Wealthy St Tropez skippers ignore plea for new lifeboat

BILLIONAIRES basking on their megayachts off St Tropez this summer beware: if your luxury vessel catches fire or founders, don’t expect the local lifeboat to come to the rescue.

That is the message from the French Riviera port’s marine rescue officials after their plea for financial help for a rescue craft went unanswered from the captains of five-star yachts that ply the waters off the high-society resort.

The St Tropez branch of the Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer (SNSM), the national lifeboat association, wrote this year to wealthy individuals and companies owning such yachts, asking them to help out.

They asked the owners, a string of France’s wealthiest individuals, to help fund the last €200,000 needed to pay for a new €1.4 million (£1.25 million) lifeboat.

However, they said their SOS appeal for funds sunk almost without trace, causing delays and meaning they cannot afford crucial electronic devices on board.

With the new lifeboat not due until next spring from a shipyard in Brittany, their old craft, the Bailli de Suffren II, is currently out of action for two weeks, awaiting a spare part from Italy.

As a result, rescue calls risk going unanswered. The broken lifeboat is the only one in the area able to weather all conditions to tow in bigger vessels.

Pierre-yves Barasc, the president of the Saint-tropez lifeboat station, said that while the highest donation of €10,000 came from the owner of a relatively small boat, penny-pinching tycoons failed to hand over a centime.

“If 30 people had done the same we could have had our new lifeboat … they said it wasn’t their problem,” he said. “It’s great to shower the young ladies with a bottle of €50,000 Cristal champagne, but they could be a little more restrained and help us.”

He said he hoped his outburst would spur the super-rich yacht owners to finally cough up.