How to make a good passage plan?
A good passage plan covers your route, tides and currents, navigational dangers, weather, daylight, refuge options, your boat's limits, engine condition and crew ability, then gets shared with someone onshore. The depth of planning should match your boat and the trip.
Passage planning is not just good practice. The RYA notes that an element of planning is required for even the simplest, shortest journey, and that passage planning is an obligation for all seafarers under the International Convention on Safety of Life at Sea, SOLAS V. That sounds heavy, but the RYA is clear that a plan need not be complicated. The type of boat you have and the trip you intend to take determine how much planning you actually need to do.
[1]The essential elements
- Route: a straight line from A to B is seldom possible. Work out your intended track, plus the hazards, navigational risks and constraints that limit your options.
- Tides and currents: check the anticipated tidal predictions and currents, and confirm they fit what you are planning to do.
- Navigation dangers: consult up-to-date charts, current pilot books, notices to mariners, almanacs or river guides for shoals, overfalls, weirs, overhead wires and buoyage.
- Weather: check the forecast before you go and get regular updates if you will be out for any length of time. Boats with VHF radio can monitor Coastguard maritime safety information broadcasts at sea.
- Daylight: ask whether delays could lead to unexpected night-time boating.
- Refuge: study charts and the pilot book before leaving, and identify alternative destinations and places where you could take shelter.
- Constraints: plan for the unexpected, which the RYA lists as deteriorating weather, illness, injury, gear failure, the trip taking longer than expected, missing a tidal gate, or simply deciding not to complete it.
- Boat, engine and crew: confirm your boat is up to the trip with appropriate safety equipment and stores, check the engine before setting off, and weigh your crew's experience and physical ability.
A worked example: a short Channel Islands crossing
Suppose you are leaving St Peter Port for Sark, about 7 nautical miles straight-line. The distance alone suggests a short, easy hop, but the ReadyBoatGo passage brief for that route flags exposed moorings and strong local streams, recommends choosing the lee-side visitor field for the forecast wind, and notes that the yellow visitor buoys are first come, first served. Creux dries, and Maseline is drop-off only when operationally clear. So even a short crossing pulls in several RYA elements at once: tidal stream, refuge, arrival constraints and a contingency if the buoys are full.
[2][1]For a longer crossing, such as to Alderney, ReadyBoatGo deliberately does not give a generic leave-at-a-certain-hour rule. It explains that the safe gate changes with route, boat speed, wind, sea state and the spring or neap cycle, and directs you to current charted tidal streams and local pilotage advice. That is consistent with the RYA position: there is no universal timing formula, because the plan has to fit your boat, your crew and the day's conditions.
[2][1]Brief the crew and tell someone ashore
A plan that lives only in the skipper's head is half a plan. The RYA advises that everyone on board should know where the safety equipment is stowed and how to use it, understand the voyage plan and the contingency plans, know who takes over if the skipper is injured or taken ill, be able to start the engine, know how to send a Mayday, and be aware of any on-board hazards. Finally, share the plan with someone onshore and make sure they understand what to do if they become concerned about your well-being.
[1]ReadyBoatGo supports this workflow with a pre-departure checklist covering five checks: official forecast checked, tide and tidal stream checked, harbour notices checked, fuel and reserve confirmed, and crew briefed with a shore contact told. It also compares departure hours by wind, waves and rain, though it notes these are not vessel-specific departure limits and that the comparison does not assess the whole route or tidal gates. Treat those tools as prompts, not substitutes for the full plan.
[2]Next step: before your next departure, write down your route, hazards, tidal gates, refuge options and weather limits, brief the crew, nominate a shore contact, and run through the five pre-departure checks. Then adjust the depth of the plan to the trip, exactly as the RYA recommends.
[1][2]Sources and dates
- https://www.rya.org.uk/water-safety/passage-planning-and-navigation/passage-planning/ · accessed 2026-10-18
- https://readyboatgo.com/ · accessed 2026-10-18