Float plan

[Cargile]

After reading today's USCG feed about rescuing 3 fisherman off the Dry Tortugas and being reminded to file a float plan I started thinking. A Search of this forum came up with 2 posts both over a decade old. One had a link to an online service site no defunct. Is there a replacement? Any discussion on float plans I would find interesting. Safety equipment is not an issue, float plans are. Thanks.

 

[psneeld]

After reading today's USCG feed about rescuing 3 fisherman off the Dry Tortugas and being reminded to file a float plan I started thinking. A Search of this forum came up with 2 posts both over a decade old. One had a link to an online service site no defunct. Is there a replacement? Any discussion on float plans I would find interesting. Safety equipment is not an issue, float plans are. Thanks.

File them with someone who is actually going to note you missing at a certain time of YOUR choice and hope they will ACTUALLY call when that time comes.

Going on a 3 hour trip and being 30 minutes late is not an issue and neither is going on a several day trip and being 6 or 10 hours late either. So a bit of common sense needs to be factored in when picking a time to tell people when to contact authorities...or they will factor that in anyway.

 

[Shrew]

Our float plan is pretty laid back. We only use boaters. We typically text a group of friends at the time we're leaving. We include where we're going and an estimated time. We then text the same friend group when we arrive.

The recipients are a trusted circle of local boaters who all know and see each other regularly. They are always watching weather and typically know the places and avg travel times.

 

[Hippocampus]

Must admit haven’t been filing float plans while doing the AICW. Did them religiously when doing passage. Also have come to believe it’s worthwhile to have a family member or close friend tracking your progress at least a couple of times a days. Would have two or three different people track us and gave them multiple ways ((a Go or globalstar, MarineTraffic, through our daily weather router). We also called ( on Satphone) one of our trackers at least once a day. All our trackers shared their contact information with each other. Usually on passage you can buddy boat so either by SSB or vhf checked in with each other. Our devices were monitored so had the reassurance if a problem arose we could set one off and explain our problem and get help.
Coastal we’ve been lackadaisical . Talk with family enough on cellphone daily it in effect serves as a float plan. Near shore transits do make our plans known to several folks standing on dirt.

 

[Fletcher500]

Boat US- Float Plan

Have been using this one for the past 5 years, fairly comprehensive.

 

[slowgoesit]

We're a little more informal. Point of Contact info (other than us) for EPIRB, PLB's and MMSI is my sister. When we are going on a longer passage, we send her info on our trip to include specifics, POB, expected ETA, etc. Give her a time she should hear from us, or start calling destination, etc, and then USCG if no contact is made.

 

[O C Diver]

My Float Plan is pretty simple. Stay afloat, that's the plan.

I use a Garmin Inreach satellite tracker whether on the mother ship, extensive cruising in the dinghy, or on shore hiking in parks. Call my wife every night and a buddy of mine almost every morning.

Ted

 

[Portage_Bay]

Level of formality, details and updates depend upon many things such as weather, distance from assistance and duration of the voyage.

I have not done trans ocean voyages. I have done off season, implying heavy weather risks, Between Mx Ak running 24x7 as much as possible. For those trips I prepare by:

1 - Using a Garmin inReach.
2 - A set time of day to contact shore side and instructions about what to do if contact is not made more than 2 hrs late. Check the tracking, are we still moving at an expected rate? Are we headed towards our intended next check in point, destination? If so there is no reason for immediate call for help, keep trying to contact us.
3 - A list of who to contact in the event of trouble. People, agencies etc. Take the homework ouf of the shore side person's work load.
4 - Daily check in includes brief comments on boat, crew and wx. Intended postion at next check in or next stop.

I use the inReach for a number of reasons
Near real time tracking data for my shore side contact.
Messages sent include time stamp and GPS coordinates.
Long battery life
Rugged
Easily carried with me in the event of abandon ship along with the EPIRB
Two way comms, not voice but good enough
SOS feature

I use the Explorer rather than the Mini because it has a built in texting keyboard unlike the Mini which requies use of a smart phone app. Smart phones are too fragile and the battery life is too short.

 

[High Wire]

Here is the USCG/USCGAux Float Plan site:
https://floatplancentral.cgaux.org/
For full and part-time cruisers its kind of clunky to generate this every day. We don't have an InReach. What we do is fill out the form with stuff that doesn't change with photos of the boat and give it to our daughter when we start a trip. We then email, or text our expected daily trip details. We found telling someone by phone call alone is not good enough because when it matters, they forget the details.
For my local fishing trips here in NJ, the plan is stuck to the fridge with a magnet. The who and where are updated before leaving.