Plan a coastal passage for the line boat

What is going on

The port authority has asked Bluewater to deliver a replacement mooring buoy to the Swansea channel at the entrance to Lake Macquarie on Wednesday. Bluewater Petrel is an 11 metre line boat that normally works only within Newcastle Harbour. The passage is about 14 nautical miles along an exposed coast with a bar crossing at Swansea that is only safe on the right tide and swell. The forecast shows a southerly change arriving Wednesday afternoon. Lachlan Brody wants a full passage plan on the template, the vessel's operational area confirmed against its certificate in the Fleet and Vessel Register, the crew briefed, and the plan filed with the job before departure.

Your brief

Prepare a complete passage plan for Bluewater Petrel from Newcastle Harbour to the Swansea channel and return, confirm the passage is within the vessel's certificate and your own competency, brief the crew, and file the plan with the job in the Job and Booking Register, or recommend deferral with reasons.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the Passage Plan Template and the passage planning section of the Pre-departure Checks and Passage Planning Procedure.
• Check the Bluewater Petrel record in the Fleet and Vessel Register and confirm whether its operational area and survey allow the passage; if not, record what would be needed.
• Obtain the coastal waters forecast, the swell forecast and the tide times for Swansea and calculate the safe window for the bar crossing in both directions.
• Lay off the route with waypoints, courses and distances, note the hazards including the harbour entrance traffic, the reef off the point and the bar, and record them in the plan.
• Calculate the fuel required for the round trip with a 25 per cent reserve and confirm Petrel's tank capacity covers it.
• Identify a port of refuge and the conditions that would trigger a diversion or a return, including the southerly change.
• Set the communications schedule with the base and the VHF channels to monitor, and record the time the base will raise the alarm if no contact is made.
• Brief the crew, record the briefing, file the plan with job J-26-1187 in the Job and Booking Register, and give the master's decision to sail or defer with reasons.

What someone in this role would produce

• Completed Passage Plan Template
• Tidal window and fuel calculations
• Crew briefing record
• Job record updated with the plan and the decision