How to Plan a Safe Boat Route With Coordinates

Before you turn the key and leave the marina, have the route written down. A safe trip is planned at home, not in open water.

Planning a route with coordinates means choosing waypoints, giving each one a number and a position, and entering them into your GPS or phone before you launch. Once you are out there you stop deciding and just follow the numbers in order.

Write the waypoints on paper first

Start on paper. Mark your exit point from the marina, the marks you want to fish or visit, and your return point.

• Number every waypoint in sequence: 1, 2, 3.
• Copy coordinates exactly as they come from your source. Do not round or edit them.
• Order them along the real track so you are not zigzagging and burning fuel.

Keep the paper in a plastic sleeve on the console. Paper does not run out of battery.

Enter them into the plotter or phone

Load each waypoint by hand and check the numbers on screen against the paper. One wrong digit in the last place puts you kilometres off the mark.

Name each waypoint so you can read it at a glance, like "Marina entrance" or "Wreck 2". Names are faster than coordinates when you are moving. Then view the whole route on screen and look for anything that cuts across water you do not trust.

Mark hazards, depth and the channel

A route is not only fishing marks. You also need to mark:

• Hazards: rocks, shallow heads and reef edges you want to avoid, stored as danger waypoints.
• Depth: note the depth at each mark so you know when it is usable.
• Entry and exit: the channel into your marina, the tightest part of the trip, and it changes with the tide.

This is where pre-trip information pays off. The B7R app, still in launch phase and improving on user feedback, gives you sea conditions, tide tables for Shuaikh and Shuaiba ports, navigation tools that help you arrange a route, and an SOS button for emergencies. It is free on Google Play.

A paper backup and someone ashore

Before you go, tell someone reliable where you are heading, who is with you, and when you expect to be back. Send them a photo of your waypoint list.

If you are late, that is the person who starts making calls. Write down an expected return time even if it is rough.

Time and fuel between waypoints

Estimate the running time between each pair of waypoints at your normal cruise speed, then add it up and add a margin. The simple rule is half the tank out, half the tank home.

Last, check the sea state and the tide before you lock the route in. A good route in calm water turns ugly if the wind shifts or the tide drops and the water gets thin.

Paper plan, waypoints loaded, someone ashore who knows your track, and a final look at the conditions. That is a route you can run with confidence.

Download the app free and plan before you launch: B7R on Google Play