French Rules, O.K.

By Terry Hinks

Since this article was written, Terry Hinks has been in further correspondence with the organiser of the "Semaine du Golfe". This correspondence, which modifies some of the requirements of this article, can be found here:

French Rules - Follow-up Remarks

 

Hans Vandersmissen wrote in ‘The Shallow Sea Drascombe’:

“ If not for survivalmania, then to avoid fines, it is wise to find out what the natives want you to have on board before you sail to another European country.”

Here are the rules and fines that I have gleaned from the French boating press during 2005.

The Rules

On the 1st January 2005 the rules were changed from the previous 6 possible categories of navigational activity that could be undertaken in French waters to only 2:

• Coastal – less than 6 nautical miles from shelter
• High Seas – more than 6 nautical miles from shelter

Obligatory Equipment On Board (Topic)	Category (Quantity)		Comments
	Coastal (< 6 nm from shelter)	High Seas (> 6 nm from shelter)
Adherence to International Regulations
National Flag	1	1	Your red ensign
Signal Flags ‘N’ and ‘C’	1	1
Foghorn	1	1
Mooring Buoy (over 7 metres)	1	1	Is your boat over 7 metres long?
Black Cone	1	1	Why not get the black ball as well
Ship’s Bell (over 12 metres)		1	Is your boat over 12 metres long?
Individual safety
Lifejacket or buoyancy aid (one per person aboard)	1
Lifejacket (one per person aboard)		1
Harness (one per person aboard)		1
Horseshoe Lifebuoy with automatic self-righting light	1	1
System facilitating recovery of a man overboard (bathing ladder, steps, etc)	1	1	Any system you like – its up to you to demonstrate to the authorities that it works.
Collective safety
142 Newtons of buoyancy per person aboard (inflatable dinghy, raft of any kind)	1		In addition to that provided by your life jacket. Would you count a deflated dinghy!?
Liferaft or inflatable dinghy with automatic inflation (rated capacity must equal or exceed the number of people on board)		1	No, I don’t know of any automatically inflating dinghies on the market at present…but there will be now! In Date with service record!
Red hand flares	3	3	In date!
Parachute flares		3	In date!
Floating Smoke flares		2	In date!
Signal Mirror	1	1
Waterproof torch	1	1	One that doesn’t light, when you switch it on, doesn’t count!
Vessel safety
Rigid bucket	1	1
System allowing you to plug a hole in the hull (Set of wooden cones or other)	1	1	Again, it’s up to you to demonstrate that the system you have works! They will expect to see a set of wooden cones.
Fire extinguisher	1	1	In date!
Bilge Pump	1	1
Toolkit allowing you to deal with minor breakdowns	1	1
Ground Tackle
Anchor and warp	1	1
Navigation
System allowing the depth of water to be measured (Electronic or Lead Line)	1	1
Equipment allowing you to take a bearing, to draw and follow a course (GPS Plotter or the ‘full-monty’ manual kit – hand bearing compass, dividers, plotter, parallel rules, sextant, the lot)		1	It’s a GPS Plotter for me!
Ships (magnetic) Compass	1	1
Meteorology
Equipment allowing you to receive weather forecasts		1	Navtex or similar
Nautical Information and Documentation
Copy of the International Collision Regulations (Ouvrages 2A and 2B du SHOM or a Nautical Almanac containing the same information)	1	1	You don’t have to have French versions aboard, but you do have to have the equivalent content in your own language
List of Lights	1	1
Tide Timetable or equivalent	1	1
Charts of the area being sailed (paper and/or electronic)	1	1
Ships Logbook		1	Completed and up to date of course! This is a legal requirement in France

Now for some caveats:

• These rules apply to tidal and not fluvial waters (where CEVNI rules also apply)
• They represent the minimum equipment that must be carried for each category
• Your equipment may be purchased anywhere in the EU, but it must carry the appropriate CE mark.
• ‘Shelter’ means an officially recognised port or mooring (look for the notice board giving local rules, tarifs, weather forecast, etc) and not any old bay or creek that you like the look of. If in doubt, ask the nearest harbour master.
• the 6 nautical mile limit means passage miles, and not ‘as the crow flies’
• the limit applies to all boats over 5 metres in length.
• Dabber and Scaffie owners take note - the navigational limit for all boats of less than 5 metres in length, no matter what they have on board, is 5 nautical miles, come hell or high water!
• There is some disagreement as to whether 142 Newtons of extra buoyancy per person under the Coastal regime is necessary if your boat was built to RCD standard and carries a CE plate. Of course, if your boat predates the RCD standard it definitely applies.
• If you are stopped in, or rescued from, conditions that exceed the RCD design capability of your boat (Category C – wind over Force 6, and waves over 2 metres high) by the French, expect to be in deep do-do’s with the authorities.

And whilst I’m at it:

• This article in general is intended to cover the highlights, and is not exhaustive. You should make sure that you are aware of the most current version of the regulations from an official source.

Speed (SOG) is limited to:

• 5 knots in a zone 300 metres wide from the water’s edge throughout the French littoral. Yes, this zone moves in and out with the tide.
• and usually less than 3 knots in ports (though this is subject to local legislation)

For those of you poring over your charts of the Morbihan, the first of the above speed limits presents you (and the French) with an interesting conundrum. There isn’t much of the Morbihan where you can guarantee to be able to exceed 5 knots; and there are several places where you will be hard pressed not to exceed this limit! The Affaires maritimes du Morbihan are studying the possibility of extending this limit to 10 knots in several notorious places, but to my knowledge they have yet to do so.

The good news is that all of the islands off Brittany’s south coast are legally within reach (just) under the ‘Coastal’ regime, but you must construct your passage plan carefully. 

The Fines

Here are the most common infringements and the fines and penalties that go with them:

Infringement	Fine
Incorrect or no boat documentation (e.g. SSR certificate)	€1500
Incorrect Documentation (change of owner, address, engine, etc)	€1500
Incorrect or no skipper’s documentation (e.g. ICC)	€1500
Failure to immediately produce the required documentation when asked	€38
Failure to produce the required documentation within 5 days	€750
Overloading your boat	€1500 and the risk of imprisonment for up to 1 year
Equipment aboard failing to meet the minimum requirement for the category of navigation being undertaken	€1500
Exceeding the speed limit in the 300 metre littoral zone	€3750 and/or six months in jail
Exceeding the speed limit in port	€450

Conclusion

These new regulations for pleasure craft users have been constructed by the French to encourage responsible boating, whilst liberalising legislation as far as they deem wise. There are several items of equipment which you are not obliged to carry, but which most people would consider sensible (e.g. VHF). You are free to supplement your equipment as you like, provided you do not contravene customs or fishing regulations

The French authorities tend to favour the ‘dragnet’ approach to enforcement. You won’t see the Gendarmerie Maritime for weeks, months, years – if you are an infrequent visitor from abroad - maybe never. One day, however, you will awake to wall to wall smokies, and the next day they will all be gone again.

You don’t have to be at fault before being stopped and/or boarded.

Remember, if you do get caught, that ‘sorry’ goes a lot further in France than it does in Britain, for reasons that I will leave the reader to work out.

Since this article was written, Terry Hinks has been in further correspondence with the organiser of the "Semaine du Golfe". This correspondence, which modifies some of the requirements of this article, can be found here:

French Rules - Follow-up Remarks

 

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