in 2003 (I think it was) when the Rhone burst its banks and flooded the whole of the Petit Camargue, including our base at St Gilles.  When the water went down again, just inside the breach in the flood wall, they found a single decker school bus, lying on its side in the middle of a field.

It turned out that it had been swept out of the bus company's car park in central Lyon, about 400 km up river!

[Oddfellow]

Maybe I should offer them what's left of my fleet so that can hire for the coming season as the vessels featured in the various videos doing the rounds aren't likley to be sea worthy ever again. Such a sad set of circumstances. At least nobody appears to have been hurt. 

[oldgregg]

3 hours ago, FreedomBoatingHols said:

Maybe I should offer them what's left of my fleet so that can hire for the coming season as the vessels featured in the various videos doing the rounds aren't likley to be sea worthy ever again. Such a sad set of circumstances. At least nobody appears to have been hurt. 

Well.... LeBoat have had too many boats for a long time (although really they could have done with all those Visions writing off) and the cash from an insurance claim would be quite welcome right now, I expect. How many of those boats they actually own, I have no idea.

Next year's premium will be a bit of a shocker, though. If you have a big loss, commercial underwriters will point to the business' poor risk mangement and penalise for years. It's not like personal lines where you can go and ask the Meerkats to sort you out a better price.

[oldgregg]

3 hours ago, Vaughan said:

The next thing now will be what to do when the water starts going down again. It rose to at least 6 M higher than usual, so any boats that eventually ran around somewhere (if there are any left) will be high and dry, a long way from the river and with no road access whatever. There are no tow paths on the Lot.

Difficult to know what the current situation is without being there, but it did look like a few may have ran aground, mainly P&H boats.

There were clearly a lot that sank, although I think the Horizons seemed to fare pretty badly. I'm guessing there's not much of a keel on them? 

[Vaughan]

29 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

and the cash from an insurance claim would be quite welcome right now, I expect. 

 

One point eight million Euros, if you look at the sort of prices they are asking secondhand on their brokerage site. Plus the cost of recovery of the wreckage, plus any damage that may have been done to sluices or bridges, when they hit them.

[TeamElla]

I wonder how the lovely riverside vineyard at Parnac fared. Their workers looked like a really happy bunch exchanging banter and enjoying a meal together on a long table by the river as we passed by.

(For ref, it's where the "Celebrity 5 Go Barging" crew of Tom Conti, Penny Smith, Diarmuid Gavin and Tessa Sanderson first boarded their boats before going back to the base and staying overnight at Douelle. Most of that programme featured their outward / return journey in the opposite direction, upstream of Douelle and back).

The river bank at Parnac (vineyard side of river) is much lower than on the opposite bank and must be vulnerable to events like this.

[TeamElla]

Tony Christie was the other one

[Vaughan]

Just thought you might like to see what the Lot looks like in better weather!

These shots were taken in the upstream direction, on the other side of Cahors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last two shots are approaching and passing the famous Pont Valentré, in Cahors.

[Happy]

14 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Just thought you might like to see what the Lot looks like in better weather!

These shots were taken in the upstream direction, on the other side of Cahors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last two shots are approaching and passing the famous Pont Valentré, in Cahors.

What a difference.  Looks great?

[Hylander]

Saw this elsewhere,   nothing short of frightening.

 

https://youtu.be/i_IWscngYFs

 

[Hylander]

One of the saddest things I have watched.

[JennyMorgan]

Sad, yes, but maybe a few Norfolk yards will be called upon to build replacements. Also a few people might also now realise the power of tides when navigating our more tidal areas of the Broads.

[grendel]

merged with the other 3 topics covering this episode

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, JennyMorgan said:

Sad, yes, but maybe a few Norfolk yards will be called upon to build replacements.

I rather doubt that. They closed down Crown Cruisers and Porter and Haylett, and Brooms don't build any more. They felt it was much cheaper to have them "put together" in Eastern Europe.

 

[oldgregg]

Indeed.

Norfolk yards can't even build them at cost for the price LeBoat want to pay, and some have told them where to go.

Delphia in Poland have been building the Horizons (there were a few the right way up earlier in that video) with the interiors that look like something you'd get from IKEA. They're clearly not built to last, but will have been cheap.

[NeilB]

They may take the insurance money and not replace them at all.

[Mouldy]

6 minutes ago, NeilB said:

They may take the insurance money and not replace them at all.

With the travel restrictions that are likely to be imposed this year and possibly next and until a more reliable vaccine for Covid is in place, I think that is a more likely option.  They could probably move a few craft from other bases in the meantime to maintain their presence at the base if that is required.

[oldgregg]

30 minutes ago, NeilB said:

They may take the insurance money and not replace them at all.

If that's an option (and it isn't always with commercial insurance), I'm sure they will.

[JennyMorgan]

56 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

They're clearly not built to last, but will have been cheap.

I well remember going aboard a Porter & Haylett boat, many years ago, and marveling at the finish, or lack of. It seemed that once the boat was put together  everything inside was spray painted with a matching, flecked finish thus covering a multitude of sins, I was suitably unimpressed! 

[Oddfellow]

2 hours ago, Vaughan said:

I rather doubt that. They closed down Crown Cruisers and Porter and Haylett, and Brooms don't build any more. They felt it was much cheaper to have them "put together" in Eastern Europe.

 

Brooms are building, just not talking much about it. There's an Explorer about to be underway for Ireland and there will be at least another one built for Norfolk fleet too. 

[Oddfellow]

1 hour ago, JennyMorgan said:

I well remember going aboard a Porter & Haylett boat, many years ago, and marveling at the finish, or lack of. It seemed that once the boat was put together  everything inside was spray painted with a matching, flecked finish thus covering a multitude of sins, I was suitably unimpressed! 

The Connoisseur fleet, particularly the first generation, were absolutely nothing to write home about. They were built quickly with more internal moulded parts than you could shake a paddle roller at. The gaps in the canopies could have a bus driven through and the internal finish was incredibly "wipe-down".  I remember holidaying on a C35 in about 1983 and wasn't impressed, even as a teenager. 

[MauriceMynah]

Are Haines still active?

[floydraser]

There have been discussions before about the environment in relation to the disposing of old GRP boats. Surely it must be practical to repair/refurbish/rebuild most of these boats. I know it may not look like it at first but just the saving in new mouldings must be worthwhile, especially for the hire industry.

Claim on the insurance then all the wrecks would be sold off as projects. Would that flood the market with cheap boats later on?

[oldgregg]

1 hour ago, MauriceMynah said:

Are Haines still active?

Very much so. But LeBoat can't afford that level of workmanship.