Mayday question

OceanSprint

OceanSprint

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If i saw a life threatening incident that did not involve me, would i call in a Mayday, giving all my boat details, then saying what happened?

Eg saw a skipper i knew was singlehanding fall over the side?
 
prv said:
Exactly.

Sightings of red flares are called in as Mayday Relay as well.

Pete
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Correct. But even if you can't remember the "proper" way to do it, call it in anyway. Some nice coastguard person will sort out all the niceties and get the help machine rolling.
 
parsifal said:
Yes - you'd do a Mayday Relay broadcast.
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I thought amaday relay was only used if you heard a mayday and no one else did? This is not what I meant. It is seeing someone else in trouble and not yourselfyourself. Do you put out amayday relay even if you have not heard a mayday, nor know the details of the other vessel to relay?
 
OceanSprint said:
If i saw a life threatening incident that did not involve me, would i call in a Mayday, giving all my boat details, then saying what happened?

Eg saw a skipper i knew was singlehanding fall over the side?
Click to expand...

Yes if you (assuming you are the skipper) are sure it is a mayday situation. But you must make it clear that it is not your own vessel that is distress.
 
Interesting. I'm with LK on that. I thought a Relay was a repetition of what you'd heard which also gives the casualties name and position.

In the case of seeing another boat in distress I'd go through the process ... MMM / this is / position ... then the nature of the distress would be " I can see a vessel sinking/on fire/ a man in the water etc "

How can you relay something you haven't heard?
 
Bav34 said:
How can you relay something you haven't heard?
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Because you're relaying something you have seen.

Calling a simple Mayday is to say that you are in trouble. Mayday Relay says that someone else is in trouble. It's important to make the distinction clear to those receiving. Whether you found out by radio, by seeing flares, or by seeing the accident itself is less important.

Pete
 
Lazy Kipper said:
We called a PanPan for a dinghy sailor who was unable to right their dinghy, no suggestion of a "relay".
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The Coastguard quite rightly aren't going to engage in a discussion of correct radio procedure during an emergency - they'll do their best to work with whatever you send. So the fact that they didn't correct you is neither here nor there.

Pete
 
A few years ago from onshore I spotted a vessel that obviously had a problem. Using my binoculars and telescope I came to the conclusion they had a man over board situation. I had a VHF set up to listen to weather forecasts and was torn whether to use the radio or mobile to call the coast guard. I opted to use my mobile phone and reported it to Thames Coast Guard who immediately paged Whitstable lifeboat. Whilst talking to the coast guard a very panicky message came over the radio,
"Man overboard, man overboard, man overboard", followed by a position. The broadcast was presumably on low power and was only heard by the coast guard via my mobile phone.
It turned out the husband had gone over board attached by his life line leaving his wife on board and she couldn't get him back. The lifeboat picked him up and got him ashore in a very bad way to a waiting ambulance. The wife was left on the drifting boat until Sheerness ALB arrived to take the vessel in tow. This was obviously a life or death situation. The coast guard made numerous attempts to contact the vessel by radio with no response. At no time was this raised to a Mayday situation on the radio.
Fortunately there was happy ending to the incident.
 
prv said:
The Coastguard quite rightly aren't going to engage in a discussion of correct radio procedure during an emergency - they'll do their best to work with whatever you send. So the fact that they didn't correct you is neither here nor there.

Pete
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+1. I agree with this comment. I suppose it all depends what part of our coast you are, busy shipping, sailing areas,etc. but I feel assured you will get a response to explain the situation to attentive ears.
Procedure is all very well but I also have Lifeboat Coxwains mob number for a quick call (if signal,etc etc)
 
prv said:
Because you're relaying something you have seen.

Calling a simple Mayday is to say that you are in trouble. Mayday Relay says that someone else is in trouble. It's important to make the distinction clear to those receiving. Whether you found out by radio, by seeing flares, or by seeing the accident itself is less important.

Pete
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Don't quite see that but I think the Coastguard would be happy with either call. And that's the important thing.

Part of the Relay message is to give the name of the vessel in distress. I can imagine many occasions when you can see a problem but not the name. Neither can you give the position they have relayed ... because they haven't

I also don't see the importance of making it absolutely indisputably categorically clear that it's not you in trouble. The emergency services are tasked to a position and if you can see the casualty so can they. They have already heard that you can see a vessel in distress so they are not going to ignore that and hi-line down to you just because you gave your ships name.

Anyhoo ... interesting question.
 
Bav34 said:
I also don't see the importance of making it absolutely indisputably categorically clear that it's not you in trouble. The emergency services are tasked to a position and if you can see the casualty so can they. They have already heard that you can see a vessel in distress so they are not going to ignore that and hi-line down to you just because you gave your ships name.

Anyhoo ... interesting question.
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If you don't make it clear that you are relaying the message, time will be wasted while the CG question you about persons on board etc. You can clearly do a Mayday Relay without giving the vessel's name, so long as you can give the approximate position and type of vessel, or even aeroplane.
 
Sod the name of the bloody boat, give the position and nature of the problem first, not least in case your radio packs up for whatever reason.

As for name to say on radio, if I was close and no depth issues I'd be going for it flat out and just use my boat's name, explaining as things became clear.

In a Mayday all the Coastguard want to know is position, nature of accident and how many people.
 
OceanSprint said:
If i saw a life threatening incident that did not involve me, would i call in a Mayday, giving all my boat details, then saying what happened?

Eg saw a skipper i knew was singlehanding fall over the side?
Click to expand...

I was asked a similar question on my VHF course last year. I replied that it would be a Mayday Relay, the instructor told me I should call a Mayday.
 
As far as I remember in this case you give a distress relay call using your own callsign followed by the distress message of the vessel in distress.

"Mayday Relay Mayday Relay Mayday Relay"
This is 89282763638 Buck Turgidson, Buck Turgidson, Buck Turgidson, Callsign Bravo Tango

Mayday
Original Poster callsign unknown
Position first post in the thread
Not sure about the format of a Mayday Relay
Immediate speculation required
One or more posters are bored
over

;-)
 
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