Most cruising incidents do not end with a rescue. They end with a bumped hull, an exchange of details, a frayed nerve, and a question nobody wants to think about until they have to: who do I have to tell, and by when? In France the answer depends on what happened, and getting it wrong can void an insurance claim or leave you on the wrong side of a maritime affairs office that takes its paperwork seriously. As a visiting sailor you are held to the same rules as a French owner, with the added handicap of doing it in a second language under stress.
I have had to report two incidents in France, a minor collision on a crowded pontoon and a grounding that turned out worse than it looked. Both were sorted without drama, but only because I knew which calls to make and in what order. Here is the map I wish I had had the first time.
First: is anyone in danger?
Before any reporting question, there is the safety question. If the incident left anyone hurt, or the boat in danger, the priority is the emergency call, not the paperwork. France keeps a continuous listening watch on VHF channel 16 and DSC channel 70 through its network of CROSS rescue centres, and you can reach sea rescue from any phone on 196, free even outside normal coverage. A DSC distress alert sends your position automatically, which matters when you are busy.
If it is a genuine emergency, you make a MAYDAY or PAN PAN, and the reporting that follows flows naturally from that call because the coastguard logs it. If you are hazy on the wording, the distress and safety call procedure in France sets it out, and the practical side of contacting the French coastguard on VHF tells you who answers along your coast. Only once safety is settled does the reporting machine start.
The collision case: get a constat
A collision between two boats is the most common reportable incident for visitors, usually a low-speed coming-together in a marina or anchorage. The French expectation here mirrors the road system: you fill in a joint accident report, a constat amiable maritime, with the other party.
The constat is a single document where each skipper describes their version, draws a sketch of the two boats' positions and manoeuvres at the moment of contact, and both sign. Once signed by both parties it becomes binding and can be used against the other boat's insurer, which is exactly why you want it filled in on the spot rather than from memory a week later. Carry a blank one. If you do not have it, write down the same information by hand: the other boat's name, registration, owner's details and insurer, the time, the position, the conditions, and a sketch.
If the other skipper refuses to cooperate or has caused damage and left, that becomes a matter to report to the maritime affairs office and, potentially, the gendarmerie maritime. The same officials who carry out the document checks the Gendarmerie Maritime performs are the ones who deal with incidents on the water, so having your own papers in order makes any contact with them shorter and friendlier.
The five working days that catch people out
The deadline is the part visitors trip over. Under French insurance law the period to declare a loss to your insurer cannot be less than five working days from when you discovered it, and it drops to two working days for theft. That covers the usual list: collision, sinking, fire, weather damage, grounding. Five working days sounds generous until you are mid-cruise, off-grid, and the clock is running from the moment of the incident, not the moment you get home.
A few practicalities that keep you inside it:
- Declare in writing, by recorded delivery if you can, so you can prove later that you met the deadline. It is not strictly required but it is strongly advised, and it is cheap insurance against an insurer claiming late notice.
- Photograph everything before you tidy up: the damage, the other boat, the scene, your own deck. Timestamps help.
- Keep the constat, any coastguard reference, and the names of any witnesses together in one file. If your boat is foreign-flagged, your own home insurer still needs all of this, so do not assume French-language documents can wait.
- Know that theft is the tighter deadline at two working days, and it carries an obligation to file a complaint with the authorities, so a stolen tender or outboard is a same-day job, not a tomorrow job.
Groundings, near misses and the bigger investigations
Not every incident needs the full machine. A soft grounding on a falling tide that you float off undamaged is a lesson, not a report, though if it touched a hull fitting you check carefully for a through hull failure and slow flooding before you relax. A harder grounding with damage is a loss your insurer wants to hear about inside that five-day window, and the practical recovery side is covered in running aground in France.
At the serious end, France has a marine accident investigation office, the BEAmer, set up in 1997. It investigates accidents and incidents involving French-flagged civilian vessels anywhere in the world, and foreign-flagged vessels when the event happens in French internal or territorial waters. For most cruising sailors the BEAmer is something they read about rather than deal with, because it concerns significant casualties rather than a scraped topside. But it is worth knowing the system exists, because a serious incident in French waters, especially one involving injury or a commercial vessel, can trigger an official inquiry quite separate from your insurance claim.
The language problem, and how to beat it
The quiet difficulty for visitors is that all of this happens in French. The constat is in French, the insurer's emergency line may be in French, the maritime affairs office certainly works in French, and a stressed skipper translating "starboard quarter" or "I was making way under power" in the moment is at a real disadvantage. The other party's account goes on the same form as yours, and if you cannot follow what they have written, you can sign away a version of events you would never have agreed to in English.
A few habits remove most of that risk. Carry a constat and read a blank one in advance so the boxes are familiar before you ever need to fill one in. Keep a written note of the key boat-handling phrases, who was stand-on, who gave way, what speed, what manoeuvre, so you can describe your own actions precisely. Photograph the other party's completed side before you both sign, so you have a record even if the copy goes astray. And if you are at all unsure what you are signing, write your own account in English on a separate sheet, attach it, and note on the constat that you have done so. Your own insurer would far rather have a clear English statement than a French form you half understood.
It also pays to keep your own paperwork current, because an incident is exactly when it gets inspected. Insurance certificate, registration, radio licence and the skipper's qualifications all come up, and the same officials who run the document checks the Gendarmerie Maritime performs are the ones who turn up after a serious incident. A tidy document folder turns a long roadside-style interview into a five-minute formality.
Who to tell, in plain order
Stripping it down to the order I actually work through:
- If anyone is hurt or the boat is in danger, call the coastguard first, VHF 16, DSC 70, or 196. Safety always comes before reporting.
- For a collision, complete and sign a constat amiable with the other boat there and then. Get names, registration and insurer.
- Notify your own insurer in writing within five working days, two for theft, with photos and the constat.
- For a hit-and-run, theft, or anything involving injury or a commercial vessel, report to the maritime affairs office or gendarmerie maritime as well as your insurer.
- Keep one file with every reference number, photo and document until the claim is closed.
None of this is hard once you have done it once, and most incidents in France are dealt with courteously and quickly. The visitors who come unstuck are the ones who treated the reporting as optional, missed the five-day window, or had no record of what happened. Carry a constat, know the deadline, photograph everything, and the French system works for you rather than against you.
