Sailing Safety Guides

Calling For Help

Calling For Help At Sea

The best emergency call is short, early and clear.

Most boats carry several ways to call for help. The safety question is whether the skipper and crew can use them when tired, wet, frightened and busy.

High-Stress Use

Calling for help: make the message easy to copy

Under stress, a short complete call is better than a long confused explanation. The listener needs identity, position, problem and need.

First 30 seconds

Choose Mayday for grave and imminent danger, Pan-Pan for urgent help, or a normal call for non-urgent contact.
Get position, boat name, MMSI/call sign and people on board in front of you.
Use DSC first if available and appropriate.

First 5 minutes

Say who you are, where you are, what is wrong and what help you need.
Repeat slowly. Write down the time, channel and station answering.
Keep the radio on and conserve battery if power is limited.

When stable

Update rescue or nearby vessels when the situation changes.
Cancel or downgrade the emergency when danger is over and the authority accepts it.
Keep printed call cards near the VHF so a crew member can read from them.

First Principle

Do not wait until the last calm minute is gone

Many sailors are reluctant to call for help. We want to fix the problem ourselves. That is good seamanship when the situation is under control, but it becomes dangerous when pride delays a necessary call.

If the situation is serious and may get worse, make the first call while you can still speak clearly, give a position, and explain what is happening.

Mayday, Pan-Pan and normal calls

The exact procedure can vary by country and training system, but the basic idea is simple.

Call	Use when
Mayday	There is grave and imminent danger to life, vessel or both, and immediate assistance is needed.
Pan-Pan	The situation is urgent and serious, but not yet immediate danger to life.
Securite	You need to broadcast important safety information, such as a navigation hazard or weather warning.
Normal call	You need routine contact, advice, a marina, another boat, or non-urgent help.

The common mistake is not using the wrong French word. The common mistake is waiting so long that the call is made with less time, worse position information and a more frightened crew.

VHF voice and DSC

VHF is still the normal working tool for nearby help. A distress call can be heard by shore stations and vessels in range. DSC can send a digital distress alert if the radio is correctly configured.

Make sure the radio has the correct MMSI programmed.
Make sure the radio receives GPS position, or know how to give position manually.
Know where the distress button is and how its cover opens.
Keep a handheld VHF charged and reachable as backup.
Use channel 16 for distress and calling, then follow instructions.

PLB, EPIRB and AIS MOB

Distress beacons are valuable because they do not depend on the same things as the main radio. They also have limitations. The skipper should know what each device does before the passage.

EPIRB: normally registered to the vessel and intended for serious distress.
PLB: personal beacon, registered and carried by a person.
AIS MOB: useful for nearby vessels with AIS reception, especially for locating a person in the water.
Check registration, battery expiry and self-test guidance.
Do not bury emergency beacons where they cannot be reached quickly.

VHF: volume and squelch matter

A VHF can be switched on and still be almost deaf in practice. If the volume is low, the cockpit is noisy, or the squelch is set too high, a weak call may never be heard.

Set the volume high enough for the cockpit noise, engine noise and sleep situation.
Set squelch only just above the noise point. Too much squelch can hide weak or distant calls.
On open water, keep channel 16 audible unless you have a better local watch channel for that area.
Use dual watch, scan or a second radio only if you understand what the radio is actually monitoring.
Check the handheld VHF as a real backup: battery, volume, squelch, antenna and waterproof storage.

A simple Mayday voice reminder

If DSC is fitted and the situation is real distress, send the DSC distress alert first if you can do it quickly, then make the voice call on VHF channel 16.

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.
This is boat name, boat name, boat name, call sign or MMSI.
Mayday, boat name.
Position, including time of position if relevant.
Nature of distress and assistance required.
Number of persons on board, injuries, boat description and intentions.
Over. Then listen and stay by the radio if possible.

Do not send a DSC distress alert as a test. Use the radio's test-call function or the local radio-check practice instead.

What to say

A frightened person can forget simple things. This is why I like a small cockpit emergency card with the boat details written down. It does not need to be pretty. It needs to be readable by a tired crew member.

Boat name and call sign.
MMSI.
Position format used on board.
Number of people on board.
Boat type, length, color and rig.
Emergency equipment carried: liferaft, EPIRB, PLB, AIS MOB, flares if carried.
Simple Mayday and Pan-Pan script.

The message should answer the important questions: who you are, where you are, what is wrong, what help you need, and how many people are involved.

Printable emergency cards

I have added a simple printable emergency-card sheet for the boat. It includes Mayday, Pan-Pan, normal call reminders, boat details, emergency gear locations, contacts and passage notes.

The browser version can be filled in before printing. The blank PDF is useful if you prefer to print first and write by hand. Keep laminated copies near the VHF, chart table and cockpit.

Open Fillable Emergency Cards Open Blank PDF

Mobile phone: useful, but not enough

A phone can be excellent near shore. It can send position, photos, messages and voice. But it can also be wet, flat, muted, locked, out of coverage or in the wrong pocket.

Keep it in a waterproof pouch if it is part of your safety plan.
Do not make it the only way to call for help offshore.
Know the local emergency numbers before the passage.
Use location sharing or tracking only as a support, not as the whole plan.

Make everyone able to call

If only the skipper knows the radio, the boat has one communication point of failure. A crew member does not need to be a radio expert to make a basic emergency call.

Show where the VHF, handheld VHF and distress button are.
Show how to read position from the plotter or phone.
Show the emergency card before leaving harbor.
Practice one calm voice call script without transmitting if needed.
Make sure children and guests know how to wake the skipper and point at the problem.

Call while still solving the problem

Calling for help does not mean giving up. It means bringing more ears, more information and more options into the problem while the crew keeps working.

If water is entering the boat, keep pumping and patching after the call.
If someone is overboard, keep visual contact and recovery action going.
If fire or gas is involved, move people to safer air while communicating.
If the engine has failed near danger, keep sailing, anchoring or steering while calling.
If the situation improves, update the station or vessels helping you.

It is usually easier to downgrade an emergency than to recover the time lost by calling too late.

Before the passage

Emergency communication should be checked before it is emotional.

Radio power and antenna checked.
DSC/GPS/MMSI configuration confirmed.
Handheld VHF charged.
Emergency card filled in and visible.
Beacons registered and within battery date.
Crew briefed on the first call and the first position.
Someone ashore knows the plan and when to worry.

How this connects to SailingKSF

Several SailingKSF safety articles end with the same idea: call early if the situation is moving faster than you can control. This guide is the communication side of that same seamanship.

Water In The Boat Man Overboard Anchor Watch

Related DSC and AIS check

If this article makes you rely on DSC, MMSI, AIS, CPA/TCPA or AIS MOB, open the separate DSC and AIS check in a new page and verify the setup before passage.

Open DSC And AIS Check

USCG marine radio information for boaters - Official VHF calling and distress guidance, including channel 16 use and Mayday information for boaters.
USCG performing a VHF marine radio check - Official guidance on safe radio checks. It explains why DSC distress test calls should not be used casually.
BoatUS Foundation VHF radio basics - Plain-language VHF basics, including channel 16, volume and squelch settings that are easy to get wrong.
USCG Digital Selective Calling - Official explanation of DSC distress alerting, MMSI and why connecting GPS position to the radio matters in an emergency.
NOAA SARSAT - Official background on the satellite system behind 406 MHz distress beacons and why registration, testing and correct use matter.
NOAA 406 MHz beacon registration - Official U.S. registration site for 406 MHz EPIRBs and PLBs. A beacon is far more useful when owner and emergency-contact data are current.
RNLI yacht sailing and motorboating safety - Practical safety advice from a rescue organization, useful for thinking about lifejackets, calling early, preparation and what rescuers need from you.

App Connection

Use this together with KSF Passage Companion

The articles are easier to use on a real boat when your own boat details are already written down.

Store where safety gear, tools, spares and manuals are located.
Keep boat-specific checklists for night, heavy weather, departure and emergencies.
Use logbook notes for failures, chafe, repairs and weak points that should be checked again.

Open Passage Companion Open Printable Cards

Feedback For Calling For Help At Sea

If you have radio, rescue, offshore or coastal emergency communication experience, I would be glad to read what should be corrected or added.

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Call early enough to keep options open

A good call for help does not replace seamanship. It gives the skipper more time, more listeners and more ways to solve the problem before it becomes final.