Mandatory safety equipment: inshore, coastal, offshore

Mandatory safety equipment is the gear a pleasure boat must legally carry, and virtually every flag state scales it by distance from shelter: a minimal inshore kit close to harbour, a coastal kit for day-sailing range, and a much fuller offshore kit beyond that. Under the French flag the reference text is Division 240; the UK, US and most other administrations apply the same tiered logic with different labels. The principle is universal: the farther you are from rescue, the more self-sufficient you must be.

Distance from shelter, not boat size

Most regulations do not reason by boat length but by distance from a place of refuge — a harbour, a protected anchorage, anywhere the crew can reach safety. A 6-metre RIB crossing to an island 10 miles out needs the offshore-grade kit, exactly like a 14-metre sailing yacht. The skipper chooses the operating zone for the day, and with it the required equipment level.

Two practical consequences follow. First, your equipment defines your playground: without a liferaft, many flags simply forbid you from sailing beyond the coastal limit. Second, the official list is a legal minimum, not an optimum — nothing stops you, and everything encourages you, to carry more.

The inshore kit: staying close to harbour

This is the baseline for any boat, even a fishing trip in sight of the breakwater:

• a personal flotation device of 50 N minimum per person, or a worn wetsuit where accepted;
• a waterproof light for locating people at night;
• firefighting equipment matched to the engine installation;
• a bailing device (bucket or pump) unless the boat is self-draining;
• a towing point and a suitable towline;
• an anchor and rode appropriate to the boat, small dinghies excepted;
• the national ensign once outside territorial waters.

The whole list fits in one locker. It also only covers pottering along the shore: any more ambitious plan means stepping up a level.

The coastal kit: typical day-sailing range

The coastal tier builds on the inshore list for waters where help is no longer minutes away: lifejackets of 100 N minimum, red hand flares, a magnetic compass, paper or equivalent charts of the area, the collision regulations and a buoyage reference. A dedicated light for spotting a person in the water at night is usually added.

This is the kit most owners actually need: day trips, hops between neighbouring harbours. It fits in one or two dry bags and costs, as an order of magnitude, a few hundred euros to assemble from scratch.

Offshore tiers: where the list gets serious

Beyond typical coastal limits, expectations rise sharply: 150 N lifejackets, a liferaft, a fixed VHF, a compliant first-aid kit, parachute rockets and smoke signals, harnesses and tethers on sailing yachts, plus full navigation documents including tide tables and a logbook. For true ocean passages, most flags add a waterproof handheld VHF as backup and further publications. Always check the current version of your flag's text — these lists are revised regularly.

The big-ticket item is the liferaft: expect 1,500 to 3,000 € to buy a 6-person model, plus periodic servicing at an approved station, often 150 to 400 € per service. It is a real budget line, worth including from day one — our cost of ownership tool accounts for it.

Expiry dates: the forgotten calendar

A complete but expired kit protects nobody — and exposes you to a fine at a sea check:

• hand flares, rockets, smoke signals: roughly 3 years of validity, date printed on each unit;
• inflatable lifejackets: CO2 cylinder and firing mechanism to check yearly (see our guide on lifejackets and harnesses);
• liferaft: mandatory periodic servicing at an approved station;
• extinguishers: regular inspection, replacement per the manufacturer's schedule;
• first-aid kit: dated dressings and products to renew.

Make a full annual check a habit, ideally at spring launch, and log every expiry date in your phone.

Where to start

Take an honest look at your actual programme: if you never sail beyond coastal limits, skip the liferaft but build a flawless coastal kit. Store everything in dedicated, reachable containers — a waterproof flare bag, lifejackets within arm's reach rather than under a bunk — and brief every crew member on where the gear lives before casting off. When buying a used boat, audit the existing equipment: an out-of-service liferaft and expired flares are classic hidden costs, something we check systematically in our yacht buying service. For the regulatory vocabulary, keep our glossary at hand.