TomBettle Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Guys Just had some slightly worrying news which I am not able to confirm. A customer has just told me that in a very recent issue of Motorboats Monthly there is an article on channel crossing trip planning to the French ports. In that trip planning article it states something along the lines of that visiting boats with an RCD CE category C or below rating are not allowed within 6 miles of port... or something along those lines. Basically suggesting only category B or above. I haven't got the article, but if someone has the latest or a very recent MBM magazine to hand - it's the one with a trip planning feature - it states it in there. If you have, can you confirm if she was talking nonsense or not as this will affect several club boats I am sure. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Tom The French have always had an active approach about craft leaving their ports, and their suitability for passage - this pre-dates RCD! I'll see if I can find out more from the various sources (you know them) but I don't think this is anything new. It's also important to recognise that the RCD references wave height, and that other parties subsequently linked these to particular areas (based on historical data). The question, from day one, has been "is there any relevance to the geographical designation?"; and the answer has always come back that it's the sea conditions at the time, and anticipated, and the captains assessment of the situation ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaffa Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 extract from the MBM article "The French authorities do take RCDcategories very seriously indeed.It's technically illegal to take a Category C boat further than 6 miles from land in French waters,which effectively prohibits any such craft from crossing the Channel.You can get into quite a lot of trouble if they have to rescue you in conditions that exceed the RCD design capability of your boat." MBM have provided a list of equipment needed for France here http://www.motorboatsmonthly.co.uk/archive...l-crossing-gear Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 I've asked Carl (ed) for his comments I recognise the list Gaffa links as the French requirements for French flagged vessels which, while it's a good reference point for anyone going afloat, technically has no relevance to visiting mariners who are subject to their own flag regulations. However, being legal isn't the be all and end all - you only have to look at the current issues with Belgium and Holland re diesel to see that (and well done to the RYA for (finally) taking things to the EU court!) The French have always had both 300m and 6nm reference points that have no equivalent elsewhere (although I believe Poole has the former under 250m guise but no-one seems to know). Such limits have no direct relevance to the RCD, but the French choose to relate them for their own regulations). Will obviously post any response Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlieannear Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 Just as an aside, and along the lines of it's not entirely the boat, it's also the skipper, that makes a channel crossing safe, it is thought that the smallest of the Dunkirk 'Little Ships' to make the journey across the Channel was the Tamzine - an 18 feet open topped fishing boat now on display at the Imperial War Museum, London. I wonder whether that would have even passed as category C! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 Just as a follow up to this - I have just been advised that MBM have, or will be, withdrawing this. It would seem that first impressions were right and this was all derived from a view put together for a third party group rather than reflecting a change in regulations. France, and to a degree Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, all have quite strict regulations for their own flagged pleasure craft - certainly relative to the UK where regulation has been pretty much non-existent and eduction see as the solution (not raising that for debate here!). However, SOLAS V does apply, and passage planning is a legal requirement (for this trip and others) - within that planning are the capabilities of the craft and crew together with the conditions anticipated...as they should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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