There are few things more enjoyable to a boater than being on the water. Yet for many inland boaters, the thought of being on open water is accompanied by generalized feelings of anxiety and doom. For most, the rewards far outweigh the risks. With sufficient knowledge, planning, skill, and equipment, the joy of being on the ocean is something almost indescribable. During my career as a captain, I have been privileged to take boats up and down the East Coast, from the Great Lakes to the Bahamas. The thrill of navigating a boat from inlet to inlet on voyages lasting days or months is something most boaters only dream about.

That said, it is clear that not all voyages go well. Consider the recent tragic loss of the three football players in the Gulf of Mexico. NFL players Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper and former South Florida football player Will Bleakley were lost at sea after their anchored 21’ boat capsized during a fishing trip. Only Nick Schuyler was rescued after miraculously surviving 46 hours in the water.

While the lessons of their loss will be continue to be compiled for some time, one lesson looms large and is the subject of this article. They failed to notify anyone of their plans. It wasn’t until 1:30am the next morning, that they were reported missing. The Coast Guard covered 24,000 square miles in an exhaustive search for the men, conducting 50 missions in the 60-plus hours since they were reported missing. Had these guys filed a float plan, that search might have been started earlier, been more precisely targeted, and the results might have been different.

I know. Many of you are thinking, “Float Plan? What they needed was an EPIRB!” Granted, Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB) are extremely effective in locating boaters in distress and will be the subject of a future article, but they are expensive and few boaters have them. The can also get lost, get swept overboard, and malfunction. They do not replace the need for a float plan.

Think of a Float Plan as a free insurance policy. If something does go wrong, this simple document could save your life. What is a float plan? Is it some official form that you file with the Coast Guard? No, quite the contrary. While you can find many variations of forms on the internet to serve as a float plan, there are no official versions. It can be as simple as a note scratched on the back of an envelop, stuck on your car windshield.

Hopefully, you can do a little better than that and find a friend or relative that cares about your safety to leave it with. No, you don’t have to be headed off shore to need a float plan; and, no, you don’t file it with the Coast Guard. They have other things to do than track the goings and comings of hundreds of thousands of boaters each day. But if something does go wrong and they have to launch a Search And Rescue (SAR), there are some things they need to know if they are going to be effective. This is where your Float Plan becomes extremely valuable.

So what would you want to know if you had to go looking for someone? To start with, maybe a good description of their boat would be helpful. There are a lot of boats on the water. Describing a boat as “a small boat with a white hull” isn’t going to narrow down the search very much. Be specific - make, model, length, beam, draft, type, color of hull, color of trim, registration or documentation numbers, name on the boat, and any noticeable accessories: dinghy, outriggers, radar dome, etc.

What else would you want to know if you were doing the SAR? Wouldn’t it be important to know how many persons were on board (POB)? And, wouldn’t you want to some names and contact information? Maybe, they just forgot to let anyone know they stopped off at another marina or restaurant on the water to have a late dinner. You wouldn’t want to launch an expensive SAR without trying to make some phone calls first. OK, so we put down the names of the persons on board and some contact information for each. Any health concerns? Jot those down.

What else? It might be nice to know where to search. “Gone Fishing”, probably isn’t going to cut it. On the other hand, no one is going to prosecute you if you get underway and decide to vary your plan. So the important thing is to write down your plan for the day as you best envision it, when you plan to leave and return, and indicate where you think you might alter the plan based on conditions. “If fish don’t bite at ‘KC’ buoy, we will try buoy ‘DUA’ or listen on radio for fishing reports and go where they are biting”. This gives you the flexibility you need, while explaining your intentions to rescuers, should a SAR have to be launched.

Finally, it is important to “close” your float plan when you arrive safely back at the dock. That simply means to contact the person with whom you left your float plan to let them know you have returned. Simple. Effective.

For more information, visit the Coast Guard Auxiliary float plan website. Fill out the basic information on yourself and your boat and store that form on your computer. Then each time you venture out, complete the rest of the form, print it and post it on the refrigerator for your wife; email it, or drop it off with a friend. Float plans do safe lives. Using one might just save yours.