Last year I emailed a 1331 on departure. On return I had heard about the online link and tried to use but it wouldn't accept it as I hadn't booked out online.
I phoned the Southampton(?) office, it was 3AM , and the duty guy sorted it for me. He was very helpful and I was extremely grateful.
Side loads are minimal, launching - someone guides the trailer, recovery - the trailer follows the rope direction so unless the slip goes around a bend the rope horizontal angle is less than about 5 degrees.
Yes, I wanted an early start so got stamped out the previous evening.
There was a thread recently informing that the paf email address had changed to dipn50-paf-cic@interieur.gouv.fr
When I used to launch / recover our club dive boat I always used a rope on the car front towing eye.
Launching, had a person controlling trailer direction from the jockey wheel.
Recovery, using a front wheel drive car puts the weight in the right place and the rope keeps the drive wheels on the...
Not my idea of fun! I anchor in the bay, then move on - St Aubins, St Malo or across to Roscoff.
Paying high fees is ok if you're mob handed and share costs but expensive if solo.