Mayday question

[Birdseye]

Which, no doubt, is why the UK SRC was red-carded by CEPT and the course is now a minimum of 10 hours study followed by independent examination.

You reap what you sow.

No. That one was all about the Germans trying to protect their monopoly on training German sailors. They found lots of sailors doing the RYA course rather than the german one and they objected. I used to find that I struggled to make the course last even the initial 8 hours. Just think about how little there really is to learn.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Well, that's cleared that up then!

 

[Iliade]

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.

Or rather that used to be the case...
Nowadays, not so much m'aidez as Dieu nous aide tous...

 

[mikemanor]

Well, that's cleared that up then!

 

[Baddox]

Or rather that used to be the case...
Nowadays, not so much m'aidez as Dieu nous aide tous...

Very good, but sadly not without some truth.

 

[Ravi]

You have more faith than I have. There was an RYA examiner of my ken who was teaching that DSC radio had greater range due to its satellite connection.

TBH, the RYA VHF course was one of the worst courses that I ever did. Nearly the whole course was about Mayday calls and there was no mention of the correct protocol for asking for a marina berth. Certainly, there was less on the course that you could learn from reading Reeds. It was early days so maybe the instruction has improved.

I often overhear VHF calls (to marinas, etc.) where the initiator says the marina name 3 times and then repeats his boat name three times and I wonder if they had the same generation of RYA VHF courses.

 

[JumbleDuck]

TBH, the RYA VHF course was one of the worst courses that I ever did. Nearly the whole course was about Mayday calls and there was no mention of the correct protocol for asking for a marina berth. Certainly, there was less on the course that you could learn from reading Reeds. It was early days so maybe the instruction has improved.

I often overhear VHF calls (to marinas, etc.) where the initiator says the marina name 3 times and then repeats his boat name three times and I wonder if they had the same generation of RYA VHF courses.

OK, I'll bite. What's wrong with that? And what is the correct protocol for asking for a marina berth - is it just a matter of saying "please" or is there more to it?

 

[Ravi]

Yes, Knowing how to make a distress call is important. Maybe, I should have given more detail. After the course, (which was run at our dinghy sailing club), people who were new or hoping to start(charter~) yachting, generally felt that they hadn't got what they wanted out of the course.
As I recollect, the course was about 60% Mayday 10% Mayday relay, 10% Pan pan, 10% securite and 10% of very badly explained VHF/DSC stuff which had most people bewildered.

I am not sure if your question ... "what is the correct protocol for asking for a marina berth" was ?rhetorical? but, in case it wasn't ...

When making a routine (non distress) call, you do not say their / your name three times. i.e. Not "X marina, X marina, X marina. This is yacht Y, yacht Y, Yacht Y"
You only need to say each name once. Or you can say their name twice, if you feel it is appropriate.

My point was not about calling marinas. though. It was the fact that people didn't know and feel comfortable about using a VHF for routine, day to day usage, on walking out the course. If the course was "Using VHF in emergencies", then it would have met its teaching objective. But most people on the course expected the RYA course to also cover routine VHF usage and felt that it did not do so.

I have always found new crew to be anxious and a bit nervous about making routine VHF calls (until they get a bit of experience under their belts). I don't think that the RYA VHF course that I did (many years ago) did anything to address that.

Hopefully, that explains what I meant.

It may have been a case of one bad instructor, it could have been teething problems with the syllabus. Who knows.

 

[Seajet]

OK, I'll bite. What's wrong with that? And what is the correct protocol for asking for a marina berth - is it just a matter of saying "please" or is there more to it?

If aproaching a marina in the Soent area there's often a ' call up point ' on a post, saying ' VHF 80 '

so I say something like " Port Solent this is Silent Running, 7 metres, request visitor's berth for one night please "

That does the trick so far, although getting out of Port Solent against the tide of gin palaces and possible weapons fits is for a different forum !

 

[DJE]

OK, I'll bite. What's wrong with that? And what is the correct protocol for asking for a marina berth - is it just a matter of saying "please" or is there more to it?

In the Hamble or the Medina on a summer Saturday afternoon you need a certain knowledge of the way that duplex channels work and more than a little skill at getting a word in edgeways!

 

[Cantata]

Sounds as though there are some instructors around who could do better.
The course doesn't teach specific routine stuff like 'calling up for a marina berth', but what you should get out of it is correct general procedure so that doing anything like that is not a challenge in the slightest.
Having recently ended 15 years as a (volunteer) CG officer where your radio procedure is exposed to professionals on every shout you go on (and yes I had done the RYA course before that, plus the repeat to get the DSC ticket later), I think the one basic piece of advice to give is to spend a few seconds thinking about exactly you are going to say before you press the TX button. And then speak slowly and clearly.
On calling up folk like marinas, I do usually give call-signs twice at first to ensure the other party takes notice, but once having established contact, one call-sign each way is fine.
I have to say that even over here on the relatively peaceful East Coast, it's blindingly obvious that there are many VHF users out there who simply have not done the course. By the nature of things, there are very few of those showing on the poll on the other thread.

 

[chanelyacht]

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.

Then he was wrong. End of.

 

[chanelyacht]

TBH, the RYA VHF course was one of the worst courses that I ever did. Nearly the whole course was about Mayday calls and there was no mention of the correct protocol for asking for a marina berth. .

That's because there isn't one. It's a private conversation so you can ask it however you like.

 

[prv]

I think that is generally construed as meaning at least one person on board with the ticket, and others without the ticket may use the set under their supervision.

...if you want to use the radio. Not if you simply have one fitted (perhaps on a charter boat) but don't use it. So

Any boat fitted with a usable VHF is supposed to have someone on board who has passed the exam

is not accurate, which was JumbleDuck's point.

Pete

 

[benjenbav]

These answers are all so 20th century. The correct procedure is now to film the incident, upload it to youtube and then but only then, start a discussion on social media.

 

[snowleopard]

I used to find that I struggled to make the course last even the initial 8 hours. Just think about how little there really is to learn.

I reckon the courses are about double the length they need to be. Certainly 4 days for the LRC was way over the top. We must have spent the best part of a whole day in total rehearsing a scenario where we each had to call in a response to a mayday call giving eta at the casualty. At the end of the course I was bored witless but when it came to doing an add-on module for Inmarsat C - just going through a few screens on an emulator, several candidates opted out through brain overload or technophobia. I guess the full 4 days is needed to make sure everyone gets through.

 

[Cantata]

...if you want to use the radio. Not if you simply have one fitted (perhaps on a charter boat) but don't use it. So



is not accurate, which was JumbleDuck's point.

Pete

OK Pete, fair cop, that's what I meant........