What is Abort Point and How You Can Use it For Safe Navigation

Let us face it. There is a huge difference between a passage plan and a good passage plan. The good passage plan is a work of art. You know it when you see a good passage plan. How can we define a good passage plan then ? A good passage plan is the one that has all the information on the chart and yet the chart is not cluttered. It is the passage plan which has all the information marked at locations where it is supposed to be. And it is the passage plan that gives the confidence to the watch keepers about the preparedness of the bridge team. But sometimes we either have too less information on the chart or so much that it hides the important information. Now how to place all the information on the chart and yet not clutter the chart ? It all starts with the knowledge of why something is required and what use it can be of. And when it comes to safely executing a passage plan, there are certain rules of thumb. One such rule of thumb is knowing when we can abort a passage plan.  Marking of  "Abort point" help in doing so. In this post we will discuss everything about abort point and also if "point of no return" is any different than that. Let us begin. Abort poin...