La Rochelle Storm Damage

[Sea Devil]

I went down to see my boat in Les Minimes - La Rochelle on Sunday morning and again yesterday. The marina is devastated. only two pontoons remain relatively undamaged and all the live aboard boats have been moved there.. The marina staff are coping briliantly.

I have been more concerned about Paw Paw, than taking pictures but if you are interested in what a storm surge can do to a big marina then there are pictures here:-

http://michaelbriant.com/storm_la_rochelle.htm

 

[sarabande]

Michael - that's horrifying ! There's been very little on the UK news about the damage.

My first thoughts are for all the people who have made plans for this season; it's going to take ages to sort it all out.

Secondly, it's clear that the design criteria for the pontoons have been well and truly exceeded. The insurance implications are horrendous.

I hope you manage to sort out your boat.

Can you keep updating if you have time please ?

 

[Sea Devil]

I have just updated the site with lists of boats damaged and pontoons that are accessible... It is truly dreadful. On the one hand I have been impressed with the way the marina staff have handled the problem. Well organised - on Sunday morning they were all in manning with two manning the telephones with proper head sets and you can see that the web site from which I uplifted the lists is being kept up to date in a very professional way.

The berthing master told me yesterday that the 'plan' is to move all liveaboads to the two not badly damaged deep water pontoons. Next to recover all the sunken boats and pull them onto the hards - I saw that starting to happen yesterday PM with 3 recovered so far..

The sailing school is running a ferry service for boat owners in their ribs so you can get out to your boat.. most of the catways down to the pontoons are very very dangerous... Once you get on the pontoon the central piers which hold the pontoons in place - normally - have nearly all broken....

The pontoon (21) my boat is on looks like it could break away at the end and there is no way of securing it - yesterday I took the bow line of Paw Paw which was onto the possible breakaway bit off it - my hope is that if it does break of it will leave Paw Paw on the stub - what will happen is the dozen or so boats on the end of the pontoon will drift down onto the pontoon 20 - but I note they are towing boats off pontoon 20 just in case...

There is an expansion planned for a further 1000 boats in les minimes - This is either the 2nd or 3rd time this sort of devastation has hit the marina and I really wonder if enough thought has been given to protecting the entrance from waves which are what caused the devastation.... The Vieux port looks OK but the Chalutiers with it's new lock gates has also been badly hit............

 

[Firefly625]

Michael, as sarabande has mentioned, we have heard very little about this. Truly horrendous damage, intelligent & quick thinking marina staff have actually saved lives which is a staggering thought. Hope Paw Paw is undamaged, I couldn't see from your very comprehensive storm report if it was or wasn't. Always had a soft spot for Westerleys after parents had a Westerly 33 for many years.

 

[Sea Devil]

So far, unless pontoon 21 breaks away, the only damage I can find is one of the pretty massive fairleads for the bows has actually been bent and partly pulled out of the deck - I think the anchor was hitting the pontoon - the securing pins are badly bent and I suppose it was during this that the warps tightened so hard they bent the fair-lead!!! Amazing forces on the loose

 

[Garold]

Michael

Some of us sat at our office desks looking at your photographs are thinking how easily our yachts could have been in the pictures. So, very pleased for you that your yacht is largely undamaged but I guess there's not much comfort when you can observe the damage to others and imagine the trouble to sort it out for marina staff and owners.

However, I had a random thought that may have relevance. After your observation and experience of this event, is there any advice that you could offer the rest of us on how best to cope if caught in in a marina when this type of event is forecast? Is there any difference between say how the undamaged boats were tied compared to the damaged ones. Are there places to avoid in marinas?

I obviously don't expect you to gather your thoughts anytime soon, but most of us think of marinas as being the one place where we don't have to worry about our boats. It now seems a naive thought.

So, if you feel able, the rest of us could surely learn something from your observations.

Cheers

 

[Sea Devil]

off the top of my head looking at what happened to Paw Paw and more seriously, so far, to many others - (I am still worried about pontoon 21 breaking up) the following occur to me for a winter afloat layup:-

Never, ever, leave either of the sails on forestay or boom.

Tie down really firmly any dingy on davits or on deck... I put on extra ties following the marina's sms and still have small lightweight rib.

Use those big metal springs or at least rubber ones.. I have two in the garage and was planning to put them on... The result of not having them is a damaged fairlead... The most common damage in Les Minimes is boat having impact damage or going UNDER pontoons - hard to believe - a HR a few boats down from me had her bows stuck under the pontoon and her stern 5ft in the air.... My warps are are now half as thick as they were!!!

paying attention to 'spring lines' seems vital - I actually had 2 stopping her going forward (into the pontoon) and one to stop her going aft - not such a big problem as nothing behind plus a warp from the midships cleat on the pontoon to the midships cleat on Paw Paw...
The vast majority of of the damage to boats appears to be impact with the pontoon in front or aft of the boat so springs are the most important item.

I had my brand new spray hood up and it does not appear to have been damaged - however I think if laying up for some time I would either take it off or drop it and tie it down..

Frankly I think a lot of luck is involved as well - some very large well looked after big Amel yachts have been severely damaged simply because they were in the front line of pontoons taking the force of the waves first..

 

[Garold]

Michael

Thanks for taking the time out to reply.

So, serious springs and rubber snubbers seem to be the starting point. And fastening down or removing anything that may create extra windage.

Good luck with the rest of your day.

Cheers