What
is a Float Plan and Why Use it
adapted from US Coast Guard Auxiliary
Boating Skills & Seamanship, pg 3-16.
Before setting out with your boat, file a
FLOAT PLAN. You will find a copy of a suggested Float Plan
included here on the website. You can download it and fill
in the descriptive facts about you and your boat. Make
photocopies, saving for later printing, and then all you
have to do is fill out the rest of the information each time
you take a trip.
File your float plan with a friend,
relative or neighbor. The plan tells them where you are
going and the route you will take. It also tells them when
you will be back and whom to call if you don't return on
time. Most often you will ask that the Coast Guard be
notified if you are overdue. The Coast Guard does not accept
Float Plans, but will mount a search as soon as you are
reported overdue.
When you are trailering and you can't find
someone to accept your Float Plan, leave a copy under your
windshield wiper. Some police authority will find it,
probably soon after dark. Cancel your Float Plan when you
return! The person with whom you left it may not know you
have returned and a needless search may be started.
Float Plan
You are invited to download and save this
Float Plan to your machine, and then to utilize each time
you take your boat out on the water. To view the following
document, you will need Adobe Acrobat. Click
here to download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat
Reader.
Float Plan Download
New Color Version with
instructions
(.pdf file)
This single full page float plan has all
the information needed including a second page bonus which
has a boating emergency guide.
Float Plan Download
here. (file size: 429k) |