Boat equipment : How to choose your safety equipment

 

 

Safety on board

When you go to sea, you are confronted with many external elements that can potentially put you in danger. It is therefore important to adopt a good safety behaviour and to know the mandatory safety equipment on board.

The set of safety equipment on board is called safety equipment. The equipment includes everything that is essential and mandatory, depending on your navigation program, on board your boat to ensure the best possible safety.

What equipment is mandatory in your equipment ?

There are 4 types of safety equipment that differ according to your distance from a shelter:

• The basic equipment (up to 2 MN from a shelter).

• Coastal armament(2 to 6 MN from a shelter)

• Semi-offshore armament(6 to 60 MN from a shelter)

• Offshore armament(beyond 60 MN from a shelter)

 

Here is a summary of the mandatory equipment according to the 4 types of equipment and navigation:

What are the essential safety items?

• The individual safetyequipment (lifejacket) must be, as its name indicates, 1 per person on board. We propose a very large choice of Life jackets on our dedicated page that will suit your expectations.The regulatory buoyancy depends on your distance from a shelter:

• Less than 2 MN =50 Newtons

• Between 2 and 6 MN =100 Newtons (children under 30 kg will not need more than 100 N regardless of distance)

• More than 6 MN =150 Newtons

• The flag is a mandatory element in navigation. You can consult all our flags available as well as a guide at the bottom of the page to help you find your way.

• The mooring kit must be adapted according to the boat and is mandatory for vessels whose empty weight is greater than 250 kg and whose propulsive power is greater than 4.5 kW for a motor boat.

• If a fixed VHF is present on board, the skipper may decide not to take on board a parachute rocket or a smoke generator from 6 MN.

• The first aid kit must contain mandatory items according to article 240-2.16. We detail all this in our first aid kit guide.

Find the right weaponry for you

Fortunately for you, armament kits are sold ready to use by many manufacturers. We find bags according to the 4 types of navigation (basic, coastal, semi-offshore and offshore). It is the case of Plastimo which proposes a basic rigging bag and a coastal gunny bag to suit your use. If you wish to go to sea further than 6 MN from a shelter, you will have to complete these kits.

 

Good sailing to all !