A float plan is the one piece of paperwork that can shrink a search area from an ocean to a stretch of coastline. It costs you five minutes at the dock. This guide covers exactly what a float plan should contain, who to leave it with, what your shore contact should do if you go quiet — and the mistakes that make float plans useless.
What is a float plan?
A float plan is a written summary of your boat, your crew, your route, and your timetable that you leave with a reliable person ashore before you get underway. If you fail to arrive when expected, the holder gives it to search and rescue, and instead of starting from “a white sailboat, somewhere,” rescuers start from your hull color, your sail number, your engine type, the number of people aboard, the life raft you carry, and the exact route you said you would take.
The term comes from the U.S. Coast Guard, which has urged recreational boaters to file float plans for decades. But the practice is universal: Canadian sail-training organizations call it a sail plan or trip plan, and offshore skippers have left “instructions with the shore party” since long before anyone printed a form. Whatever you call it, the principle is the same: someone who is not on the boat knows where the boat should be.
A float plan should contain what information?
A complete float plan answers every question a rescue coordinator would ask in the first five minutes of an overdue-vessel call. Here is the full checklist:
- The vessel: name, type (sail/power), length, hull color, deck color, sail number or registration, distinguishing features, engine type
- The people: name, age, and emergency contact for every person aboard; note any medical conditions rescuers should know about
- Safety equipment: life raft, EPIRB or PLB (with registration ID), flares, radios (VHF/SSB/sat phone with numbers), life jackets, dinghy description
- The route: departure point and time, planned stops and anchorages, destination, and the general track between them
- The timetable: expected arrival time, planned check-in schedule, and the latest time you could reasonably arrive
- The trigger: exactly when the holder should worry, who they should call (coast guard number for your area), and what to say
If writing all that out sounds like a chore, it is — which is why most boaters skip it. Our free Float Plan Builder turns the checklist into a fill-in form and prints a clean, complete plan you can hand to anyone. No account required.
What is the purpose of filing a float plan?
Search and rescue is a race between the search area and the clock. A boat that is overdue with no float plan gives rescuers a starting point the size of a coastline. Every hour that passes widens the drift circle. A float plan collapses that circle: rescuers know the route, so they search along it; they know the boat, so they can identify it from the air; they know the safety equipment, so they know whether to look for a life raft, listen for an EPIRB, or hail a handheld VHF.
The purpose is not bureaucracy — nobody official even keeps the plan. The purpose is to move the moment rescuers have good information from hour twelve to minute one.
What should a boater do with a float plan?
Three things, and each one matters as much as writing the plan itself:
Leave it ashore, with a person. A float plan locked in the chart table sinks with the boat. Give it to a family member, a trusted friend, a yacht club, or the marina office — someone who will genuinely notice when your check-in does not come. The U.S. Coast Guard does not accept float plans; their role begins when your shore contact calls them.
Update it when plans change. Weather reroutes you, an anchorage is full, you decide to stay a day. Tell your holder. A float plan that says Tuesday when you meant Thursday triggers a search for a boat that is not missing — or worse, delays one for a boat that is.
Close it out on arrival. The moment you are safely tied up or anchored, tell your holder the trip is over. False-alarm searches are expensive, they carry real risk for rescue crews, and they erode the urgency the next overdue call gets.
Float plan vs. passage plan
The two get confused because both describe a voyage before it happens, but they are different documents for different readers:
| Float plan | Passage plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Reader | Someone ashore, then rescuers | You and your crew |
| Lives | Ashore, off the boat | Aboard, at the chart table |
| Contains | Boat, people, gear, route, deadlines | Courses, tides, waypoints, hazards, ports of refuge |
| Job | Gets you found | Gets you there |
Serious passage-makers keep both, and the two share most of their raw material — which is why WatchKeeper’s passage planning can generate your float plan from the passage you already entered.
What we learned filing float plans across an ocean
Everything on this page comes from practice, not theory. When we crossed the Pacific aboard SV Cloud Nine, the float plan was the document our family ashore actually cared about — not the passage plan, not the weather routing. The lesson that stuck: a float plan is only as good as the check-in rhythm behind it. A plan that says “arriving in 21 days” leaves your shore contact imagining the worst for 21 days.
That gap is why WatchKeeper exists. The boat logs its position in the logbook; WatchKeeper turns it into a twice-daily shore brief, in plain language, delivered to the same people holding your float plan. The float plan tells them what to do if the boat goes quiet. The shore briefs make sure it never feels quiet.
Keep reading
Float plan FAQ
What information should a float plan contain?
A float plan should contain a description of the vessel (name, type, length, hull color, registration number), the names and contact details of everyone aboard, the safety equipment carried, the departure point and time, the planned route with stops, the expected arrival time, and clear instructions on who to call — and when — if the boat is overdue.
What is the purpose of filing a float plan?
The purpose of a float plan is to give rescuers a head start. If your boat is overdue, the person holding your float plan can tell search and rescue exactly what your boat looks like, who is aboard, what safety gear you carry, and where along your route to look — cutting search time from days to hours.
What should a boater do with a float plan?
Leave it with a reliable person ashore — a family member, friend, or marina operator. Never keep the only copy on the boat. Update the holder if your plans change, and always close out the plan when you arrive so a search is not launched for a boat that is safely tied up.
Who should you leave a float plan with?
A responsible person ashore who will actually notice if you do not check in: family, a trusted friend, a yacht club, or a marina office. The U.S. Coast Guard does not accept float plans — their role begins when your shore contact reports you overdue.
What is the difference between a float plan and a passage plan?
A float plan is a safety document you leave with someone ashore so rescuers know where to look. A passage plan is a navigation document you keep aboard — courses, tides, waypoints, hazards. You navigate by the passage plan; you get found by the float plan.
Do I need a float plan for a short day trip?
Yes — most overdue-boater incidents happen on routine outings, not ocean passages. A day-trip float plan can be two minutes of effort: where you launched, where you are headed, when you will be back, and who to call if you are not.