Sailing Plan app Helps Canadians stay Safe
The federal and B.C provincial governments are working together to make outdoor activities more safe for Canadians.
LRC Consulting Solutions received a grant for $595,000 from the Search and Rescue New Innovation Fund to create a new mobile app called Sailing Plan.
The announcement was made by Minister Ralph Goodale at Kelowna’s Yacht Club Thursday morning. He expressed the importance of boaters’ data becoming more accessible to marine Search and Rescue teams.
“More boaters are likely to submit their sailing plans via this new technology. Boaters will better understand their legal responsibilities and safety guidelines and emergency responders will be informed for increased effectiveness of rescue missions and decreased response time to search and rescue incidences,” according to Minister Goodale.
The Lifesaving Society statistics show that roughly one-third of all water related deaths in Canada occur while boating. Most of these are caused by collision, falling overboard or capsizing.
Nelson Jatel , CEO of Limnology Research, creators of the app, says Sailing Plan allows people to file their intended route so they can be located faster if something goes wrong.
“If you’re the captain, you receive a notice 30 mins before the time you said you’d be back. At the time you’re supposed to be back it notifies your three contacts and the coast guard. The coast guard then has an internal protocol so they wait an hour but start making phone calls to determine if you’ve returned.”
Sailing Plan is a server based app that is designed so it won’t fail if your phone goes overboard or you don’t have cell reception. You only need cellular service to make changes to your route or close out your trip.
It gives users the opportunity to create a profile and include any additional information that could be helpful to the coast guard.
This includes safety equipment and people on board, type of vessel, radio, captain certificates and more.
The app will be launched and begin beta testing on April 17th of this year.
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