Passage Planning Risk Assessment
There is more to planning a passage than working out the navigation. A good skipper will take into account things like the weather forecast, the capabilities of the boat and crew, options for diversions and provisioning. Many of us rely on our experience and “gut feel” to asses these issues but there is a lot to be said for taking a more methodical approach, especially on a passage that is likely to stretch the skipper, crew or boat.
The ‘J’ Score, developed by James Collier, helps a skipper asses the risk of a given passage by scoring each important aspect of the passage and balancing the different factors to come up with an overall risk score. The score gives an idea of the level of risk of the planned passage, the more positive the number the lower the assed risk.
As well as giving the skipper an overall feeling for the level of risk the process of scoring each aspect helps to clarify the strengths and weaknesses in the proposed plan in the skippers mind. The exercise of going through the J Score process helps the skipper to think about the passage in detail and asses good and bad points.It is important to point out that there is no final value for the J Score that decides whether or not to set off on passage. This is a tool to help a skipper plan a passage. The final number is an indication of the risk level but the ultimate decision on whether to set off is always with the skipper on the day.
This passage planning risk assemet system is described in:
- The ‘J’ Score Risk Assessment System by James Collier.