Sail Plans

Pilots routinely file flight plans for flights longer than a day trip, and doing so for a cruise is similarly prudent. Below is the sail plan for my cruise to Alaska this summer. Additionally, I create a spreadsheet with a complete itinerary, notes about tidal gates and contact numbers for marinas where I expect to stay. I also project fuel consumption and identify fuel stops where I expect to refuel.

This is particularly important for orienting crew (and their families) so they understand procedures on the boat as well as contact numbers in the event of emergencies or shanges in schedule along the way.

Finally, I provide crew with documents explaining what they need to know about traveling aboard Ripple, and what personal gear they should have:



Alaska 2018 Sail Plan
S/V Ripple (WN 2423 NE) Skipper and owner: Stuart Weibel
(26 ft gaff cutter, white topsides)
MMSI #: 338183643

Notes:
  1. Travel reservations should put you in the crew-change location on the DAY BEFORE segment departure. No overnight accommodations should be necessary: Ripple will sleep 3 in a pinch for crew-changeovers
  2. Know the schedule change policies of your carrier before making reservations.  I will make every effort to be at the appointed place at the appointed time, but weather rules.
  3. Ripple’s position will be trackable online at https://www.marinetraffic.com, but only when we are within VHF range of an AIS repeating station.  If we are not visible, it does not mean we have sunk. Ripple's MMSI: 338183643
  4. Cellular connectivity is available in many, but by no means all parts of the route. There are areas where communication is inaccessible for as much as several days. I will be posting status updates (and pictures) daily via facebook whenever possible.
  5. Check your carrier for charges in Canada: for T-Mobile, there are no additional charges for service in Canada.
  6. Please leave a copy of this document with your emergency contact.
  7. Please confirm the applicability of your health insurance in Canadian territory or simply away from home. Also, please inform me privately if you have any medical conditions that might require attention or medications on the trip.
  8. In the event it is necessary to contact Ripple while the vessel is out of contact, contact Coast Guard Search and Rescue, and they can try to contact us via VHF Radio Relay:
    1. Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue, British Columbia:
Phone 1-250-413-8933, Cellular #727
    1. US Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center, Juneau:
Phone: (907)463-2000


Itinerary
Segment 1     Seattle to Ketchikan

Depart Seattle May 28
Arrival Ketchikan June 19
Segment 2     Ketchikan to Sitka

Arrive Ketchikan:     June 19 (8:10 PM)
Provisioning day June 20
Depart Ketchikan June 21
Arrive Sitka June 28
Crew departs from Sitka June 29 (7:05 AM)
Segment 3    Sitka to Juneau  
Arrive Sitka: June 28 (10:57 AM)
Provisioning day June 29   (May be possible to do provisioning day before)
Sail from Sitka June 30
Arrive Juneau July 11
Crew depart from Juneau   July 12 (3:35 PM)
Segment 4    Juneau to Ketchikan

Travel to Juneau July 13  ( )
Depart Juneau July 14
Arrive Ketchikan July 21
Crew departs Ketchikan July 22 (   )
Segment 5     Ketchikan to Seattle

Travel to Ketchikan July 21 (   )
Provisioning day July 22
Depart Ketchikan July 23
Arrive Seattle               August 18
Crew departs Seattle August 21  ( )
Safety equipment and procedures
The following safety equipment is available on s/v Ripple:
  1. Auto-inflatable PFDs (2); standard PFDs (2)
  2. Fire extinguishers (3): 1 cockpit, 2 cabin extinguishers
  3. Emergency signalling flares and flare gun
  4. VHF Radio with DSC capability
  5. AIS transceiver.  AIS technology projects your position, heading, speed, and other information via VHF signals (roughly 20 mile distance) to all other AIS-equipped vessels, and displays the same information for other vessels within range on our chartplotter. Relay aggregators and satellite reception make AIS targets visible globally. Ripple's MMSI: 338183643 should be visible on https://www.marinetraffic.com
  6. Reboarding ladder - always on the stern for immediate deployment
  7. Block and tackle for extraction of swimmer from the water
  8. Jack lines and tethers
  9. Emergency throw ring
  10. Chartplotter
  11. Autopilot
  12. First aid kit and medications
Crew orientation will include discussion of how and when these devices will be deployed, as well as basic boat handling, engine starting and stopping, approaching and making fast to a dock, a mooring buoy, and setting a secure anchor.
In settled weather in a secure anchorage, anchor watches are not necessary; in unsettled weather, you won’t need help staying awake ;-).
Additional Crew Advisories
  • If your segment includes crossing the US-Canadian border in either direction, please familiarize yourself with the pertinent rules and regulations https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/ivc-rnc-eng.html
  • If you are subject to motion sickness, or are unsure whether you might be, consult a physician or pharmacist about appropriate remedies.  I have seasickness medication on board, but it may be in your interest to explore this for yourself prior to the trip. In general, the Inside Passage does not involve exposure to heavy seas, and no one has gotten sick aboard Ripple, but if you have concerns, better to be safe than sorry.


                          Emergency Contact Information
Emergency Contact Phone Number(s)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Re-powering s/v Ripple

Image
My Summer, 2017 Adventure An irregular sound, a vibration untuned to the sum of your experience: this one was a momentary drop in RPM... 25, maybe 50 rpm. I bumped the throttle, right? Then it happened again, and denial shades into anxiety. The opening hours of a 6 week cruise: Seattle, up the inside passage, over the top of Vancouver Island and a leisurely meandering through the inlets that indent the west side. But this journey ended just as it began. A series of intricate diagnostic rationalizations, fuel filter and impeller changes availed us not at all. Lots of oil gone missing! Limping into Kingston Harbor, Ripple’s Yanmar 1GM10 turned the last of some 300,000,000 revolutions in my service. Broken-hearted 1GM10 Only slowly did I surrender the hope of rebuilding my faithful one-lunger.  As it happens, Yanmar does not make an oversized piston for the engine, as they enlarged the size of the cylinder when the 1GM transitioned to the 1GM10, and given that...
Read more

Connecting a Chart Plotter, VHF, AIS Receiver and Tiller Pilot using the NMEA 0183 protocol

Image
NOTE: An updated version of this posting that includes an AIS transceiver is now available here. Ripple's complement of communication and navigational electronics now includes: Standard Horizon CP390i chart plotter  Digital Yacht AIS receiver   Raymarine ST2000  tiller pilot  Standard Horizon VHF/DSC radio These devices can all be networked, so installing them includes making decisions about whether and how to connect them.  As with most everything on a boat, there are tradeoffs.  The benefits of additional functionality are always at war with the unanticipated dangers of creeping elegance and the instability that arises from proliferating connections (natural failure points). My four devices, like most modern electronics, can talk to one another using the well-established NMEA 0183 protocol.  NMEA 0183 falls short of a full-blown network, but it meets the need for point-to-point connections such as are appropriate to my configuration.. ...
Read more

Installing and Networking a Class B AIS Transceiver with a Chart Plotter and VHF Radio using NMEA 0183

Image
In 2015 I purchased an AIS receiver for a trip up the Inside Passage.  This posting is largely an upgrade of the  posting for that installation . I suspected at the time I might look back on purchasing only a receiver as a false economy, and that turned out to be the case. I want to be SEEN as well as to see others. This year  I purchased a Vesper XB 8000 AIS transceiver to replace the perfectly functional Digital Yacht AIS receiver that I had benefitted from over the previous three seasons.   My decision to go with Vesper was based on the reputation of their product and their customer service,  and also because the device makes the data on my network visible via a WiFi gateway.  This should make it easier to pull off tracking and route data, and to display AIS targets on tablet or phone as well as the chart plotter. The XB-8000 also provides an easily managed anchor alarm, accessible by tablet or smart phone.  I won't have to sit in the cockpit ...
Read more