Checklists

Emergencies

Print this one. A page you can hold is worth more than a page you have to unlock, and the moment you need it is the moment the phone is wet, flat, or somewhere else.

Versionv53 2026-09-15

How to send a Mayday

VHF Channel 16, high power (25 W)

Press and HOLD the red DSC distress button for 5 seconds first if fitted. That sends your identity and position automatically, then follow up by voice.

MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY
THIS IS <YOUR VESSEL NAME> (say it three times)
MAYDAY <YOUR VESSEL NAME>
MY POSITION IS <lat/long, or bearing and distance from a known place>
<what is wrong> — e.g. WE ARE TAKING ON WATER
<number of people aboard>
<what you need> — e.g. WE REQUIRE IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE
<YOUR VESSEL NAME> is a <length, color and type of your boat>
OVER
  • Say the position twice. It is the single most important thing you will transmit.
  • PAN-PAN instead of MAYDAY when it is urgent but life is not in immediate danger — a dead engine in a shipping lane, for instance.
  • Do not stop transmitting because nobody answers. Another vessel may hear you even if the Coast Guard cannot.
  1. Shout "MAN OVERBOARD" and which sideEveryone aboard needs to know in the first second.
  2. Throw flotation immediately, even if they are a strong swimmerIt marks the spot as well as supporting them. Throw more than one thing.
  3. Assign ONE person to point and do nothing elseA head in the water disappears within seconds at 100 yards. The pointer does not look away, does not help, does not touch a line. This is the job that saves the person.
  4. Press MOB on the plotter, and the DSC distress button if aloneMarks the position and starts the clock.
  5. Turn toward the side they went overSwings the stern and the propellers AWAY from them. This is the whole reason the rule exists.
  6. Come back and approach slowly from downwind and downcurrentYou want to drift onto them, not be blown past.
  7. ENGINES IN NEUTRAL, then OFF, before they come alongsideA turning propeller near a person in the water is how a rescue becomes a fatality. Non-negotiable.
  8. Get a line on them before trying to liftAttach first. If you lose your grip, you have not lost them.
  9. Recover horizontally if they have been in the water a whileCold water drops blood pressure; lifting someone vertical can stop their heart. Puget Sound is around 50°F all year.
  10. If not recovered in the first pass, MaydayDo not spend twenty minutes proving you can do it alone.

Here Puget Sound water sits roughly 46–55°F year round. Useful movement is gone in 10–15 minutes, and cold shock in the first minute is what drowns people. Treat every immersion as urgent regardless of how strong a swimmer they are.

  1. Cut the fuel and stop the enginesRemoves what is feeding it.
  2. Cut electrical power to the area if you can reach the switch safely
  3. For an engine room fire, discharge through the fire port, not the hatchOpening the hatch gives the fire all the air it wants, right in your face. If there is no fire port, crack it only as far as the nozzle.
  4. Aim at the BASE of the flames, sweep side to sideHitting the flame tips does nothing.
  5. Get everyone into PFDs and onto deck, upwindDo this in parallel, not after.
  6. Mayday earlyYou can always cancel. A boat fire goes from small to unsurvivable in minutes, and fiberglass smoke is toxic.
  7. Prepare to abandon: liferaft or dinghy, EPIRB, phone in a bag
  8. If it is out, do not reopen and walk awayFires reignite. Keep a charged extinguisher on it and get towed in.
  1. All bilge pumps on, manual pump manned
  2. Find the sourceMost flooding is a failed hose, a stuffing box, or a seacock — not a hole. Check the shaft logs, every below-waterline hose and every seacock first.
  3. Close the seacock if the source is a through-hull
  4. Plug what you canA soft wooden plug hammered into a failed through-hull works. One should be tied at every seacock.
  5. Head for shallow waterGrounding her in ten feet is recoverable. Sinking in 400 feet of Possession Sound is not.
  6. Mayday with your positionEarly. Before the electrics go under.
  7. PFDs on everyone, now
  8. Use engine raw water intake as an emergency pump only if you understand the riskIt moves a lot of water but will destroy the engine if it ingests debris. Last resort.
  1. Assess where you are drifting firstBefore diagnosing anything, work out if you have sea room and how long you have. A shipping lane or a lee shore changes the whole problem.
  2. Anchor if you are being set somewhere badStops the clock while you work.
  3. Check the obvious: fuel level, filter bowls, raw water strainer, beltsIn that order. Most single-engine failures are fuel starvation or cooling.
  4. Overheat alarm? Shut it down and do not restartRunning an overheating diesel destroys it. Check the impeller and strainer once it cools.
  5. Fuel filter blocked? Swap to the other filter if you have a duplexKnow how to do this BEFORE you need it, in the dark, in a seaway.
  6. Running on one engine: expect it to steer badlyAsymmetric thrust. Compensate with rudder and expect wide turns toward the dead side. Practice this on a calm day.
  7. PAN-PAN if you are in a lane or near a hazardUrgent, not distress. Tells commercial traffic you are not maneuvering normally.
  1. Engines to neutral and stopProtects the props and stops the raw water intakes sucking sand and silt.
  2. Check the bilge for waterIf she is holed, coming off the ground is what sinks you. The bottom may be the only thing keeping the water out.
  3. Check everyone aboard is unhurt
  4. Check the tide: rising or falling?This decides everything. Rising, and waiting may float you off for free. Falling, and you have minutes, not hours — with an 11-foot range you can end up high and dry.
  5. Do not gun it asternDrives the boat further on, wrecks props and shafts, and blocks the intakes.
  6. Reduce draft and heel her if refloating is realisticMove weight; a heeled boat draws less. Kedge an anchor out into deep water.
  7. Call for a tow rather than damage herTowBoatUS / Vessel Assist on VHF 16. A tow is cheaper than a running gear rebuild.
  8. Once off, check the bilge again and watch the stuffing boxesDamage often shows up only once you are underway.
  1. Slow downThe rule is a safe speed for conditions. In fog that is usually slower than feels necessary.
  2. Everyone in PFDs, lookout posted forward with no other job
  3. Navigation lights on
  4. Sound signals: one prolonged blast every 2 minutes under wayTwo prolonged if stopped and making no way.
  5. Radar on if fitted; AIS watchedAIS shows you commercial traffic. It does NOT show you the small boat that is about to ruin your day.
  6. Get out of the shipping lanesAdmiralty Inlet carries ferries and ships that cannot see you and cannot stop. Cross lanes at right angles, promptly.
  7. Fix your position frequently and write it downIf the electronics quit in fog you need a recent known point to work from.

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General good practice, not a substitute for the owner's manual, USCG requirements, or your own judgment. Verify equipment requirements against the current USCG rules for a vessel of this length. General practice. Your training, your boat and the situation in front of you override anything written here. Take a hands-on safety course; reading is not the same as having done it. Not a substitute for training. These are one boater’s lists, published because they may be useful — not a standard, and not advice for your vessel.