“Your license and navigation map, please.” This Thursday, July 14, the coastal unit of Maritime Affairs (Ulam) patrols the Gulf of Morbihan under a blazing sun. As part of the Safety at Sea Day, the two Aff’Mar’ controls, Bertrand Maillard and Sylvain Poulaud, are mainly there to do prevention. After boarding in Port Blanc (Baden), they stop the boats, remind them of the safety instructions and do a lot of education.
“Throughout the year, we mainly deal with fishing and the environment,” explains Yann Guillou, the principal administrator of Maritime Affairs who accompanies them. “But in the summer, there are a lot of boaters on the water and unfortunately we see a sharp increase in accidents. In 2021, of the 3,625 rescue operations carried out in the Gulf of Morbihan, 2,445 took place during the summer period, i.e. nearly 70%. “It is to avoid new tragedies that we try to make people aware of the dangers of nautical leisure activities and encourage them to be more serious when going out to sea,” he recalls.
Too many violations
A few minutes on board the semi-rigid Ulam are enough to note the statements of the controllers: for boaters, being in good standing is not the norm. Expired fire extinguisher, insufficient number of life jackets, masked registration… Warnings rain down. Among these routine checks, several serious violations were noted. Around 1 p.m., Bertrand abruptly tacked and pushed the Zodiac’s engine. A speedboat tows two children on buoys without the orange flame which makes it possible to signal it to other users, and two other boats move quickly towards it, without being able to see the young people in the water.
“This situation can lead to a very serious accident,” explains Bertrand. Arrived at the height of the star, he crosses his arms in the air to mean to the owners of the boat to cut the engine. The license of the owner of the boat, the children’s grandfather, is temporarily suspended. He will be summoned in a few days before the administrator of Maritime Affairs, who will render his judgment on the sanctions to be taken.
Speeding and illegal parking
A little later, a man is checked at 25 knots while he is within 300 m of the shore, where the speed is limited to five knots. Then, on the side of Ilur, the unit intervenes with a man who has dropped anchor in the channel of the island, the navigable passage between a port and the sea where boats maneuver. “I was hot, I went swimming, it’s fine,” grumbles the owner of the boat as he gets out of the water.
“Because people are in bathing suits, their way of addressing us tends to be very relaxed,” says Yann. “You would never say to a policeman, ‘Oh, calm down, I just left my car in the middle of the expressway to go for a swim.’ Here is the equivalent! “At the time of deconfinement, the controllers remember an “unlivable” atmosphere. “It’s not easy every day,” admits Bertrand. “But look around you: we have the most beautiful office in the world! »
–
