When you’re crossing the English Channel, 30 miles of cold and choppy water, I’m sure most of us would like more than just 6 oils drums and a sheet of wood between us and the depths of the Atlantic.
But that’s what two bold Germans and a Frenchman have ‘accomplished’ after navigating the 9hr crossing in what Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman Mark Clark refers to as similar to “crossing the M25 on a scooter with a blindfold on”.
[QUOTE=The Telegraph]
But the trio, who carried a goodwill message in a bottle from the mayor of the German town of Zweibrucken, had failed to obtain permission from the relevant authorities to cross the busy shipping lane.
The raft was reported to the Coastguard by a passing vessel and the dignitaries were met at Folkestone harbour at 4pm by the Coastguard before being arrested by police on suspicion of endangering life.
[/QUOTE]
This seems to me to be quite an exercise in stupidity. I think had the three men resolved to do this of their own volition and manned a singlehanded (or indeed triplehanded) attempt at Channel crossing I could let it go as poor judgment and a rather serious lack of foresight for, as the spokesman notes:
[QUOTE=Mark Clark]
It was just stupid. They posed a danger to themselves and to other vessels. Big ships are not to be messed with. Ships go up and down there at a considerable rate.
[/QUOTE]
But this was not some half arsed scheme cooked up in a moment of bravado, it was a joint venture, planned and executed by several councillors and the Boulogne and Shepway Co-operation Association, whose manager, Lynn Dockar, was also arrested forming part of the welcome committee at Folkestone.
And it’s not just the danger to shipping traffic that is galling, they took no concern for their own lives,
[QUOTE=The Telegraph]
The raft, which was constructed of six oil drums and a sheet of wood, contained out-of-date flares, a radio that didn’t work and no life-saving equipment.
[/QUOTE]
Now that’s just silly.
So what is the general consensus, if indeed there is one? Should these ‘dignitaries’ have been arrested upon landing, though they were released without charge after 10 hours in the cells? Or was this a simple act of friendship gone awry and we should have foregone the castigation the men received in reciprocal benevolence?
I’m torn, as I certainly don’t believe the men meant any harm, but this just seems a shade too far for simply ruffling their hair like naughty boys and shaking your head at their folly.
One thing is for certain, their ‘symbolic journey across the Channel carrying a message of goodwill’ has likely not engendered the goodwill intended on either side of the Channel. 
