Communications Plan — Onboard Card

DRAFT template — fill at the T-7 brief from the official Notice of Race / Sailing Instructions and the boat's actual equipment. The race-specific values below (check-in schedule, frequencies, reporting cadence, advisory lines) are authoritative only from the SIs — do not rely on the placeholders. Blanks = ____.

Equipment aboard

Kit	Detail / channel	Confirmed aboard
VHF (fixed)	DSC, Ch 16 monitored	____
Handheld VHF	backup / liferaft	____
Satphone / Iridium	model ____, number ____	____
Iridium GO / data	GRIB + email offshore	____
SSB / HF (if fitted)	freq ____	____
AIS	TX/RX	____
YB tracker	race-supplied	____
EPIRB	Hex 2DDAAF98BA3FDFF (see specs)	yes
Personal PLBs / AIS-MOB	one per crew — MMSIs in the registry	____

Position reporting

• Race-required reporting: cadence ____, method ____ (per SIs — many use the YB tracker + scheduled roll-call).
• Standard report format: time (UTC) · lat/lon · COG/SOG · wind (dir/kt) · baro · notable (confirm format the race wants): ____.

Scheduled check-ins

When (UTC)	Channel/medium	With	Purpose
____	____	shore contact ____	daily position + status
____	____	fleet net (if any)	roll-call

Shore contact

• Primary: ____ (name / phone / email). Backup: ____.
• What they do if a check-in is missed by ____ hours: ____.

Distress / emergency

• VHF Ch 16 + DSC distress. MAYDAY (grave/imminent danger) vs PAN-PAN (urgency, in control).
• USCG + nearest AIS vessels.
• EPIRB Hex 2DDAAF98BA3FDFF — activate per the emergency card / MOB card.
• Medical advisory line: ____ (confirm in SIs).
• Bermuda Radio / inbound contact on approach: VHF 16 (Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre; call on approach — confirm the race-committee/finish channel per the SIs). See Card 08 — Bermuda Approach.

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Everything above is structure. The real values come from the SIs + the boat — lock them at T-7 and brief the whole crew on the check-in schedule and the distress decision tree.