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.
By Clément Lacaille, editor of Boat-Comparator · updated
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.
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