Marina moorings break loose setting boats adrift

M

Marco Flamingo

Active member
Some of you have looked at my photo album of the cruise we did on the River Lot in France in 2017. We chartered a canal barge from a business called Le Boat. There was recently huge flooding on the river and the marina housing the Le Boat vessels broke free and floated down the river. Not good, but as I watched the video I wondered what happened when they came to the spillovers that slowed the water at each lock. Be sure and look at the last minute of the video. That's why as whitewater kayakers we always stayed away from weirs and spillovers. If a 50' boat can't pop out of the reversal, what chance does a 9' kayak have?

Mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_IWscngYFs
 
Mark, thanks for sharing the video. The River Lot looks like a gorgeous area to cruise. Big loss for Le Boat! Very modern "canal boats". The canals are certainly an entirely different type of boating than the PNW!.
 
Wonder why the salvage boys did not step in, secure boats as they could and tie them off to trees and the like? I know that all would not be saved but some were untouched for a long time, just adrift. Bob
 
Boy, I have been on Mississippi in flood when I should not been there.
This much worse. Water has power. If someone timed it right could have jumped from lock and landed on boat, or not!
Sad!
 
Baxter":d3atfmgs said:
Boy, I have been on Mississippi in flood when I should not been there.
This much worse. Water has power. If someone timed it right could have jumped from lock and landed on boat, or not!
Sad!
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Only works if you have some control of the boat. If the engines are inoperative for some reason and/or the steering inoperative, then you are just along for the ride. I'm guessing you'd probably not have the keys for a random boat that just happens along. You'd only find out if the boat was operable once you got on board. Getting off again might be a problem.

Also, if their docks washed away, I'm guessing that other docks are also unserviceable, so where would one land the boat?

If it was your boat that was being washed down the river, then maybe you'd have a better chance of rescuing it. You could get the keys and would know something about the condition of the boat (like if there was any gas in it). But then again, it's just a boat and you'd have insurance on it, right?
 
I was just kidding. No boat worth jumping onto in those waters.
So I did not think of all the practical issues of doing it.
Rivers at flood stage are extremely dangerous. Friend and I many foolish years ago a friend and I took a canoe down a Wisconsin River right after ice out and snow on bank. Went over a 6’ waterfall we did not know was there. Wood Old Town canoe was
17’ going in and 13’ coming out. Had life jackets on made it to shore in rapid current. Hiked back to road. Early 1970’s so we’re lucky hypothermia not invented yet or would have died in frozen cloths. We were an hour in those conditions. Now this is a story of being stupid not of bravery.
Moral be careful out there and don’t take risks you can avoid. Ignorance is not an excuse for foolishness.
 
I was wondering why the marina was not out there lassoing those boats, or get on board and drop some anchor, IF they had anchors, that might have held the bow to, and saved some fiberglass.

Amazing what can be done with a rubber fast boat and some equipment and thinking.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

IMGP2133.thumb.jpg
 
I was wondering why the marina was not out there lassoing those boats, or get on board and drop some anchor.....
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I thought about that too, but then I starting thinking about it. That water is moving fast, and I don't suppose the road is always near the bank. So to save a boat, you'd have to first figure out a spot to do it, and then get there not too early or too late. Even if you were lucky enough to pull that off, you'd only have a split second to make your move -- and you better be on the correct side of the river with everything set up just right.
 
Le Boat started their Rideau Canal operation in Canada with this style boat in 2019 when we were on the Triangle Loop Adventure.

NO boating experience is required to rent one. We saw no anchors on any, which we don't find surprising...they can scrape along a concrete town wall for 1/4 mile with zero damage, but would you trust a renter who had never seen a boat before to anchor properly and not get swept over a dam due to some 'foolish' anchoring error?

At Smith's Falls they appeared to have a very efficient turn-around operation, and an option for boatless folks to try out a canal boat in a very low risk environment.

It's hilarious how all the private yachts are sent in a lock first to get secured in minutes, then the rentals come careening in, sideways, backwards, etc and how amazingly patient the lockmasters and staff are.

A sight to behold, and thankfully there are bars and outdoor seating overlooking those locks! We're in some.

Happy locking!
John
 
I've never seen an anchor aboard. The section of the River Lot that we did had a lock every three or four kilometers. That's why the first thing I though of was what happened at the weirs. At the speed the river was running, one would only have 10 or 20 minutes max to get everything under control.

I don't know why there wasn't more footage of them going over the weirs. I'm sure they all didn't all but one get hung up in branches or stuck to bridge piers.

I wouldn't try to save one of those boats even if I got full salvage rights. It's not like I could just bail out at the last minute. I'd still be spinning around below a weir.
 
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