Are you getting ready for sailing season? Are you forgetting one of the most important tasks to prepare for on-the-water events?
You do not know what that is? It is passage planning or sometimes called sail planning.This planning is a critical safety task that every boater should undertake. This applies to coastal cruisers, lake boaters, and river travellers and includes everybody from day sailors to the more adventurous that will take weeks for a long distance cruise.
Failure to plan is planning for failure.While one type of plan does not fit well for every boating scenario, each boater should develop a plan to suit their needs.The highly detailed planning required for a long distance coastal cruise on the ocean may be overkill and not apply to a quick day sail in the harbour, or day on the lake. Unfortunate circumstances can occur in the time it takes to blink your eyes. A proper plan could help you avoid those situations or mitigate the consequences that they create. Plan to be safe.
A few of the items that the plan should cover are expected water conditions, (tides, currents, water hazards), weather conditions, (wind speed, wind gusts, wind direction, rain, fog, temperature), special boat traffic requirements, safe harbours, how to access emergency medical aid, fuelling stations, resupply depots and anything else that may be needed in an instant. And the list goes on.
To encourage and support the use of proper passage planning, the Club awards $10.00 to the first ten members that post a proper passage plan in the comments section of the Club Cruise event pages.
For more on passage planning refer to our MacLearning tab for past presentations made by our members on this topic.
