Support vessel needed for charity kayak across the Channel - 8th June 2014

[Kevinjbroome]

Hi there!

I was wondering if there is any generous person that wouldn't mind giving up there time to accompany me as a support vessel as I cross the English Channel for charity in a Kayak in June.

On June the 4th I will set off from Manchester on a 'super triathlon', which will see me run, cycle and kayak my way 450 miles to Paris in 7 days. I have chosen to do this challenge in fancy dress in the hope it will raise awareness of the event, I have decided to complete it dressed as the legendary Captain Jack Sparrow!

I will be raising money for two very worthy organisation, the first Cancer Research UK and the second VESA - Volunteer Eco Students Abroad (which helps to carry out vital charity and support work in Africa and South America)

I am posting this as I am in need of a support vessel to help me navigate (and in case of emergencies) across the English channel. I plan to set off from Dungeness on Sunday 8th June in the morning and arrive in Boulogne-sur-Mer on the French coast in the afternoon , I expect it will take me between 4-7 hours to cross the channel on my kayak depending upon the conditions.

It would be a tremendous help if you were able to provide the much needed support service as without this I doubt that I will not be able to carry out this charity event and help support the charities. I will be able to contribute some money towards the cost of the service however as this is a charity event the smaller the cost the better off the charities will be.

Thank you for taking the time to read my proposal, if you are interested in helping me I would be delighted to hear from you.

[SteveHall]

I just want to say - I was involved with a cross channel sailing event for charity a few years ago and I was part of the safety team. It took months if not years of planning for the event organisers - to summarise the plan was a small fleet of sailing boats at a ratio of two sailing boats per rib to sail across the channel leisurely - no racing.

We were met with nothing but obstacles along the planning, everything the French asked we did but basically the end result was if we didn’t use one particular company for the safety and management of the event the French would arrest us when we arrived, so we then decided to sail France to UK but again they said they would arrest us when we set off. I can’t remember the company they wanted us to use, but it was the same company who do all the cross channel events and they wouldn’t do it for free.

We then attempted to do this on the quiet, but this seemed pointless as we wanted to raise awareness and raise as much money as possible.

After various attempts, and the expense of everyone traveling south only to be told we couldn’t depart due to bad weather, busy shipping the eventually the event flopped and didn’t happen.

Good Luck!

[Daniel]

We did this last year "on the quiet" - crossed sandgate to sandgate - French police wanted to arrest us when we arrived. Bloody pain hours and hours of dealing with buricrats. Was a bit worried at one point calculated they were threatening to impound £50,000 of boats !!! Good game of cat and mouse on the VHF reporting out position as we approached. I'd turned off the AIs transmitter but they soon found us.

I believe the regulations apply mostly to the NE lane and your route (may) avoid the majority of buricrats. We read the regs, they still wanted to arrest us.

My advise is consult Dover CG they have a dedicated officer. Problem is they are basically interpreting French law(s) or policy's and there are grey areas in translation, that's where we fell foul.

Best of luck. Sorry ribnet isn't more positive for you so far.

I would love to help BTW but prior commitments those dates sorry.

[Daniel]

Opps sandgate to samdgatte obviously... Fleet of 6 laser dinghies for those that are interested.

[ShinyShoe]

I sometimes wish I was more of tree hugging rebel and I'd volunteer for this and say "arrest me" the publicity would be fantastic ;-)

It'd also be quite fun winding up the French Euro nuts by challenging their only one company rule.

Whats gonna happen when all those ribs arrive for the D-Day bash!!

So what stops me getting in my 13ft sailing dinghy and sailing across unsupported? Is it illegal? (I have all my VAT receipts etc). At what point does it become legal...

[Daniel]

They'll try and arrest you. They had guns.

"Unauthodox craft" are not permitted within X meters of French Coast.

Sailing dinghies it seams are unauthodox - this is the technality we fell foul of.

A laser dinghy is fast seaworthy manoeuvreable and CE marked craft. Not allowed by the French...

[whisper]

Hang on... I have a cunning plan... We could go in disguise

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by Daniel

They'll try and arrest you. They had guns.

"Unauthodox craft" are not permitted within X meters of French Coast.

Sailing dinghies it seams are unauthodox - this is the technality we fell foul of.

A laser dinghy is fast seaworthy manoeuvreable and CE marked craft. Not allowed by the French...

This is why I wish I was braver... so a sailing dinghy is unorthodox by a yacht isn't. So I'd want to challenge that view in their courts and get all the publicity for the charities by asking what the difference was between a dinghy and a yacht