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Artsun

@rek Wow. Thanks for sharing. Here at Frioul island's harbour there's a similar vibe going on. We were the home port for sailing teams that trained from the end of 2023 till the Olympics last summer. As usual in this kind of situations, they took the opportunity to put pressure on the most fragile residents of the marina.

I personally got sued by the city (without previous notice) for "breaking public good" when the wind caused the catway where I was tied up to break. Many boats were removed.

It's the cheapest port in the region, maybe even on the whole French Mediterranean coast. Lots of people are living aboard, they don't own much but their boat...

5 November at 21:32 | Wall-to-wall | Open on merveilles.town
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R E K

@artsun so strange that they would sue you for that... esp if the facilities are old(why else would it fail?), were you not meant to be tied there in such weather? How did that get resolved? Did you have to pay anything?

6 November at 1:02 | Open on merveilles.town
Artsun

@rek Long story! They played on two specifically points of the rules.

The first thing is that we're not supposed to be firmly moored to the catway, you're only allowed to use a loose hawser for safety. It's only the mooring lines at bow (les pendilles - how do you say that?) and the mooring at the dock that are supposed to hold the boat.

Being at the end of the dock, with one of the two bow mooring lines plunging vertically instead of going towards the mother chain, I had no choice but to tie up firmly to the catway.

Which brings us to point 2: I discovered that maintaining one of the mooring line was legally my responsibility, something I hadn't been aware of until then. I consulted a marine expert who told me he'd never seen such a regulation. I tried to point out my good faith and the opacity of the regulations to the municipality (which manages the port), but it didn't affect their determination at suing me. Read the small lines, friends.

That was a year and a half ago. I kind of hassled them to get another spot in the port, which I ended up getting (this is the good point of the whole story).

No news from the legal action. Insurance won't cover everything so I'm waiting to see as I'm supposed to get a fine for this. The insurance lawyer told me recently she thought the municipality had dropped the matter, but I have no way of really knowing (and I obviously don't wanna remind them of the whole thing).

Just another day in Absurdia...

@rek Long story! They played on two specifically points of the rules.

The first thing is that we're not supposed to be firmly moored to the catway, you're only allowed to use a loose hawser for safety. It's only the mooring lines at bow (les pendilles - how do you say that?) and the mooring at the dock that are supposed to hold the boat.

A drawing of the situation of the boat when docked, with the main winds directions, and the position of the moor lines. There's a commentary in french that says "The southern mooring line has a satisfying angle. The northern one falls vertically in the sea and doesn't hold the boat in case of strong Mistral".
6 November at 8:06 | Open on merveilles.town
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