Planning your first boat trip

1. Keep it short: two or three hours, a destination you can see, back well before dark. Cap Calme's Explore tab, “Trip ideas” view, suggests trips that fit before nightfall.
2. Know your limit: licence and safety kit set your distance from a shelter; the stricter rule applies. Ask the rental company for the kit level.
3. Read the weather for your boat: mean wind, gusts and sea state over the whole trip, return included, and the Météo-France coastal bulletin. Cap Calme gives a view for your boat and level (favourable, caution, not advised) with its reason, and another departure time if not advised; never a return after dark for a beginner.
4. Plan the route, then check it: land, shallows, restricted areas, buoyed channels, and the 300 m coastal strip, usually limited to 5 knots. Check it on the SHOM chart. Cap Calme does not compute water depth from tides: use the official SHOM tide times (maree.shom.fr).
5. Check the kit and the boat: the mandatory list for your kit level, then fuel, engine, kill cord, lifejackets worn.
6. Tell someone ashore: Cap Calme prepares a trip plan you send by link; your contact knows to call 196 if there is no news an hour after your planned return. Cap Calme does not alert anyone or track your trip.

Plan my first tripWatch the demo (30 s) →