Division 240 Safety of pleasure craft

What is Division 240?You may have come across its name when learning the Highway Code to obtain your boating license. In France, Division 240 is a regulatory text concerning pleasure vessels and boats with a length of 24 meters or less. It defines the mandatory equipment and safety gear to be carried on board.

Owners or tenants, all skippers of French boats of this size are concerned, whether they are operating for personal use or for training. Boats not flying the French flag,
but whose owner is a tax resident or has a registered office in France, must also refer to it.

Division 240 is designed to ensure, as far as possible, the safety of crew members on board a recreational vessel underway.

The text establishes a list of mandatory and recommended equipment and specifies the quantity of items to be carried on board, depending on the number of people on board, the type of vessel and the chosen navigation area. Some equipment must comply with a standard, bear a mark attesting to a certain level of quality, or have an unexpired shelf life.

The text is based on the principle that the further the navigation program is from the coast, the more dangerous navigation can be. Also, the list of mandatory equipment and safety gear differs depending on the intended navigation zone, and expands as one moves further away from a shelter. There are four zones:

• Basic, up to 2 nautical miles (nm) from a shelter
• Coastal, from 2 to 6 nm from a shelter
• Semi-offshore, between 6 and 60 nm from a shelter
• Offshore, from 60 nm from a shelter to the open sea

The regulations also concern small vessels such as tenders. The rule is
specific for them: it states that the boater cannot, with it, go further than 300 meters from a shelter. There is only one exception for navigating aboard them more than 300 meters from the coast: being within a 300-meter radius around the mother vessel, which then represents a shelter. In this case, the boater must have the appropriate safety equipment on board to comply with regulations.

The navigator must always comply with regulations. Failure to comply with Division
240 constitutes an offense and may result in penalties.

This is the equipment that must keep a person afloat in the water! It can be a protective suit, a foam or inflatable life jacket, with manual or automatic inflation. It must comply with a standard, and its type and buoyancy must be adapted to the user and the navigation area. One PFD must be provided for each crew member on board the boat, as well as on the tender, if more than 300 meters from a shelter.

This safety equipment allows you to be seen if you fall into the water! This can be a waterproof flashlight or individual equipment associated with each life jacket on board, such as an automatic flashing light, a light stick, or Cyalume. The device, which must have an autonomy of at least 6 hours, is mandatory on all boats and also on tenders more than 300 meters from a shelter.

To be able to react in the event of a fire on board, mobile fire-fighting equipment must be carried, i.e. one or more fire extinguishers and a fire blanket. The devices must comply with the standard and be judiciously placed in relation to potential hazards. Consult the boat owner's manual to find out what mandatory equipment must be carried on board.

It is used to evacuate water from a vessel, especially in the event of a leak!

It can be a simple bailer, a bucket, a hand pump, or a manual bilge pump. Even if the vessel is equipped with automatic bilge pumps, the skipper is required to have one of these, fixed or mobile. The chosen device must be adapted to the volume of the vessel.

To be assisted and towed in case of a problem, each boat must be equipped with a mooring device and a rope suitable for towing. The mooring device can simply be a cleat on the ship's deck and the rope a flexible line, at least 50 meters long.

It consists of an anchor, a chain, and a rope rode. The skipper will choose it based on the planned anchoring areas, conditions, and type of seabed. The anchor rode is mandatory for all boats with a light displacement greater than or equal to 250 kilograms or that have an engine with a power greater than or equal to 6.1 horsepower.

In tidal navigation areas, boaters must carry a means of knowing the tide times and coefficients for the area being frequented and the specific day of navigation. Beyond 6 nautical miles, carrying a tide almanac is mandatory.

It is used to indicate the vessel's country of registration and nationality, and it is therefore mandatory to hoist it outside territorial waters. The size of the equipment must be chosen according to the size of the boat.

This is the lifeline, which is thrown to a person who has fallen overboard after being securely fastened! The skipper can choose their equipment from several models – horseshoe buoy, ring buoy, or Silzig buoy – and will connect it to the boat using a floating rope.

In an emergency, they allow a ship's crew to signal their distress, be spotted by nearby individuals, and then be rescued. The expiry date of the onboard devices must not be exceeded.

It helps you find your way at sea: based on the same principle as a compass, it indicates north, thanks to the Earth's magnetic field. On board, it must be watertight and conform to standards. Less than 6 miles from a shelter, it is not mandatory and can be replaced by a waterproof GPS with a compass function.

They inform the boater about the navigation area, enable them to orient themselves, and check that the outing at sea is going well. Nautical charts can be in paper or electronic format and must cover the entire navigation area frequented. They must also be official and up-to-date.

This reference document sets out the rules for vessel priority. The skipper is required to have an up-to-date paper or electronic version of the COLREGs, which must be readable on a suitable device on board. It is also available as a sticker to be placed in the cockpit of one's boat, and an updated version is included each year in the Bloc Marine.

This is another mandatory document, which this time allows for a clear interpretation of the marking of the navigation area frequented by the vessel. It can also be carried in the format of your choice.

A liferaft allows you to abandon ship when safety on board is no longer assured. Liferafts are stored in bags or PVC canisters and are deployed to inflate.
Boaters will choose between a type 2 liferaft, suitable for coastal navigation, or a type 1, for offshore navigation. The equipment must correspond to the vessel's category and the number of people on board, to be able to accommodate everyone if needed.

To navigate safely, the skipper of a vessel must have the necessary equipment to take a fix, plot, and follow a course. When working with paper charts, they will use a parallel rule, a bearing compass, and a pair of dividers.
An electronic navigation system will not require any other equipment.

Having the List of Lights on board is also mandatory. This time, the book describes all the signals and navigation aids that the boater is likely to encounter. Here again, the skipper can choose between paper or digital format, but the version owned must be up-to-date.

This is the document kept by the captain for each voyage. It records remarkable events
that occurred on board, navigation conditions, precautions taken, or important maneuvers
performed on board. The date, details of crew members, port of departure, and
port of arrival must be mentioned in it. In the event of damage, the logbook is used to trace the events that occurred on board.

It ensures the crew's safety by allowing them to anticipate and avoid facing overly severe navigation conditions. To receive weather forecasts on board their boat, boaters can use several devices: VHF, Navtex, SSB radio, or satellite communication.

In strong conditions, the harness and tether are used to attach oneself to the boat to stay safe on board. The harness consists of two shoulder straps and a waist strap, or is integrated into an inflatable life jacket. The tether, on the other hand, is either simple or equipped with an elastic. It is mandatory to have one harness and one tether per non-sailing vessel, and one set per person on board a sailing vessel.

The first aid kit is mandatory more than 6 miles from a shelter. It is the safety equipment that allows, if necessary, to provide first aid on board while waiting for help to arrive. Depending on the composition of the crew and the navigation program in coastal, offshore, or deep-sea areas, the skipper will supplement the first aid kit to anticipate as much as possible any problems that may arise on their boat.

Fixed or mobile, this device must help locate a person overboard at night, without visibility.
The equipment must be waterproof.

In the event of a problem, it communicates the MMSI and the exact position of the boat to the emergency services, so that they can intervene precisely and as quickly as possible.

It is mandatory for offshore navigation and is administratively linked to the vessel.

To communicate effectively with the emergency services and send a distress call, the skipper is obliged to carry a fixed or portable VHF radio. The portable VHF can be buoyant. Some VHF radios are also equipped with a Digital Selective Calling (DSC) system that allows a distress call to be sent and vessel information to be transmitted by pressing a button for 5 seconds. When coupled with a GPS, a VHF with a DSC system accurately transmits the vessel's position.

Together, we have reviewed the mandatory or recommended safety equipment to be carried for your next sea trip, depending on your navigation area and program. If you still have questions about Division 240 and the armament and safety equipment to be carried for your next voyage, please do not hesitate to contact the Bateau-immatriculation.com team!