Weather, charts and the trip plan

Meet Colin. He's fifty-two, and he's running his boat downriver to a friend's island cottage for lunch. He left in sunshine. Now it's noon, he's halfway there, and the sky to the west has gone the colour of a bruise. He's trying to remember whether he read a forecast this morning, or just looked out the window.

So here's the question. What should Colin have checked before he left, and does anyone know where he is right now?

Start with the forecast. Environment and Climate Change Canada issues marine forecasts two to four times a day, with the wind given in knots. You'll find them at weather.gc.ca, on the WeatherCAN app, and on the Coast Guard's continuous broadcast on your marine radio. Around the Thousand Islands, that's channel twenty-one B or eighty-three B, depending on which transmitter you're nearest. One Ontario quirk: our marine forecasts leave out the air temperature.

Learn the warning words. A strong wind warning means twenty to thirty-three knots, about thirty-seven to sixty-one kilometres an hour. A gale is thirty-four to forty-seven knots, and a storm is forty-eight to sixty-three. From Lake Superior down to Cornwall, which takes in our stretch of river, strong wind warnings run from the first of May to the end of November.

Forecasts can't catch everything. Transport Canada's Safe Boating Guide warns that summer thunderstorms can strike quickly and without warning. If the sky turns dark fast, head for shore, and know from your chart where the shelter is.

Which brings us to charts. The Navigation Safety Regulations require charts and marine publications for the waters you'll use. Vessels under a hundred gross tonnage, like Colin's, are exempt only if the person in charge knows the waters well enough: the shipping routes, lights, buoys, hazards, currents and weather. If you don't, you carry the chart.

The Canadian Hydrographic Service says charts printed at home won't meet the requirement, so buy them from a chart dealer and keep them current with Notices to Mariners. Check the chart for overhead power lines, and ask locals about what charts can miss, like low-head dams, rapids, and local winds and currents.

Then the trip plan, which Transport Canada calls a sail plan. File one even for an hour or two. It gives your route, when you'll be back, who's aboard, and what your boat looks like. Leave it with someone you trust. If you're late, they call the search and rescue line. And always report in when you're back, so nobody searches for someone sitting on his dock.

On the water. The river can hand you weather that isn't quite the forecast. Transport Canada's guide says local features can make conditions differ from what's predicted, and that people who know the area are the best source. So I keep checking the forecast while I'm out, and I listen to the folks at the marina.

Let's change one fact. It's the second week of December, and the wind is the same twenty-five knots. There'll be no strong wind warning, because that warning season ended on the thirtieth of November. The wind is just as strong. Late in the season, you read the wind numbers in the forecast yourself.

The mistake boaters make is checking the weather once, at breakfast, by looking out the window. Transport Canada's pre-departure checklist says check the marine forecast, and keep monitoring it while you're out.

Here's the rule, in one breath. Check the marine forecast and keep checking it, carry the charts unless you truly know the water, and leave a trip plan with someone who'll call for help if you're late.

This week, read the marine forecast for your area, and leave a one-page trip plan for your usual run with someone you trust. Next time, fuelling, loading, and the checks before you leave the dock.