Can you write a mayday call with out checking up first.

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This is ours:

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Hope you can read it.

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Well I'll stick my neck out to suggest that the 'core' message should start with 'Mayday yacht Rogue' (not 'this is yacht rogue')followed by position etc.,
and this is what will be repeated word for word in a mayday relay, and all calls from the CG, to anyone involved, will be prefaced with 'mayday yacht rogue'. As we're talking about immediate danger, I wouldn't waste time on the MMSI number.

Pedantry I suppose, but we were told to keep the convention as the person listening may not hear clearly, and have only one chance to get the important 'core' information.
I have it on a laminated card, for me or anyone else, it is very easy to get it wrong under pressure.
We pulled a chap from the sea, he was just about done for. Everything was fine, adrenaline pumping, got alongside him in one go, got him back, called the CG for the ambulance to meet us, we got him in the ambulance, (by now unconscious) sat down for a cup of tea, couldn't keep the tea in the cup.

Every time I see him he says "another year, thanks very much"
 
In the calls I have heard in the Solent, the GC asks if passengers/captain are wearing lifejackets, so I would include this in the message

MVP
 
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The CG took over from there and quickly got the information they needed to assist the lady, who's husband it seems was suffering chronic sea sickness. So, its good practice to remember the Mayday procedure, so long as you don't get hung up on it when there's a problem, just make the call. Nobody marks you on it afterwards.

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Exactly what I say to students when they do the course. We provide each student with a procedure card and they can use it during the course. There is no way that anybody will remember a correct Mayday call as used in the exam from a one day course - I stress that getting control over to CG in the event of not being able to remember the full call is vital.

Reality and classroom is very different and in the heat of anxiety remembering the exact wording, while preferable, is not going to mean that you don't get help!

I also make the point that religiously giving the position in lat and long is often not the best thing to do. I'm in the Needles channel, or I'm west of Fawley Tower, or about 2 miles south of Old Harry Rocks is as good if not better than a straight lat and long - there are a lot of boaters who would not know where they are in relation to the casualty just by looking at the GPS and comparing two positions!

When I did my Yachtmaster exam, the examiner asked me to do a Mayday voice call (mock I hasten to add) and I gave my position as 3 cables off the slipway in Osbourne Bay. The examiner said that that was correct given the location and would be easier for most people to know where I was quickly. I had not told him that I was a VHF instructor! If the "Red Button" has been pushed the the lat and long will have been sent anyway.

Getting anal in a real life and death situation is very different! I can do a Mayday without reference, but then I teach the course and do it at least twice a month on courses and have done so for the last 4 years.

The average boater will hopefully never have to push the red button other than when on a VHF course, so to expect anybody to get it right 100% is asking a bit too much IMHO.

I get more upset about total time wasting calls, such a radio checks on Ch 16, people calling marinas on CH 16 - those are the bits I stress. Also that, particularly in the Solent, the CG is not always the best choice of call for every situation - the Harbour masters, QHM or Southampton VTS are very often just as good if not better (exception being a distress or an urgency call of course). You don't go to the doctor for an aspirin!
 
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This is ours:

Img_0683small.jpg


Hope you can read it.

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Well I'll stick my neck out to suggest that the 'core' message should start with 'Mayday yacht Rogue' (not 'this is yacht rogue')followed by position etc.,
and this is what will be repeated word for word in a mayday relay, and all calls from the CG,

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Not sure which bit of "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" you missed? or are you saying we should repeat the word Mayday before "This is Yacht Rogue"

I was going to say that it isnt a definitive version, but it is one that follows procedure, (MMSI is part of procedure), and would work in any situation for a novice at the radio.

The fact is that we have something that means you dont have to remember anything - which is pretty important in the heat of an emergency.
 
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Why shouldn't people be able to remember a simple mnemonic, Dave? I still remember it from a 1 day course 15 years ago...

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You are very clever then!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Some people can't even get it right when they have the sheet in front of them! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
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are you saying we should repeat the word Mayday before "This is Yacht Rogue"


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No, I suggest you should, (after the MMSI if it is necessary, wasn't any DSC when I did it) start the core mayday message with 'mayday yacht rogue' followed by position, situation, persons, action, other info. The words 'Mayday yacht rogue' will be at the start of every communication, from anyone, to do with your situation, until there is a 'mayday fini'.
Hence, if I hear your mayday, at the words 'mayday yacht rogue' I start writing, expecting the info in standard form. If there is no reply, I will transmit:
'Mayday relay' (x3), this is 'myboat' (x3) 'mayday yacht rogue' repeating your core message, as written down, word for word from that point.

If it's not definitive, it's fine, as I said, only being pedantic.
 
Here it is from Wiki (yes I know Wiki can be wrong)

MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, this is NONSUCH, NONSUCH, NONSUCH. MAYDAY, NONSUCH. Position 54 25 North 016 33 West. My boat is on fire and sinking. I require immediate assistance. 4 people on board, are taking a lifeboat. OVER."
 
I was told that the MMSI number was necessary to match up your voice call with the digital Mayday alert already sent, so the CG know it is a repeat.
It can probably be omitted without much risk.
 
There's a similar mayday message layout in aviation - maydays, callsign, position, number on board, problem, intention.

In engine failure in a heli, simulated or real, there's a lot of things to do and very little time to do it...establish autorotation, control rotor speed, pitch and trim, identify landing site, control airspeed, turn into the wind, establish approach to reach intended landing site, check landing site suitability, secure craft, isolate fuel, inform passengers of forthcoming doom, set squawk code, ...and send a mayday.

During all my training and retraining, during simulated engine failure practice, I have not once yet managed to get the mayday message out right!
 
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