One Engine, Onshore Wind, and a Fading Handheld
You are the skipper of a 6.5 m glass-fibre boat with a single 150 hp outboard. Two people are aboard. At 1535 you are 1.5 nautical miles east of the harbour entrance in 18 knots of onshore wind and 1 m swell. The engine’s overheat alarm sounds, then smoke appears under the cowling. You shut down. The boat is drifting toward a rocky lee shore at about 1.5 knots; you estimate 25 minutes before the rocks. The main VHF has no power because the battery terminal is corroded. You have a 5 W handheld VHF with a partly charged battery, a mobile phone with one bar, four red flares and a PLB in your jacket. The chartplotter still shows your position. Your crew is seasick and frightened. What radio call do you make, and what do you say?
1. Is this a Mayday or a Pan Pan? Explain the decision.
Read the worked answer
This is a Mayday, not a Pan Pan. Pan Pan is for urgency where there is no immediate grave danger; Mayday is for grave and imminent danger requiring immediate assistance. Here you have smoke and overheating, loss of propulsion, an onshore wind, a lee shore 1.5 nm away and a drift rate of about 1.5 kt giving roughly 25 minutes to the rocks. Two people are aboard, one is seasick, and the main radio is dead. That is imminent danger to life. Waiting to see whether the engine restarts would burn the time you need. Declare Mayday on Ch 16, then follow Coastguard or harbour authority instructions.
2. Write the Mayday call you would make on Ch 16.
Read the worked answer
Call on Ch 16, high power if available: “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. This is [boat name], [boat name], [boat name], callsign [if any]. MAYDAY. This is [boat name], callsign [if any]. My position is 1.5 nautical miles east of the harbour entrance. I have engine overheating and smoke, no propulsion, drifting onto a lee shore. I require immediate assistance. Two persons on board. One person is seasick. Over.” Speak slowly, give the position clearly, and end with “over” so the shore station can reply. If the handheld has DSC, use it after the voice call if time allows, but do not delay the voice Mayday to program it.
3. What do you do if there is no reply to the first Mayday?
Read the worked answer
If there is no reply, repeat the Mayday on Ch 16, then try the local Coastguard working channel if known. Activate the PLB and prepare flares, but do not set off a flare until you believe someone is in a position to see it. Start the engine only if you can do so safely; otherwise anchor to slow the drift, keep everyone lifejacketed, and prepare to abandon to the lee side if the boat grounds. Use the mobile as a backup. The key is to keep the distress active and keep the crew safe, not to keep broadcasting while the boat drifts.