Very much like a flight plan filed by a pilot, a sailing plan is a who, what, when and where, (we know how) record of a trip you are going to take on the water.  Boat captains are supposed to leave a copy of their plan with a person onshore who can contact Emergency responders if they are overdue.  The sailing plan helps guide search and rescue efforts.

It is an easy-to-use automated app that allows boat captains to record their sailing plans, and if they (and their passengers and crew) do not return when scheduled, it will automatically inform or “escalate” your trip information to your emergency contacts – who call emergency responders (9-1-1).

No.  The Sailing Plan™ App was designed to enable users to comply with federal regulations that require the informing of persons onshore about where they are going and when they are due back.  It is meant to be used in conjunction with other technology that provides information to Emergency Responders in the event of a search being necessary.

Anyone who is venturing out on the water and wants someone to know when they are due back.

The initial setup, which takes about 5 minutes, requires information about the boat captain, the vessel, onboard communication equipment, and most importantly all emergency contacts.  This information is securely stored so it doesn’t have to be entered more than once.

Using the Sailing Plan™ app, once initial setup is complete, it literally takes seconds to create or edit a sailing plan.

Yes. However, cellular coverage may limit the use and application of the Sailing Plan™ mobile App.

Yes. There’s a field in the app to indicate this.

Unique to the Sailing Plan app, the Dashboard is a significant safety feature of the app exclusively for subscribing organizations to see how many sailing plans are in effect for their members, the status of those plans and a historical record.

They will conduct their normal protocols to initiate a search. The Sailing Plan™ App will provide the details of their sailing plan to significantly narrow the search.

The critical time for the Sailing Plan™ app to require connectivity is during opening, editing or closing of a sailing plan (generally before setting out on the water or returning).  Cell service and a charged battery are usually available at these times.  If for some reason a captain loses a connection, the data in the sailing plan is stored onshore in secure servers and will operate escalation procedures as normal.

The captain will receive warning messages 30 minutes prior to a scheduled arrival time, and at that time can close or edit the plan.  If this doesn’t happen, the plan moves to the escalation procedure.

When a sailing plan is closed, the captain will receive a summary report of the plan.

The app is free to use for the boating public.

Your data is stored on Canadian-based servers in secure servers. Your data is secure and backed-up. In the event of an escalation, your details will be shared with emergency responders.