Float Plan: Madagascar to South Africa

GUIDANCE TO PERSONS PROVIDED WITH THIS PLAN

Thank you for supporting us from shore on our coming passage! We have entrusted you to contact the US Coast Guard if we do not arrive as expected. The first half of this document is a summary of key details officials will want to know first; the second half is additional information to help you understand our plans, and your options.

VESSEL ITINERARY

[Basics of departure/arrival plans.]Totem plans to departfrom Mahajanga, Madagascar October 18; destination either Richards Bay or Durban, South Africa, ETA on/before Oct 30.

Position reports posted to:

  • PredictWind (auto-update from satellite device on board):
  • Farkwar (via satellite phone):
  • Winlink (via HF radio): and enter call sign KE7QZH
  • AIS services like Marine Traffic may also show our most recently received AIS transponder ping.

VESSEL DETAILS

Name / Totem
Registration / USCG#921600
Hailing Port / Eagle Harbor, WA
Type / sloop
Year/Make/Model / 1982/Stevens 47
Length/Draft / 47’ / 6’
Hull color / White
Trim color / Gray trim stripe
Bottom paint color / Black
Propulsion / 75hp Yanmar

COMMUNICATIONS AND SAFETY

Call Sign / WDJ6565
MMSI / 367180370
HF? / SSB; transmitting via 4125 kHz in an emergency
Satellite / text (no voice) to +881622404XXX
Email / Satellite: HF radio: (subject: //WL2K)
AIS? / Yes, transponds
DSC? / Equipped
EPIRB 1 / 2A44B34982FFBFF
EPIRB 2 / 2DCC446C40FFBFF
Life raft? / Winslow 6-man life raft. Video of our raft:

CREW LIST

Name / Age / Gender / Emergency Contact / Medical/other

[This is less for RCC and more for the friend/family member you have provided with your float plan: include basic guidance on document purpose and their role, and supply informationbeyond key details above.]

We plan to depart from Mahajanga, Madagascar on October 18—sail south coastwise—point west to cross towards South Africa near the bottom of Madagdascar. We hope to reach Durban but may shorten the trip to arrive in Richards Bay, based on weather. It’s possible we’d stop in Mozambique, Maputo but possibly farther north, if a weather system we need to avoid comes up from the south.We expect to arrive in South Africa on/before October 30 to meet with our crew’s wife, Annie Sailor, who arrives the 30th. Annie can be reached at and is an active Facebooker (

IF WE DON’T ARRIVE BY OCTOBER 30

[Remember this is first being read by someone who cares about you! Help them remember all the logical reasons why you may not arrive on time, and how to ascertain if that signals a possible emergency…or not.]

Everything is probably fine. A weather change may have prompted us to slow down, or hole up and wait for better conditions. We’ll provide news of interim stops if possible, and of our safe arrival. However, if we are overdue for arrival, please do the following:

  1. Check out our position. We may just still be on the way.
  2. We have a custom tracking site through our PredictWind service on the Iridium GO site: this is updated hourly, automatically, from the GO unit and includes our speed at the time. You may need to zoom out of the map to see more exactly where we are relative to land masses.
  3. We often update our position underway on the tracking website, Farkwar:
  4. Attempt to contact us:
  5. Email to r text to our Iridium GO sat-fi unit: use our number, 88123456XXX. Note that this device does not receive calls unless the app is on. We typically check mail twice a day.
  6. Email to our radio address, . We typically check this in evening. Subject line MUST BEGIN with //WL2K unless you know your sending address is already whitelisted for our radio account.
  7. FYI our “normal” internet and addresses both forward to hile we are at sea: and
  8. If you don’t reach us, attempt to contact a boat traveling in company with us:
  9. Solstice-
  10. Contact one of the boats in our area that we frequently communicate with via radio/email.
  11. Utopia-
  12. Delos- withheld @myiridium.net,
  13. Morning Glory-
  14. Contact Zululand Yacht Club (Richards Bay) and Royal Natal Yacht Club (Durban). If we’ve arrived, we’ll probably have checked in with one of these two host clubs.
  15. If we are overdue, something’s weird about our position, you can’t reach us or the boats with us, have no other info about our arrival or safe location underway through our destination or local vessel contacts, or are otherwise deeply concerned we are at serious risk: then it’s time to contact the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) in Alameda at (510)437-3701 for guidance to reciprocal SAR agencies in the Indian Ocean (USCG coordinates for us). Additional RCC numbers available at

IF YOU RECEIVE A CALL BECAUSE OUR EPIRB WAS TRIGGERED

The EPIRB is our emergency distress beacon on board. It may be triggered automatically or manually. Either of these triggers could be deliberate, or accidental.

  1. Try to think happy thoughts because EPIRB alerts are almost always false alarms.
  2. The USCG / RCC will ask for a float plan. That’s this document.
  3. Other information to share:
  4. Provide the same contact details for nearby vessel(s) etc. per above to the agency.
  5. Advise the agency that we participate in two radio nets: One is an informal net at 0435 UTC daily on 6646mhz, the other is SAMM (South African Mobile Maritime) at [frequency, time].
  6. Confirm with agency the details of our boat, communications and safety equipment on board.

FILE UNDER: HOPE YOU NEVER NEED IT

[Cloud storage is a great way to save additional information such as: pictures of boat, details about crew medical needs, etc. Try to show above deck as well as hauled out, e.g., what bottom provile / paint color look like.]

I’ve prepared a Dropbox folder with additional details (our EPIRB registrations, more photos, our insurance information,etc). These are available (along with a copy of this document) at

[Final notes: First, if your EPIRB/PLBs aren’t registered, do that NOW! And, use the “Other” field to add additional information, such as linking to THIS FLOAT PLAN in a cloud-based location such as Dropbox. Second, think about how you use social media. You may wish to provide someone you trust with your login details, so they can take over your accounts in the event something occurs.]

SAMPLE FLOAT PLAN© Sailing Totem /