VHF Mayday MOB message format

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Little John

MOB is life in danger and always Mayday and not PAN. The person is part of your crew, even in the water.

For your consideration:


https://www.amc.edu.au/__data/assets...d-sep-2015.pdf

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by chasfgr

Surely no confusion.
Man overboard you shoule be able to recover, unless it's a single hander fallen overboard - in whichncase a man overboard is a superfluity.
Perhaps training inpicking up a man overbaord would be advisable - my sons aged 11 and 9, put the boat about and picke up my cap, which had been knocked off my the boom, which had also stunned me.
No respecter of persons, the younger one, with the boathok trod all over me - but they got the hat on the 3rd try.
Alex the elder went over twice, Ants the more sure footed only once , that after dinner at the Quay in Wareham, he'd drabbed a mooring tope and would not let go, even when on dry land.


So man-overboard, keep your shame to yourself and haul them back aboard, IMHO no need for a PAN at all - a discreet message to RNLI operators on VHF 28 or 31 - depends if you have a watch office locally.
So the number of people, useful if you're abandoning ship but irrelevant if you've just been carelsss.

Hat rescue easy. Grown man in wet clothes very very difficult. It’s there is ANY doubt as to getting the mob back issue an MAYDAY. your ego has no place here.

Don’t pretend it’s easy , it’s not. A mob over the side in remote cold waters can be a death sentence

[Nani Kai]

[QUOTE] Surely no confusion.

Surely you jest.

An MOB in the daytime, relatively calm, warm seas is one thing. An MOB in the dead of night, in cold water and stormy conditions is another thing entirely.


[QUOTE] Man overboard you should be able to recover, unless it's a single hander fallen overboard - in which case a man overboard is a superfluity.

Way too many real life variables to make your statement even remotely credible. What size boat, what type of boat, how fast traveling when MOB occurred, how long required to turn boat around, how skillful is helmsman in returning to reciprocal course, was the MOB injured on the way over, how much experience does the person remaining on board have, was that person injured in the event that caused the MOB situation, was the vessel damaged, weather/visibility/time of day, was the remaining person on board off watch when the event happened, how long has it been since the person went OB, etc, etc, etc...
.

[QUOTE] So man-overboard, keep your shame to yourself and haul them back aboard,

The person still on board weighs 130#. The MOB weighs 210#, is face down, bleeding from the head, life vest only partially inflated. Seas 4-6'. Wind 25kts. The monohull vessel has 3' of freeboard, no sugar scoop. How does this "haul them aboard" actually happen?

[QUOTE] IMHO no need for a PAN at all - a discreet message to RNLI operators on VHF 28 or 31 - depends if you have a watch office locally.

Following your procedure the "discreet message" would more than likely be "we lost a crew member due to negligence".

[QUOTE] So the number of people, useful if you're abandoning ship but irrelevant if you've just been careless.

In a Search and Rescue situation every bit of information that can be provided is important. Failure to provide that information can substantially reduce the chances of a successful recovery.

I sincerely hope you will re-think your understanding of causes and responses to an MOB situation. Someone's life may depend on it.

[NorthCoastJoe]

I would suggest that you go out to the Golden Gate when the ebb is running and the wind is blowing steady 20 knots, with much higher gusts. Tell me that you can get someone back onboard on your own. In 50 F Degree water a person is to numb to hold on to a rope muchless climb aboard a bouncing boat in the wind.

I strongly doubt you could recover your hat in our normal conditions here, most likely gone before you could take a picture of it.

[johnny666]

As an international airline pilot for 35 years, I've had lots of training in handling emergencies.
The most important part of the transmission is to get noticed and get the assistance you need on the way. Keep it as short as possible. The details can come later. With that in mind therefore the most important part is ....

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

After that you could include the type of your vessel, your position (NOT a lat' and long' ! - takes too long and doesn't mean anything to 99% of people) and the nature of your emergency (MOB, sinking, etc), followed by repeating

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

Then wait for a reply.
If you don't get one keep repeating.
If you do get one then you could start passing on details.

Keep it short and ....

Get NOTICED !!!!

[Shaneesprit]

Originally Posted by Little John

MOB is life in danger and always Mayday and not PAN. The person is part of your crew, even in the water.

Correct - MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY
MoB and position, in real life that’s what you been to know and Channel 16 of course, I heard this called earlier this year, I say called, it was screamed and not nice to listen too, only the position wasn’t given and the DSC not pressed.
Anyway every service in the area launched not sure how the casualty was located, but was airlifted to hospital. Life jacket and a warning day.

PAN-PAN is for when your engine won’t start!

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by johnny666

the most important part is ....

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

+1

I once watched a film about a man who kayaked almost all the way across the Tasman Sea, but was lost just a few miles off the coast of New Zealand ... the film opened with a recording of his distress call on the VHF ... it was very faint and noisy. The Coast Guard were expecting him, and identified that the call came from "kayaker-1" but couldn't understand much else ... with some processing and subtitles, you could tell it was a distress call, but it lacked the word "MAYDAY" anywhere, and at the time the coast guard assumed that it was him just checking in. A search was not started until the next day when he failed to arrive as expected, by then it was too late.

Only one word needed to be communicated and the SAR operation would have gone ahead on time ... the final outcome may have been the same but the odds would have been so much better.