Race-day safety plan template.
Roles, safety boats, weather limits, the check-out and check-in tally, the emergency numbers for your waters and the signals for safety decisions — on one page your whole race committee can work from. Preview free; Word or PDF.
Preview
Grey ‹text› is still to fill in.Running the race on VesselSOS Racing? Skippers check out with the race code and the race office sees the safety tally live (pilot 2027).
Run your next raceSources
- World Sailing — The Racing Rules of Sailing 2025–2028 (Appendix J; rules 25, 26, 35, 44, 89.2, 90.2; Race Signals) · checked 18 Oct 2026
- World Sailing — Sailing Instructions Guide (March 2025), Word file as published by US Sailing · checked 18 Oct 2026
- World Sailing — Notice of Race Guide (March 2025), Word file as published by US Sailing · checked 18 Oct 2026
Questions
Who needs a race-day safety plan?
Any organiser who sends boats or paddlers out to race. Many national authorities, insurers and venues ask clubs for one, and it gives the race committee one page to work from when something happens. Follow your national authority’s and your venue’s guidance where they set requirements.
How many safety boats do we need?
That depends on the fleet, the craft, the water and the weather, and on your national authority’s guidance — we do not give a number. The plan has a field for the ratio your club sets and for each safety boat’s crew and radio call sign.
Where do the emergency numbers come from?
Pick the country and the plan fills in the number to call in danger and the rescue centre responsible for those waters, from the same rescue data the VesselSOS app uses (checked dates shown). Check them against your national sources before the event and add the harbour master and the nearest hospital.
Does VesselSOS alert the rescue centre?
No. VesselSOS is not a rescue service. In a race on VesselSOS Racing, a competitor’s SOS guides the call to the right rescue centre on the competitor’s own phone and alerts the race committee at the same moment, with position. Your plan still needs its own alerting procedure, safety boats and VHF watch.
Why does the download ask for my email?
The preview and the copy-to-clipboard are free and anonymous. Only the Word and PDF files ask for an email and your club; we write to you about the VesselSOS Racing pilot, no newsletter.
More free tools
Run the whole race on one screen.
VesselSOS Racing is the race-office web app we're building with pilot clubs: draw the course, share a 6-digit code, see every boat live with line and corrected positions — and every crew back ashore. Skippers join in the free VesselSOS app they already carry.