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GoNoGo WX Boating
A trawler running home into the sunset, the hour somebody ashore is waiting for

Keep Someone Ashore Informed.

Share your route, crew, timing, and expected return with the people who need to know.

Built from the trip you already checked against your limits, and with your shore contact before you leave the dock.

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Is a boat overdue? Start here

From Cruise Plan to Float Plan

  1. 1

    Build the Plan

    Use the trip you already planned in Cruise Planning. Check-in times come from the route.

  2. 2

    Share What Matters

    Send your shore contact a simple expected return, or the complete plan: route, crew, timing, check-ins and who to call.

  3. 3

    Confirm Arrival

    When you are in, one message confirms your arrival, closes the plan and tells everyone holding it.

See a GoNoGo WX Boating Float Plan

Example Float Plan · Vista

The float plan for Vista’s example Sunday trip.

FLOAT PLAN

Shore contact (example) · 555-0100

Vessel

Vista

21 ft bowrider, white hull, blue canvas

Departure

Sunday, 9:00 am EDT

Annapolis Harbor

Route

Annapolis Harbor → Eastern Bay → Miles River → St. Michaels, MD

Depart Annapolis Harbor at 9:00 am EDT. Proceed via Eastern Bay, Miles River, then on to St. Michaels, MD. The route is approximate. Total distance approximately 26.4 nautical miles, estimated running time 1 h 47 min.

Times include slow speed leaving and entering the harbor, so the first and last legs run longer than distance and cruise speed alone would suggest.

Expected arrival

About 10:47 am EDT (allow 10:32 to 11:39 am EDT), subject to conditions, vessel traffic, and tidal currents

Aboard

Two adults

Safety equipment

4 life jackets aboard

VHF radio, Channel 16 monitored

Handheld flares

Anchor and 100 ft rode

Communications

VHF Channel 16 monitored under way

Cell phone aboard

Check-ins

9:00 am EDT Departure text, Annapolis Harbor

10:26 am EDT Miles River update, Miles River

10:47 am EDT Arrival text upon docking, St. Michaels, MD

Who to call first

Annapolis harbormaster (Departure harbor) 555-0111

St. Michaels harbormaster (Destination) 555-0122

If she is overdue

If you have not heard from Vista by Sunday at 12:47 pm EDT, she is overdue. Do these in order:

  1. No phone number for the captain is on this plan. Go to step 2.
  2. Call the people listed under Who To Call First, such as the marina or friends. They may have heard from her.
    • Annapolis harbormaster (Departure harbor) 555-0111
    • St. Michaels harbormaster (Destination) 555-0122
  3. If you still cannot reach her, call the Coast Guard for the area where the boat is, Sector Maryland-National Capital Region: 1-800-418-7314. If you are near the boat, 911 also works.

Say you are reporting an overdue boat. Give her name and where she left from.

The captain also listed the local marine authority at 911.

If you are not near the boat, do not call your own 911.

Tell them only what you know. Do not guess.

Make steps 1 and 2 within about 30 minutes. Do not wait longer than that to call for help.

Your Overdue Time

Your expected return says when you plan to be back. Your overdue time says when your shore contact should act if they have not heard from you, so the plan stays open when you run late. Pick the hour before you leave: “Call if you have not heard from me by seven” is a decision made calmly, in advance, by the person who knows the trip. Your shore contact acts on that hour, and a check-in reminder reaches you by email before it.

Share Your Next Trip Ashore.

Plan the trip, share the plan, and confirm your arrival.

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If a boat is overdue

What to Do if a Boat Is Overdue

If you are holding a float plan and someone has not come back, start here. The first two steps are the ones most likely to end the worry without a search. This page follows the guide the Coast Guard Auxiliary publishes with its float plan form.

  1. 1

    Decide Whether You Are Actually Worried

    Not every late boat is an emergency. Wind, a slow lunch, a change of plan and a dead phone all look identical from ashore. The question is whether you have a real concern for the people aboard, given how late they are and what you know about them. If you do, keep going. There is no minimum wait, and nobody will mind you asking early.

  2. 2

    Try the Boat Directly

    Call or text the captain at the number on the plan. If the plan lists an MMSI number, that is her radio’s unique ID, and the Coast Guard can use it. A boat out of cell range is common and is not, by itself, a reason to panic.

  3. 3

    Call Whoever Might Have Seen Her

    This is the step people skip, and it is the one that most often ends the whole thing. Call the marina she left from and wherever she was going. Ask whether anyone has seen the boat, and when. A dock hand who watched her tie up an hour ago is a faster answer than any search.

  4. 4

    Call for Help

    Spend about 30 minutes on the two steps above, and do not wait longer than that to call for help. If you still cannot reach her, call the Coast Guard rescue center for the area where the boat is. Find the number at uscg.mil, or in the front of the local phone directory. If you are near the boat, 911 also works. Say you are reporting an overdue boat. Give her name and where she left from. If you are not near the boat, do not call your own 911. The Coast Guard connects you to the people who run the search, which is faster than working your way there yourself.

  5. 5

    Say Only What You Know

    You will be asked how long she is overdue, what the boat looks like, who is aboard, where she was going, and what she carries. If you are holding a float plan, the answers are on it. Do not guess at the ones that are not. A wrong detail sends searchers to the wrong water and costs the time it takes to find out. “I do not know” is a useful answer.

  6. 6

    Keep Your Phone Free, and Call Back if She Turns Up

    Once a search is underway the people running it need to reach you. And if the boat comes home, or calls, call them back right away and tell them. A search nobody stands down keeps aircraft and crews out looking for someone who is sitting at a dock.

What Belongs in One

The fields on the official form are the fields because each one has changed the outcome of a search at some point. The ones people leave off and later wish they had not:

  • Hull color, and anything that stands out. Somebody scanning miles of water is looking for a color and a shape, not a name. Two white center consoles are the same boat from a helicopter; the blue canvas on one of them is not.
  • Who to call before calling for help. The marina, the destination. Written down in advance, because nobody looks up a phone number well when they are frightened.
  • An EPIRB or PLB registration number, if the boat carries a beacon. It is what turns a distress signal into a name, a boat and a phone call in minutes rather than hours.
  • How many life jackets are aboard, not merely whether there are any. The count tells a searcher how many people could be in the water and how many might be floating.
  • The car and where it is parked, for a boat that gets towed to a ramp. A vehicle still sitting in the lot is checkable by anyone who can drive there, before a single search asset moves.
  • Fuel aboard. A boat cannot be farther away than her fuel allows, and that is one of the things that draws the box a search runs inside.
  • A photograph. Worth more than every text field on this list, and almost everyone already has one.

The Official Form

The U.S. Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary publish a float plan form, along with a step-by-step guide for the person holding it. It is free and it is thorough.

Float Plan Central has the form and the guide. Print it, fill it in once, and keep it with the boat.