Filing passage plans with CG

[Polwart]

1. How many of you file passage plans with the CG before setting off?
2. How long (distance, time) does a trip have to be before you bother?
3. Do you ever feel like you are waisting your time? Or have the CG ever implied or suggested you might be?
4. How detailed are the plans you file? e.g. start point, end point (rough route) and ETA? or do you actually go more detailed?
5. Do you phone them or radio them?
6. How reliable are they at investigating if you do fall overdue? I know that sounds like a stupid question - but if I have left instructions with my wife to call the CG if I have not called in at 17:00 she will probably call them by 17:10 and I would then expect them to initiate their normal procedures straight away. If I have advised the CG that I am due back by 17:00 - when will they actually start trying to find me (presumably by radio first)? Could I be waiting an hour for them before they even get concerned - as unlike my wife they don't know how certain I was to be back for that time?

To date I have always just left our "passage plans" with a shore contact. However this has always included a significant scope for unexpected delays because if I have no way to call "home" then I don't want a minor glitch or a slightly extended lunch to cause any unwarranted concern either at home or in the CG office. However that "extra time" could be an extra hour or two that I spend bobbing up and down in the sea if something really bad happens...

All thoughts welcome.

[jwalker]

Niel, that's a good question and I'm often not sure. A bit like wearing a life jacket inside a cabin.
Normally I don't call the CG.
If I'm on my own at night I do.
If the weather is very rough I might.
When I've had a group of folk aboard where I felt I should call (an emotive feeling based on nothing) I've called them.

They've always been pleased to hear from me.
They almost always ask that I call when I arrive, which I would do anyway. But, I once got involved in other things and forgot; they didn't call me.
I usually call on the VHF.
I call if I'm leaving a car overnight because folk around the harbour generally keep an eye open for activity and could get alarmed if I didn't return at night. I use the phone for this call so that I don't tell everyone where my car is sitting unattended. I did this one time and a few weeks later found that there had been a call to the CG for that very reason but the watch had changed and the new folk hadn't noticed the notes about me. The local part time CG (who related the story to me) had been called to check things out. They finally got it sorted and found the notes about me so all was OK.

One one occasion at night I was on my own and called them, I had to do a wee detour because of fishing boats and it made me about 10 mins late, when I called, I could sense their relief.

It's worth making sure they have picked you up correctly. On the occasion above the CG lady repeated my plan back to me and she had picked up my destination as Port Edgar but I'd said Port Seton. I was leaving from Aberdour so it was in the opposite direction. That could have made a search tricky if it had been needed!

So, if in doubt, do call.

Oh, forgot. Boat name - Leaving from - to destination - number of persons on board - ETA.

[peterb]

I was once a coastguard, and it surprised me when I joined to know that they do NOT actually check up that you arrived. The reason is simply one of logistics.

Firstly they dont have time to do this - and all too often the destination is something like (as an instance) "Portsmouth" or "River Hamble". They have absolutely no way of knowing which of the marinas or anchorages you may be heading for.

So the moral of the story is simple.

- Tell HMCG about your trip. They will log the point at which you made the call and where you were - so that helps if you need to be searched for at a later time!

- Also tell someone else where you are going and make sure that person calls HMCG if you haven't reported in within an acceptable delay period. You should agree the delay period beforehand.

And as an afterthought! Get your vessel on CG66 with a photo of it as well.

[Hightower]

Based upon what Jeff and Peter have said I wouldn't entrust the CG with this info for normal trips and would rely on the wife or another to get in contact with them should I be suitably late.

However if I where having to travel in rough weather or at night by ones self or if I felt caught out and vunerable I might feel the need to cover all bases but still rely on the wife as the panic button.

Would definatly involve the CG on travel to and from abroad, not so much because of safety, but more to do with nothing to declare sir.

[Polwart]

Originally Posted by peterb

I was once a coastguard, and it surprised me when I joined to know that they do NOT actually check up that you arrived. The reason is simply one of logistics.

Firstly they dont have time to do this - and all too often the destination is something like (as an instance) "Portsmouth" or "River Hamble". They have absolutely no way of knowing which of the marinas or anchorages you may be heading for.

I wonder how many people know that, and how many assume that if you don't report back in - that they will attempt to contact you via radio and then via other means (using the CG66 info) and ultimately initiate a search.

- Tell HMCG about your trip. They will log the point at which you made the call and where you were - so that helps if you need to be searched for at a later time!

I am not sure that really adds value then - I would be planning to make that call as I left the boat yard. My plan left at home would already "know" that info.

- Also tell someone else where you are going and make sure that person calls HMCG if you haven't reported in within an acceptable delay period. You should agree the delay period beforehand.

Ok that it the current process.

And as an afterthought! Get your vessel on CG66 with a photo of it as well.

CG66 already filed (with picture etc).

[peterb]

Originally Posted by Hightower

Based upon what Jeff and Peter have said I wouldn't entrust the CG with this info for normal trips and would rely on the wife or another to get in contact with them should I be suitably late.

However if I where having to travel in rough weather or at night by ones self or if I felt caught out and vunerable I might feel the need to cover all bases but still rely on the wife as the panic button.

Would definatly involve the CG on travel to and from abroad, not so much because of safety, but more to do with nothing to declare sir.

With the greatest respect, I have to disgree with you. HMCG arent going to lose the information you give them. You will tell them where you are when you make the call - you will give them your best ETA, your endurance, POB etc etc - and all that will be noted. In the (hopefully unlikely) event of an SAR exercise to find you, its available immediately to HMCG via their systems.

HMCG wont then have to interrogate your distraught wife when you dont arrive safely, all she will have to do is to call them and give them very basic information.

Hence I cant see for the life of me why you "wouldnt entrust the coastguard"...

[Polwart]

Originally Posted by peterb

With the greatest respect, I have to disgree with you. HMCG arent going to lose the information you give them. You will tell them where you are when you make the call - you will give them your best ETA, your endurance, POB etc etc - and all that will be noted. In the (hopefully unlikely) event of an SAR exercise to find you, its available immediately to HMCG via their systems.

HMCG wont then have to interrogate your distraught wife when you dont arrive safely, all she will have to do is to call them and give them very basic information.

Hence I cant see for the life of me why you "wouldnt entrust the coastguard"...

Peter I think hightower is suggesting that I don't entrust the CG to initiate the enquiries into my delay.

[Hightower]

My CG66 form is filled out too, this has all the info the CG want to include endurance possible crew numbers etc.

But if the CG isn't going to check up on me if I fail to call them and initiate a search as you suggest though "logistics" then why should I entrust them to hit the panic button?

[peterb]

Originally Posted by Hightower

But if the CG isn't going to check up on me if I fail to call them and initiate a search as you suggest though "logistics" then why should I entrust them to hit the panic button?

We are at cross-purposes. You are NOT entrusting them to hit the panic button. Your wife will do that.

However, by filing your passage plan with CG at the start of the trip - when your (very upset) wife calls in to the Ops Room, about all she will have to get accurate is your name and/or your boat name. They will have the rest and then the balloon will go up very quickly with all the details recorded from your passage plan.

This is much better than some poor person in the Ops Room having to get all of these details from a wife who - in some cases - could be so upset that about all they could do would be to give your full name.

Does this clarify??

[Hightower]

I understand where your comming from Peter, but when I go out for a day in the Solent for instance I don't always know where I'm going. I might know the destination for lunch for instance Yarmouth or Cowes, but what I do in between these times is a mystery, how can I file a passage plan in these circumstances? I must say that I have all bases covered whilst at Sea and have a Fixed VHF and a hand held to include telephone in waterproof bag so I can contact the CG unless something disasterous happens. The very best that can happen is that my wife would phone the CG after trying to contact me first, if I failed to get back home in time.

Like I said, if I where doing a specific journey from A to D going past B and C on route to the channel islands or some where then I would contact them, but I wouldn't bother them at any other time regarding passage plans.