Hot boating topic

[Poignard]

That is indeed the problem.

It is incredibly sad and some of the reader comments in the tabloids are despicable. I particularly hate the ones criticising the RNLI for rescuing some and taking them to England,

Don't despair, there are still many good people in our country:

Donations to RNLI rise 3,000% after Farage’s migrant criticism

 

[Biggles Wader]

The RNLI dont mobilise themselves to go out and pick up migrants nor do they "stand by mid channel", they are requested to launch to a specific incident by HM coastguard. Presumably HM coastguard thinks there could be an emergency and who in the RNLI knows any better at the time of request? I certainly wouldnt want to be the person who turned down a request to launch or even refused to pick up a boatload of people in mid channel and then had to attend a Coroners court at a later date or found my picture plastered all over the outraged press when something went wrong.

 

[Daydream believer]

deleted

 

[Biggles Wader]

Farage is just a mob orator. He is great at highlighting & critisizing problems, but never has a viable solution.
Whilst he may have a point about the RNLI being like a Taxi service- he can provide no viable answer to the Channel issues.
I would rather see a landing craft sent out to scoop them up with the ramp,- guide em on with a couple of jet skis. Then go to France & deposit them on a beach somewhere. No need to bother with ports & officials. Just drive up, drop em off. No aruments with the French & go. 2-4 months of that & they would give up coming. Macron cannot complain if we are saving lives & if we catch them mid channel we can argue they are French responsibility.

Gosh yes! We could employ the evil people smugglers to take them back. Surely that would be cheaper than giving the French 50 million quid?
UK and France 'completely blind' over tragedy, says French NGO L’Auberge de Migrants
Or we could all grow up and get real.

 

[newtothis]

Farage is just a mob orator. He is great at highlighting & critisizing problems, but never has a viable solution.
Whilst he may have a point about the RNLI being like a Taxi service- he can provide no viable answer to the Channel issues.
I would rather see a landing craft sent out to scoop them up with the ramp,- guide em on with a couple of jet skis. Then go to France & deposit them on a beach somewhere. No need to bother with ports & officials. Just drive up, drop em off. No aruments with the French & go. 2-4 months of that & they would give up coming. Macron cannot complain if we are saving lives & if we catch them mid channel we can argue they are French responsibility.

So, using the armed forces to invade French territorial waters in order to smuggle refugees onto its sovereign territory.
No, can't see any issues with that whatsoever.

 

[Daydream believer]

deleted

 

[TiggerToo]

Guys, Guys. Keep this boaty.

 

[Daydream believer]

Guys, Guys. Keep this boaty.

Point taken
Landing craft are "boaty" but last 2 posts deleted to keep you happy

 

[doug748]

[

Point taken
Landing craft are "boaty" but last 2 posts deleted to keep you happy

Good man, perhaps post 34 will also be taken down?

.

 

[Daydream believer]

Good man, perhaps post 34 will also be taken down?

Don't push your luck- just because I had a "good will" moment- though I am not sure why

 

[Seastoke]

And i always thought you had to pay for a river taxi

 

[fisherman]

One rescue vessel crew said when they tried to tow an inflatable the eye came off and the glue was still wet.

 

[Tomahawk]

From what I can gather:-
No one seems to call them refugees. Even the Gardian calls them "migrants".
France blames the UK for being too attractive to migrants
The UK blames France for failing to prevent boats launching
There is a lot of political grandstanding on both sides.

 

[Daydream believer]

And i always thought you had to pay for a river taxi

Talking of river taxis. Have you tried those yellow perils in Rotterdam? The water in the canas is really rough, stirred up by river traffic. They roar up to the bank at 10 knots. Bounce up & down 2 feet & roll from side to side whilst passengers try to embark/disembark through a hole in the side. Then go roaring off. They must involve the most dangerous passenger movement known to western humans. Even the elderly are expected to jump from shore to boat whilst it is bouncing around like a wild thingy.
They could ferry "illegals" across the channel at a fair old rate of knots though & the RNLI crews could get some rest.

 

[Poignard]

From what I can gather:-
No one seems to call them refugees. Even the Gardian calls them "migrants".
France blames the UK for being too attractive to migrants
The UK blames France for failing to prevent boats launching
There is a lot of political grandstanding on both sides.

Surely until they have been interviewed it won't be possible to know whether a migrant is a refugee or not?

 

[Stemar]

Surely until they have been interviewed it won't be possible to know whether a migrant is a refugee or not?

While I have every sympathy for those fleeing war and famine, and some for those who just want a better life, in my book, if they're in France, they're already in a safe country, so they are no longer refugees. If they're coming over here in such numbers, it's because France finds it expedient to let them go and become our problem, rather than having to do it themselves. I know it would never go anywhere in a court but if the traffickers are guilty of manslaughter, what about the country that, at the very least, turns a blind eye to the traffic?

BTW, I'm a Francophile, with a French wife. so that isn't just an anti-France rant.

 

[Tomahawk]

And i always thought you had to pay for a river taxi

Indeed you do. Chap I used to know who came from a family of Literman and Watermen said it is the origin of the word tax. Everone pays , even the king.

 

[fisherman]

We only see the ones who have the money to pay the gangs.
Many of them have skills we need from carers to veg pickers and drivers etc etc.
The 'stop in the first safe country' protocol is EU based so we aren't in it.....now.
They can't be returned from outside to inside the EU, easily.

Lastly, they are people. There but for the grace of God...

The man in the UK who was following his wifes location on the lost boat said the signal died after 4 hours and 18 minutes. 3-5kts? would indicate mid way.

 

[Tomahawk]

Surely until they have been interviewed it won't be possible to know whether a migrant is a refugee or not?

Fair point.
The real problem is that nothing any of us think or say ever will make a blind bit of difference for we are not the ones in power. As one must expect from a demographic such as boat owners, we all of have an opinion and because we are by and large educated enough to afford to operate a boat, we want to express our opinions about something that has the potential to affect our passion and interests.

 

[doug748]

Folks who noted the schoolboy comments about "snitches" and the like (now rightly taken down) might like to view post 107 here:

PYH KICKING OUT 50% OF THEIR LIVABOARDS

I think the self elected guardians of public morality pushing current affairs into these pages probably underestimate how unpopular this is.