Mayday - How To Stand Out In The Crowd
Watchkeepers at NCI Gosport very recently heard a mayday call on Channel 16. A vessel somewhere in the locality had smoke coming from their engine compartment. Solent Coastguard of course answered very quickly, got some details, and dispatched Gafirs to assist. A pilot boat that was returning to Portsmouth also responded.
The watchkeepers used their binoculars and high power telescopes to try to locate the mayday vessel but were unable to do so; there were a handful of vessels that might be the one in trouble, but they could not see smoke coming from any of them, and none were behaving in a way that suggested the boat had a problem. This meant that they were unable to provide extra details to Solent Coastguard, nor keep track of the crew if they had to abandon ship and enter the water.
As it happened both Gafirs and the pilot boat found the mayday vessel quickly and were able to render the necessary assistance. No-one was harmed. But the event raises issues for both NCI Watchkeepers and also for sailors.
Us NCI Watchkeepers are trained to recognise and describe different vessel types and sail rigs. We have a multiplicity of different codes to use when logging sailing and motor vessels in our logbooks. We have to memorise the names of the buoys and channel markers, and also the names of major on-shore landmarks. And we are annually tested to ensure we are retain this knowledge. One important thing for us to remember for the future is that a crew issuing a mayday may not know or use these names. And unfortunately the crew of this particular mayday vessel described their position in such a way as to leave the watchkeepers uncertain as to the vessel’s location.
Also unfortunately the mayday boat was described as a ‘sailing vessel’, causing the Watchkeepers to focus their attention on sailing yachts in the area, whereas the mayday vessel was actually a motor dayboat. So again, Watchkeepers need to understand that any vessel descriptions given by a mayday vessel may not match their training.
These were in reality minor problems and, as stated before, rescue vessels were on scene quickly.
Sailors may want to ask themselves this question though… if I have to call a mayday, how can I make my vessel unambiguously stand out, so that both rescue boats and on-shore observers can see me and find me easily. To be frank, there doesn’t seem to be a simple one-size-fits-all answer.
A position fix from your GPS navigation screen is a very good start… unless you are on the move, in which case it’s not too practical to continually keep broadcasting your new position on Channel 16.
A working AIS system is a far better answer, as it does the continual broadcast for you. NCI Watchkeepers, and rescue craft, can use that to know how far away you are, and exactly what direction to look in. A GPS-based SART (Search and Rescue Transponder) is good for the same reason.
However, there may still be a problem if there are a number of boats in your immediate vicinity. How can you bring observers and rescuers attention direct to you ? Well, a sailing yacht can leave a sail unfurled and flapping to draw attention to itself; a hooter or noise of some sort might help; a pyrotechnic fired into the air may help but only if the would-be rescuers can see what vessel it was fired from; flashing a torch or light may do it if the day is fairly dull. Hoisting flags is impractical for most leisure sailors, but waving some bright or high-vis material is pretty unambiguous and easily done. So is using a hand-held smoke flare (except that you might need two on board… one for the on-shore observers to locate you, one for the rescue vessel).
As we said, no easy answer to the question of how to stand out from the crowd. But please, do ask yourself the question and consider what would work for your vessel.
