AHOY
Ocean Posse Announces Voluntary Reporting Regime with U.S. Southern Command to Enhance Safety for Cruising Vessels in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbeanย ย
ย
AREAS OF CONCERN
DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY (INCLUDING WARTIME AND CONFLICT-ZONE RISK)
Participation in this voluntary maritime guidance program is undertaken solely at the discretion of each individual captain and vessel owner. By completing or following any portion of this document, each captain, owner, and vessel affirms, acknowledges, and agrees to the following:
Masterโs Responsibility
The Captain and Vessel Owner remain solely and fully responsible for the safe navigation, seaworthiness, operation, decision making, maintenance, routing, watchkeeping, communications, and all other aspects of their vessel and voyage. Nothing in this document replaces, diminishes, or alters the Captainโs absolute duty to ensure the safety of the vessel, crew, and passengers.
No Guarantee of Safety
The recommendations contained herein are provided solely for informational purposes and do not guarantee safety, assistance, escort, or rescue of any kind. Offshore passages inherently involve significant hazards, including weather, mechanical failure, piracy, armed encounters, and unpredictable maritime activity. Captains must prepare accordingly.
Wartime and Conflict-Zone Risk
Portions of the maritime regions referenced in this document may be influenced by heightened military activity, armed patrols, narcotics interdiction operations, piracy risks, territorial disputes, or classified military missions.
Warships, military aircraft, and government vessels may operate without AIS, may maintain radio silence, and may conduct maneuvers that appear aggressive or intimidating.
Vessels may be hailed, inspected, diverted, or boarded without advance notice.
Intelligence assessments, government advisories, and security conditions may change rapidly and without public announcement.
By participating, each vessel explicitly acknowledges that these areas may carry elevated wartime, conflict-zone, or military-operational risks, and assumes full responsibility for navigating through them.
No Operational Control or Maritime Authority
Neither the Ocean Posse, its organizers, contributors, volunteers, partners, affiliates, nor any associated entity or individual exercises operational control over any vessel.
These guidelines are not official directives, legal requirements, or instructions from any maritime authority. Compliance is voluntary.
Independent Verification Required
All information, contacts, procedures, and numbers listed herein must be independently verified by the captain prior to departure. Conditions, security levels, and communications availability may change without warning.
No Agency Relationship
No agency, partnership, joint venture, or duty-of-care relationship is created by participation in this program or by following any of these recommendations.
Voluntary Float Plan Submission
Filing or sending a float plan does not obligate any government, military, or rescue authority to monitor, track, support, or respond to your vessel. Emergency responses, if any, remain solely at the discretion of the responsible authorities.
Assumption of Risk
All participants acknowledge that offshore sailing involves inherent danger and uncertainty. By proceeding, each vessel accepts full responsibility for risks including, but not limited to:
- Weather and sea state
- Mechanical failures
- Medical emergencies
- Piracy or armed encounter
- Wartime or military operations
- Misidentification by a military unit
- Detention, boarding, or diversion by authorities
- Delay, damage, or total loss of vessel
Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Ocean Posse, its organizers, affiliates, volunteers, and partners disclaim all liability for any injury, loss, damage, delay, expense, detention, military engagement, or death arising from use of this document or participation in any recommended procedure.
All use is entirely at your own risk.
No Reliance for Navigation
This document does not replace official charts, weather information, COLREGS, or prudent seamanship. Captains must maintain proper watch, maintain VHF 16, and use professional navigation tools and procedures at all times.
Data-Sharing Consent
Updating public vessel information on MarineTraffic or similar services is voluntary. Participants are responsible for all privacy and data-sharing decisions.
Amendments and Updates
These recommendations may be modified or withdrawn at any time without notice. Captains must ensure they are working from the most current version.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF TERMS
By completing this form or participating in these recommended procedures, the Captain and Vessel Owner acknowledge that they have read, understood, and accepted this Disclaimer, including the wartime and conflict-zone risk provisions, and assume full responsibility for the safety and conduct of their vessel, crew, and voyage.
UPDATE 1
1) GPS jamming has increased recently. (You can monitor GPS jamming at https://www.gpsjam.org ). The closure of Venezuelan airspace will decrease the reports of jamming in that area (no aircraft to report anomalies), making confirming jamming/interference more difficult. There is a way to use Starlink as an augmented GPS signal – read it in this weeks fleet update
2) Download and printout the Chart of the Caribbean – and Pilot on passage we recommend brushing up on Dead Reckoning and making hourly log entries. – read this weeks fleet update to get it
3) What you would do if your position on your chart plotter is wrong ?Review how to use celestial bodies to confirm your course. Simple Example If you are heading west at 4 PM confirm that you are sailing towards a setting sun.
4) Run a test to see if your autopilot needs GPS or can simply hold a course using it’s gyro compass. Heading corrections usually use GPS to check for xtrack errors. Note your magnetic course.
5) Check your compass for variation vs true
Compass deviation is an error in a compass’s reading caused by a local magnetic field, such as one from the metal hull or items nearby. “Swinging the compass” is the process of correcting this error by turning the vessel magnetic headings and noting the difference between the actual magnetic heading and the compass’s reading. This allows for the creation of a deviation card, which provides a correction factor for each heading.
6) Magnetic Declination along VZ’s coast runs the gamut.Western VZ -11ยฐ 13′ Eastern VZ -15ยฐ 21′ check your location now at https://www.magnetic-declination.com
7) The airspace over VZ is now closed which will affect SAR. ( 2025-11-30)
Check and update your EPRIB emergency contact info.
Your EPRIB likely relies on GPS for rapid accurate position reporting (the COSPAS-SARSAT satellites will still determine your position, but it can take up to two hours and is less accurate than a gps-derived position). EPIRBs broadcast on 406 mhz, which is not affected by gps jammers or interference.
8) Your AIS may stop transmitting information if unable to get a position from GPS. Check your AIS manual to determine what behavior is going to happen if your AIS does lose GPS signal.
9) Download SAILING DIRECTIONS EN ROUTE
CARIBBEAN SEA – VOLUME I & II from this weeks fleet update
10) Starlink does use GPS to initially establish position. It may not initialize and start correctly if GPS is degraded. These instructions from the Ukraine explain how to overcome this if it happens to you https://adaptis.com/…/ew-vs-starlink-how-to-restore… is a โblack boxโ in terms of its functionality, but these instructions apparently worked in the Ukraine (where gps interference is a very common occurrence).