When you attend a course to gain an operator’s certificate you will learn to use a rather artificial form of speaking for making a call - e.g. to call another vessel you will select channel 16 and say the name of that vessel three times followed by the name of your vessel, then finish with “over” to indicate that you have finished and now expect a reply from him. So it will be something like “Aardvark, Aardvark, Aardvark, this is Bravobarge, over”, with the reply “Bravobarge this is Aardvark, over”. Channel 16 is reserved for calling and distress, so if Bravobarge was calling for a conversation he would then suggest a working channel for them to switch to. At the end of the communication the last caller would finish with “Roger, out”.

The official vocabulary for Continental inland waterway use is to be found here:

http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2011/sc3wp3/ECE-TRANS-SC3-185.pdf but in practice Continental inland VHF is much more informal; if you hear someone say “over” at the end of their transmission you can safely assume they are new to inland boating. One major difference is that ch16 is not used. The ship-to-ship channel is ch10, and you should use this in the same manner as ch16 is used at sea - i.e. it is used exclusively for calling and navigational information and you should not chat on ch10.

As noted there is a requirement at CEVNI Article 4.05.4 to call before entering blind sections, narrow channels or bridge openings. All that is generally required is for you to say where you are and your direction of travel. Arguably it is only the vessel travelling uphill/upstream that should do this, as it must not impede the passage of any vessel travelling downstream and needs to know if there are any. However the regulation does say “each vessel”.

As also noted sign 11b is sometimes used and indicates the channel to call on. Here and in the heading photo above it is ch.10 - would you really want to enter this narrow section without knowing that a loaded boat is steaming flat out towards you there? As it is also a one-way traffic section (alternat), how else do you know if it is clear for you to enter if you are not using VHF? I guess you just cross your fingers and hope for the best.

The view here shows an empty automoteur meeting a loaded one at the junction of the Canal de l’Aisne à la Marne with the Canal Latèral à la Marne at Condé-sur-Marne; in this location there is no signage given but obviously the regulation does still apply. 99% of captains do announce here, but neither of these did, which made life a bit more difficult than necessary for them. All the empty coming down needed to say was “Bateau vide à Condé, direction Chalons” (empty boat at Condé turning towards Chalons), or conversely the loaded one might say “Chargé montant, direction Reims” (loaded boat travelling upstream towards Reims).

On a small canal you will not be able to get past a loaded commercial vessel without his agreement - the hydrodynamic forces involved just make it pretty much impossible. An empty will generally be going fast enough that you would not wish to overtake him, but following a loaded one on a long pound does get very tedious. First of all though is to check there is no lock in the near distance to be sure you would not then inconvenience him; he’s not going to loose you by if there is. All you need to do is either look to see the name of the boat or simply refer to him as “chargé”; so “Bateau “Cupidon” (or maybe “bonjour

chargé”), écoutez-moi?”. “Ouai”. “Bonjour monsieur, en peut dépasser s’il vous plaît?”. Hopefully he will just say OK, but he might tell you to wait until perhaps after a bridge where it is wider or some such. He will probably then ease off and call you to tell you to come on, or even lean out and wave you by. Obviously the object of the exercise is then to pass him, but don’t go so fast that you draw all the water out from under him and put him on the bottom - he will not appreciate that! Don’t forget to thank him when you have passed: “Bonne journée” or “Bonne route”.

We have on a few occasions arrived at a busy lock where there are already a number of commercial vessels waiting. One of them has then called us on ch.10 to ask our length, and after a bit of chat between the various skippers they’ve come back and told us to go by as we will just fit with the 90m or whatever ship that is presently in the lock. Without that we would have been waiting for some considerable time - indeed I suspect that if we had no radio they would have simply ignored us after the initial unsuccessful attempt to make contact.

If you are calling a lock to tell the éclusier you wish to go through you

will need to tell him which direction you are travelling in, how far away you are, and possibly your length. Generally it is sufficient to say whether you are travelling upstream (montant) or downstream (avalant) but occasionally it is necessary to name the next major town in your direction of travel. For distance you will mostly use kilometres or minutes, e.g. 2 kilometres or 15 minutes, though you might say “I am at such-and-such bridge” perhaps

Even if you do not understand his reply at least he knows you are coming, and the chances are the lock will be ready. If he doesn’t say he’s getting the lock prepared he might be saying you have to wait as there are already boats in the lock and tell you which direction they are travelling in. He’s not going to be telling you to go away and to stop bothering him.

So in French the call might go:

1. •Écluse Pont Malin, écoutez-moi?
   

1. •Ouai, j’écoute.
   

1. •Bonjour monsieur/madame, j’ai un bateau vingt-quatre metres avalant, direction Belgique quinze minutes de vous, s’il vous plaît.
   

1. •J’ai un quatre-vingt metres montant dans l’écluse, puis il sera prêt pour vous.
   

1. •OK, merci monsieur/madame
   

Some locks do still want to see your papers, but it is often sufficient to give the éclusier the details by VHF. There has also been occasion when we were waiting in the lock and the éclusier has radioed us as there is a commercial on its way and we must move up to give him room. Without radio he would presumably have come out of his elevated cabin and waved us along, but the VHF does make things so much easier and more relaxed.

At the end of the transit, as you leave the lock, it is then politesse to thank him:

1. •Merçi Pont Malin.
   

1. *OK, Bonne journée
   

If you try to add “Et vous”, or indeed anything further at all, he will then reply again to that - the French have so many ways to thank each other and you will never get the last word in.

link to Tam’s RYA Book of CEVNI Regulations and DVD Barge Handling in France

(All text and photographs copyright © Tam & Di Murrell unless otherwise credited)