RIB's to/from Calais

alant1 · 18 April 2010, 09:03

On this am TV, Dan Snow was promoting RIB's picking up stranded 'Brits' in Calais.

Mentioned that anyone with a commercial ticket, should head in that direction.

Poly · 18 April 2010, 09:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by alant1

On this am TV, Dan Snow was promoting RIB's picking up stranded 'Brits' in Calais.

Mentioned that anyone with a commercial ticket, should head in that direction.

Its all become a bit commercial since the last time we sent a flotilla of little ships to rescue our fellow countrymen from French soil hasn't it...

Trell · 18 April 2010, 09:30

Is anybody taking this seriously ?

Nos4r2 · 18 April 2010, 09:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

Its all become a bit commercial since the last time we sent a flotilla of little ships to rescue our fellow countrymen from French soil hasn't it...

There's a distinct lack of Stukas bombing them now though

Poly · 18 April 2010, 10:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

There's a distinct lack of Stukas bombing them now though

indeed and considerably less risk to the "rescuers" also! Although it sounds like this is a bit less commercial than it sounded at first: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8627922.stm

Poly · 18 April 2010, 14:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

indeed and considerably less risk to the "rescuers" also! Although it sounds like this is a bit less commercial than it sounded at first: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8627922.stm

this article has now been updated - and apparently he's been stopped in his tracks by French beaurocracy (presumably the french commercial skippers are benefitting!)

biffer · 18 April 2010, 15:06

all the time the frogs have got our guys there extracting large portions of money out of them, i would bet that everything has gone up around the ports, we should have left them to the germans

board to the rib · 19 April 2010, 08:20

What great coverage for ribs in the Mail, the Sun, The Metro etc today for Dan Snow's rescue of British Holiday makers from Calais. I notice it was JM Yachting with their fleet of grey Ribcrafts. What a hoot. Dunkirk re visited

SW Boat Transport · 20 April 2010, 01:32

We had an enquiry yesterday from a family stranded at Calais and wanting to charter a RIB to get home!

Jimbo · 20 April 2010, 10:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by SW RIB Charter

We had an enquiry yesterday from a family stranded at Calais and wanting to charter a RIB to get home!

I know of two RIBNet people running exactly that service - Jon Brooks from Horizon Sea Safaris, and Tim Meo from FunOnTheWater.biz. Not sure what take up has been like!

www.funonthewater.biz/emergencyshuttle
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php...5405564&ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Stu...8612098?ref=ts

Tim M · 20 April 2010, 10:57

Uptake has very low compared to what I thought it would be despite some extensive google advertising.

black mafia · 22 April 2010, 19:29

I was actually one of the skippers that went across the channel, we had a great crossing and then the problems started. I would just like to say that no money was exchanged by passengers at any time, they were brought back for free. There has been a lot of rubbish writen about this trip but I can assure everybody on here that we had a great time at the hands of the French police, immigration, port police, harbourmaster ect which lasted for 4 hours. If you are thinking of taking your rib across the channel even for recreational fun make sure you take all the paperwork for the rib and your qualifications. Luckily James from JM Yachting had all the right paperwork for each boat in a wallet issued to each skipper of that rib which the port authority went through like a dose of salts. This is just a cautionary tale but if you get the chance to do it, then one life live it Gary

biffer · 23 April 2010, 05:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by black mafia

I was actually one of the skippers that went across the channel, we had a great crossing and then the problems started. I would just like to say that no money was exchanged by passengers at any time, they were brought back for free. There has been a lot of rubbish writen about this trip but I can assure everybody on here that we had a great time at the hands of the French police, immigration, port police, harbourmaster ect which lasted for 4 hours. If you are thinking of taking your rib across the channel even for recreational fun make sure you take all the paperwork for the rib and your qualifications. Luckily James from JM Yachting had all the right paperwork for each boat in a wallet issued to each skipper of that rib which the port authority went through like a dose of salts. This is just a cautionary tale but if you get the chance to do it, then one life live it Gary

boaters come and go into french ports everyday and it doesn't take 4 hrs to clear customs, normally there are boat workers jumping on and off of boats this time of year all over the place, if they took 4 hrs every time there wouldn't be much cruising going on, they may have been nice chaps but they still achieved what they set out to do, give you guys a hard time.
some of my lot got people from the channel islands, no problems there with customs