BOAT-COMPARATOR Guide
VHF, channel 16 and safety: the renter's vital minimum
How to call for help at sea, what the rental boat's VHF is for, and the three safety reflexes every renter should know.
Nobody rents a boat thinking of the worst — quite rightly, provided you know three reflexes that fit on a till receipt. Here they are, no drama.
Channel 16, your 112 at sea
If the boat has a VHF: channel 16 is the distress and calling frequency, permanently watched by the coastguard (in France, the CROSS). Press, speak slowly: boat name, position (your phone's GPS gives it), nature of the problem, people aboard. No VHF: in France, 196 from a mobile reaches the CROSS directly — save it before boarding.
The three reflexes that change everything
1. The kill-cord on the wrist on fast boats: a helmsman thrown without it leaves a runaway boat. 2. Continuous position: share your route with someone ashore and keep the phone charged in a waterproof pouch. 3. The shelter point: at any moment of the day, know which port or sheltered beach is within 20 minutes.
Breakdown, case number one (by far)
The vast majority of call-outs are banal breakdowns: engine, fuel, battery. The reflex: anchor so you stop drifting, call the operator (the number is on the contract — they often handle recovery themselves), and only in real danger the coastguard. Running dry is avoided by asking the hourly burn at the briefing: half the tank on the way out, never more.
What the operator must show you
Where the lifejackets are (including children's sizes), the extinguisher, the kill-cord, the VHF if fitted, and the permitted navigation area. If they don't volunteer it: ask. Two minutes worth every insurance policy.