Why filing a float plan is for you
- 12/19/2017
Why filing a float plan is for you
There are many reasons to file a float/sail plan. The most important one is that it helps the rescuers out with accurate and timely information. If a float plan is filed before leaving for a day/night out on the water, it drastically reduces the search area if a boat does not return when it’s scheduled too. That is huge! Think about this, you tell your spouse that you are going fishing and will be home tonight. Now its tonight and you are not home. Your spouse calls the Coast Guard and informs them that you haven’t made it home. Now the Coast Guard will be asking your spouse a whole lot of questions about you, your boat, where you were going, when you left, when you were supposed to return… the list goes on. With a float plan, most of those questions are answered and your spouse doesn’t even have to try to remember what you said that morning while they were still half asleep. This helps the rescuers out tremendously.
If the Coast Guard can get the float plan information, they know where to go, what to look for, how many people are on your boat, what type of boat you have, safety devices you have onboard and a slew of other things. If there is no float plan and your spouse doesn’t know where you are going, then you are the proverbial needle in a haystack. Chances of finding your boat have dropped drastically. Now imagine if your boat sank and you are floating in the water with your life jacket on. That has dropped the chances of finding you even more. When it’s dark or reduce visibility, even more.
If you told your spouse you are going fishing in Tampa Bay, that narrows the search area down to around a couple of hundred square miles. A couple of hundred!!! Tampa Bay! Now imagine that you said you were going fishing in the gulf. That goes from hundreds of square mile to thousands of square miles. Try this, go to a room without a lot furniture in it, and have someone throw one grain of sand in that room without you looking. Ok, now find that exact grain of sand. The room is Tampa Bay and the grain of sand is your boat. That is roughly the equivalent of what the Coast Guard has to do whenever they are searching for a boat or a person in the water.
Here is a Float Plan that the Coast Guard Auxiliary has on its website. It can be a little intimidating the first time you fill it out, but the next time you use it most of the info is filled in from your initial use. Using a float plan is one of the best things you can do before leaving the pier to ensure your safety if something happens out on the water. Do you and your loved ones a favor and fill it out.
As always, stay safe on the water.