Mayday
I would expect that even non-boaters are at least quasi-familiar with the word Mayday, the international signal for distress, and its usage. Fortunately it is rare that we actually hear it on the radio. Rare, yes, but not unheard of. In fact, in the past week alone, we have heard it three times, twice within a one hour period.
The first time occurred while we were underway from Jost Van Dyke to Tortolla to drop our friend Christian off at the airport. We initially thought that the vessel, which was some distance away, had a chainplate break. This critical piece is what the cables that hold up a sailboat’s mast attach to. When a chainplate lets loose there is a good chance the entire rig will come down, perhaps holing the boat. After some discussion occurred between the vessel and the US Coast Guard station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, we came to realize that it was a loss of steering which prompted the Mayday call (perhaps the word chain we heard was a piece of the steering cable).
Probably only 30 minutes later we heard a second Mayday call, again for a loss of steering. This vessel, a big charter cat with 6 adults on board, was actually within range of us and within a few minutes of searching with our binoculars, we pinpointed which vessel it was (there are always plenty of boats on the water in the Virgin Islands).
Now, it is my understanding that Mayday is used only when the vessel and/or persons on board are in “grave and imminent danger” and require immediate assistance. We of course weren’t on board either boat but a loss of steering is not typically cause for a Mayday call. After a dive boat answered the 2nd boat’s distress call, we watched as the boat drifted parallel to the coast for some 15 minutes. The Coast Guard told the cat’s Captain to ensure that everyone had their life jackets on and he complied. They also suggested that he put his anchor down but he said he “didn’t think it would hold” because he was in 80′ of water. So what? What could it have hurt? Again, we weren’t on board but I’m pretty sure there are several things he could have done to ensure his boat was safe while attempting repairs. Perhaps he just panicked? I should mention that the first vessel did jury rig repairs to continue underway, twice (the first repair only lasted a while before it failed again). He ultimately made it to safe harbor, under his own power.
I heard the third Mayday call last night while I was on watch during our overnight passage from Virgin Gorda to St. Thomas. At 12:10 PM a very distraught-sounding gentleman put out a Mayday call, informing the radio listeners that he had just awoken to find that the person who was on watch was missing, presumably having fallen overboard. THIS is as scary as it gets! The person could have fallen overboard at any point during his/her watch and at the time, it was so black out, it would have been nearly impossible to find the crew member. He gave his GPS position to someone who answered the call and I recorded the data to check against our current position. After a few tense moments, the Captain came back on the radio and apologized saying that he found the crew member, asleep in the main sail (?) instead of on watch where he should have been. Wow! I know a certain crew member who is in trouble. Yes, this would have been a legit Mayday call. Fortunately for those involved, it was based on false info and was cancelled.
When Rebecca and I are alone on watch, we simply don’t leave the cockpit. Our cockpit is so deep that it would be impossible to fall out. If something occurs that requires us to be on deck, we just wake the other person up. Period. There is no way we want to be “that guy!”
With absolutely no other drama, the Anegada Passage, also sometimes referred to as the Oh-My-God-A passage, was uneventful. We had light winds on the nose the entire way and thus motored in calm seas. Our anchorage on the French side of St. Martin, Marigot Bay, is calm and Exumas-water clear. We’re just about to head into shore to clear customs and following that, do a bit of exploring, perhaps settling in a little French cafe for a baguette and some wi-fi. Hello St. Martin!
Rebecca, painting our French courtesy flag.
Those first two should have been Pan-pan, not Mayday, and maybe the third as well…
Mayday means: Situation is one in which a vessel, aircraft, vehicle, or person is in grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance.
Pan-pan means: Urgent situation of a lower order than a “grave and imminent threat requiring immediate assistance”.
Unfortunately Mayday is too well known.. 🙂
I agree that the first two were pan pans. I do think the third would have been a legit mayday had the MOB actually occured.
Kaffe: Grave Danger?
Col. Jesup: Is there another kind?
Have fun in SM! Very interesting place..
🙂
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104257/quotes
Yup, should have been a pan pan. Maybe it was a crew member on the radio and not the skipper?
On the charter cat it was a crew member but I could tell by the conversation that he was being directed by the skipper. The first vessel sounded as if he was single-handling.
As a commercial pilot and also a sailor I find I am always comparing the worlds of flying and boating. In aviation, even the non-professionals are required to go through many hours of training and testing just to get the privelege of flying small aircraft for pleasure. As a result, you rarely hear anybody call a Mayday, or even a Pan-pan. Instead most pilots are taught to try all the emergency procedures and be self-sufficient before declaring an emergency. Mayday should be a last-resort call, when a crash or possible loss of life is imminent. Unfortunately in the boating world anybody with enough cash can charter or buy a nice boat and quickly get in over their heads like the people who called Mayday in your blog. While I love the lack of regulation and the freedom of boating, the lack of adequate training other boaters often have frustrates me. Fortunately there are sailors like yourselves who took the courses and learned what you were doing in order to be safe.
Yeah, there certainly is a lot of misuse of the VHF, that is for sure. I can’t even imagine that sort of stuff on aircraft frequencies!
Mike,
You guys must visit Orient Bay Beach on the French side. Dawn and I spent a week there and had a blast. Nice beach, great restaurants. Try Baywatch restaurant / beach bar… http://andyandcherylbaywatch.com
BTW, the east side is clothing optional ?
Have fun
We just went to Andy and Cheryl’s place and met them both. Cool people and good food! Clothing optional? We didn’t notice. 😉
I think if you declare a Mayday and the Coast Gaurd responds you are expected to abandon ship and be rescued. The EPIRB sends the same type of message to the Coast Gaurd.
Congrats on the safe crossing to St Martin.
Are you finding that you have to motor sail a lot?
That is what we are experiencing in Mexico. Maybe when we are not on a schedule we can go where the wind blows!
Yes, would it be nice to just go where the wind blows? Up to this point we have had to motor or motor sail “almost” everywhere. A Lagoon cat without a mast just anchored beside us. Perhaps he has figured out something that we haven’t?
“I think if you declare a Mayday and the Coast Gaurd responds you are expected to abandon ship and be rescued….”
That’s often the case, but not always.
“Mayday” means “Someone on this vessel will probably die unless we get help ASAP”. Only a handful of things can happen to the boat itself to cause that: fire, sinking, capsize.
But a legitimate and necessary Mayday call can also be put out for a heart attack, stroke, blunt trauma (jibe -> boom -> head), MOB or any other life-threatening situation.
If you can predict that a bad situation *might* occur in the near future (about to get caught in a bad storm, or a deteriorating medical condition, etc.), most Coasties like it if you make a normal radio call to their base, describe your position and situation, and talk it over with them. This costs no money and almost no time for either you or them, but will save hours of search time and make life much easier for the helicopter crew if the situation does escalate a few hours later.
Nice post Matt.
“alone on watch, we simply don’t leave the cockpit…. If something occurs that requires us to be on deck, we just wake the other person up. Period.”
I agree with that approach. Ten minutes of sleep is not worth the risk of falling overboard without being noticed. (The harness *should* catch you if you slip, but sometimes people forget to wear them, or they break, or…..)
Man overboard is certainly a mayday situation, and if it happened in less than perfect conditions, I’d likely order a crewman to fire off a ch16 mayday and ch70 DSC alert (or do it myself) as soon as the boat is stopped. On two occasions, I have heard real mayday calls- one for a dinghy capsize, one for a fire on board. But I’ve heard far more dumb ones- “Mayday, our engine’s dead and we’re half a mile from the beach in a two knot wind”, etc. And I’ve been the responding boat in a few situations where the distress vessel should have called mayday, but didn’t have a radio, or didn’t know how to use it, or had neglected to maintain and test it.
I might also add that as helpful as DSC distress messages are, it’s still a good idea to put out a mayday call on ch16 after hitting that red button. Smaller powerboats like my Sunset Chaser often carry VHF but aren’t fully DSC-capable, and we tend to be the fastest responders in coastal areas.
Enjoy St. Martin- I keep hearing that it’s one of the great gems of the area!
Good tip on the DSC, Matt. I actually tend to forget that’s even there.
Looks like a ” cut & dusted agreement that they were “pan-pan” & as for the crew member, asleep in the main sail, Holy crap i would of thrown him over the side “lol” Even if he /she is tired you stay at the wheel ‘so to speak” there is normally enough floor space & set your alarm/ timer for 15/20 mins. & the thing is the person who put the mayday out may of fallen over the side looking for them as he also may of had to go forward to look for him/her & then what would of happened ?? ” the sleeper should walk the plank or have 25 lashes “
I said the same thing. After the guy found out that he wasn’t really MOB, he would have thrown him overboard!
An absolutely hilarious story! You are quite the wordsmith. Keep it up.
Thanks Matt.
Wordsmith. 🙂
I did call the coast guard once, but I didn’t use Mayday. We’d just watched a boat’s main sail rip to shreds just before it ran aground in a 42+ knot storm. I have no idea why they had all their sails up as this storm had been predicted all day long. Anyway we tried hailing them first and when we didn’t get an answer we called for help. We couldn’t (and wouldn’t try to) get near them and feared their boat might break up. Only after radioing the other boat’s coordinates, our boat’s name, our phone number, and was very nearly promising them my first born, we realized the other boat had worked itself free. So now the coast guard knows the Knotty Cat is owned by scaredy cats and I hope they don’t ignore us if we need them in the future!
hehe… knotty cat = scaredy cat
We should be heading to St. Martin in the next day or two. Our major ($$$) and some minor ($) repairs are done while in Crown Bay Marina ($$) but we had air conditioning for one night ($$$). Going to have sundowners with Saralane tonight.
We’re heading on tomorrow towards Antigua but don’t fret, you’ll catch up. We guarantee it. 🙂