Define "Pan-Pan"
 

Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be declared.

I have hard the USCG declare "Pan-Pan", followed by a requirement that all
none "Pan-Pan" traffic on channel 16 traffic be suspended.

Can an individual boat declare "Pan-Pan", say when a crew member is lost
overboard, etc??

I fairly sure I understand when I could send a "May Day" but, to me, Pan Pan
is something more recent and I must have missed out on earlier definition..

Thanks

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

It is used to signal urgent information, such as when
someone has fallen overboard, or a boat is drifting into the
shore or a busy shipping channel.

An individual boat can definitely declare it. In other
words, it is not reserved only for USCG use.

MAYDAY is only to be used when a person, or boat is
threatened by grave or imminent danger, and requires assistance.

In the end, of course, it is the skipper's judgment whether
a situation is "grave" or "danger" is "imminent". My
understanding is that PAN conveys information whereas MAYDAY
requests assistance. Crew overboard could fall into either
category.

Chuck








Steve wrote:
Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be declared.

I have hard the USCG declare "Pan-Pan", followed by a requirement that all
none "Pan-Pan" traffic on channel 16 traffic be suspended.

Can an individual boat declare "Pan-Pan", say when a crew member is lost
overboard, etc??

I fairly sure I understand when I could send a "May Day" but, to me, Pan Pan
is something more recent and I must have missed out on earlier definition..

Thanks

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

In article , chuck
wrote:

It is used to signal urgent information, such as when
someone has fallen overboard, or a boat is drifting into the
shore or a busy shipping channel.

An individual boat can definitely declare it. In other
words, it is not reserved only for USCG use.

MAYDAY is only to be used when a person, or boat is
threatened by grave or imminent danger, and requires assistance.

In the end, of course, it is the skipper's judgment whether
a situation is "grave" or "danger" is "imminent". My
understanding is that PAN conveys information whereas MAYDAY
requests assistance. Crew overboard could fall into either
category.

Chuck

Nice explanation Chuck.

I would add just a few thoughts to the above.

First: Radio Prodceedures are covered extensivly in 48CFR80 starting at
80.311. Only the Master, of a US Flagged vessel, or the person
responcible for the vessels Radio Station, (Radio Officer) may
authorize the transmission of a Distress Signal, or Urgency
signal. (Mayday, Pan Pan)
Second: Urgency Siganls differ from Distress Signals in that Urgency
Siganls are messages that carry Distress Information that are
about another Station, and NOT the Transmitting Station. That
is why USCG use the "Pan Pan" Urgency Signal preceeding any
message that concerns a "Reported ship in Distress", and it
means that the information passed is in regard to a MayDay
Call received and reported. This is opposed to a MayDay Relay
Signal which is sent by a vessel that is relaying an initial
Mayday Signal for a Distressed Vessel, that may not have been
received and a Acknowledged by the appropriate Agency. (USCG
for US Waters)
Third: The Silence Signal (Seelonce Mayday) is used by the sender
of the Distress Signal, to initiate a Quiet Frequency for
the purpose of passing Distress Traffic. It may apply to
individual Stations, OR All Stations. The Distressed
Station MAY deligate control of the Frequency to another
Station at its discression. It is resinded by sending the
Silence End Signal. (Seelonce Feeenee, or Pru-donce)
Fourth: Order of Priority is:
1. Mayday (Distress Signal)
2. Pan Pan (Urgency Signal)
3. Sellonce Mayday (Silence Signal)
4. Securite (Security Signal)
5. all other traffic


Bruce in alaska wondering if this is going to start another jackieboy
rant.......
--
add a 2 before @

Silly me? I always thought a pan-pan was a high speed water taxi in
Mexico, esp. Puerto Vallarta. Oh well.

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be
declared.

I have hard the USCG declare "Pan-Pan", followed by a requirement that all
none "Pan-Pan" traffic on channel 16 traffic be suspended.

True. Pan-Pan (pronounced Pon-Pon) is a non-life threatening emergency.

Can an individual boat declare "Pan-Pan", say when a crew member is lost
overboard, etc??

Any vessel can call Pan-Pan. A crew member lost overboard would be a MAYDAY
however.

I fairly sure I understand when I could send a "May Day" but, to me, Pan
Pan is something more recent and I must have missed out on earlier
definition..

Thanks

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Some examples may help from my own experience with my 33 ft sailboat..
Once I was in the shipping channel very close to Golden Gate bridge.
Suddenly my ruddeer breaks off and i am without steering. My boat
cannot be steered without the rudder. There is a lot of current and
also some very heavy container and ther large ships. Even though the
boat was not sinking, I felt my life was in imminent grave danger from
the rocks and possible being hit by a big boat which have no room for
maneuver. I called Mayday and the coast guard obviously agreed with my
judgement. They came out and towed me to a small yacht harbor. At this
point the emergency was over and they left after giving my vessel a
safety inspection.

If I would have been some other place where there is no shipping
traffic and no rocks, this would have been a call to a towing service,
which is neither Pan, nor an urgency call. Running out of gasoline is
not normally a Mayday ( no people in imminent danger ) nor a Pan, nor
an urgency call. It is simply a telephone call to atowing service to
bring gasoline or tow to a pump. The coast guard will not respond in
this case.

In San Francisco Bay we get a lot of securitee calls from the coast
guard, which advises people of floating logs in the water.




Doug Dotson wrote:
"Steve" wrote in message
...
Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be
declared.

I have hard the USCG declare "Pan-Pan", followed by a requirement
that all
none "Pan-Pan" traffic on channel 16 traffic be suspended.

True. Pan-Pan (pronounced Pon-Pon) is a non-life threatening
emergency.

Can an individual boat declare "Pan-Pan", say when a crew member is
lost
overboard, etc??

Any vessel can call Pan-Pan. A crew member lost overboard would be a
MAYDAY
however.

I fairly sure I understand when I could send a "May Day" but, to
me, Pan
Pan is something more recent and I must have missed out on earlier
definition..

Thanks

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Last year there was another discussion of Mayday and PanPan calls on
this news group. Someone asked where the words came from. A
knowledgeable poster answered that when the words were chosen French
was the international language just as English is now. Mayday is
simply the anglicized version of the French for "help me." This
naturally led to the question of what PanPan meant. Before the
knowledgable poster could answer, a comic answered that "pan" was
French for "bread" and the French were so serious about their bread
that it was the equivalent to a cry for help. :-) Actually the
French word for bread is very close to "pan." But the correct meaning
of the word is equivalent to our "breakdown." So by using PanPan you
are technically stating that you have a breakdown and need assistance
but it is not life-theatening yet. Such as a broken rudder without
the container ships bearing down on you.

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove

Lee Huddleston wrote:
But the correct meaning
of the word is equivalent to our "breakdown." So by using PanPan you
are technically stating that you have a breakdown and need assistance
but it is not life-theatening yet. Such as a broken rudder without
the container ships bearing down on you.
yes this is correct, when the French have a breakdown of some device
or another it is said "tomber en panne"

Lee Huddleston wrote:
But the correct meaning
of the word is equivalent to our "breakdown."

prodigal1 wrote:
yes this is correct, when the French have a breakdown of some device or
another it is said "tomber en panne"

Last time I was in France the phrase seemed to be "il ne marche pas" but
they all understood "no workie no more."

DSK

DSK wrote:
prodigal1 wrote:
yes this is correct, when the French have a breakdown of some
device or
another it is said "tomber en panne"

Last time I was in France the phrase seemed to be "il ne marche pas"
but
they all understood "no workie no more."

Well, it ain't "real" French; but growing up in New Orleans I always
heard "ne marche pas." I never heard "tomber en panne." Maybe it's
because Cajun French is kinda archaic and therefore from the same
period that we got all the radio calls, whereas "tomber en panne" is
contemporary? Just guessing here.

Frank

Hi! Frank!

The real thing is, as for English, there are several levels of language
in French. "Il ne fonctionne pas" is the correct expression, the one
that'll be corretly translated by Google or dare I say "academic". "Il ne
marche pas" is the popular and most used way to say this and you'll hear
it in France, in Quebec, in Acadia, in New Orleans and all of French
Africa and we'll all understand the same thing, although we may have some
trouble understanding the Cajun accent! ;-)

Jean

Frank wrote:

Well, it ain't "real" French; but growing up in New Orleans I always
heard "ne marche pas." I never heard "tomber en panne." Maybe it's
because Cajun French is kinda archaic and therefore from the same
period that we got all the radio calls, whereas "tomber en panne" is
contemporary? Just guessing here.

Frank

Merci, cher! I have no trouble understanding Haitians and vice versa;
but as to the rest... grin

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:46:25 GMT, Bruce in Alaska
wrote:

snippage

Nice explanation Chuck.

I would add just a few thoughts to the above.

First: Radio Prodceedures are covered extensivly in 48CFR80 starting at
80.311. Only the Master, of a US Flagged vessel, or the person
responcible for the vessels Radio Station, (Radio Officer) may
authorize the transmission of a Distress Signal, or Urgency
signal. (Mayday, Pan Pan)
Second: Urgency Siganls differ from Distress Signals in that Urgency
Siganls are messages that carry Distress Information that are
about another Station, and NOT the Transmitting Station. That
is why USCG use the "Pan Pan" Urgency Signal preceeding any
message that concerns a "Reported ship in Distress", and it
means that the information passed is in regard to a MayDay
Call received and reported. This is opposed to a MayDay Relay
Signal which is sent by a vessel that is relaying an initial
Mayday Signal for a Distressed Vessel, that may not have been
received and a Acknowledged by the appropriate Agency. (USCG
for US Waters)

In Canada, we use "Mayday Relay" to relay a message from a distressed
vessel (and a US book I have also uses "Mayday Relay" for this
purpose).

Normally, when a vessel makes a Mayday call, the Coast Guard will
respond and verify the details, then do a "Mayday Relay" to
re-broadcast the distress message.

A "Pan Pan" or Urgency message indicates that the vessel has an urgent
message concerning the safety of a ship, aircraft or other vehicle, or
the safety of a person. The Coast Guard will also use a "Pan Pan"
message to relay a vessel's Urgency message.

In practice, the Urgency call is used when a vessel requires
assistance, but is not in grave and imminent danger (the requirement
for assistance is often not particularly urgent, but we don't have any
lesser grade of call.)

Although "Mayday" officially indicates the _vessel_ is in grave and
imminent danger, you are unlikely to be shot if you use it for man
overboard or serious medical emergencies. Even if Urgency is used for
these situations, I expect they will be handled with top priority.

Third: The Silence Signal (Seelonce Mayday) is used by the sender
of the Distress Signal, to initiate a Quiet Frequency for
the purpose of passing Distress Traffic. It may apply to
individual Stations, OR All Stations. The Distressed
Station MAY deligate control of the Frequency to another
Station at its discression. It is resinded by sending the
Silence End Signal. (Seelonce Feeenee, or Pru-donce)
Fourth: Order of Priority is:
1. Mayday (Distress Signal)
2. Pan Pan (Urgency Signal)
3. Sellonce Mayday (Silence Signal)

A "Seelonce" message doesn't have a place in the priority list - it is
just a message indicating that a Top Priority (Distress) situation
exists.

4. Securite (Security Signal)
5. all other traffic


Bruce in alaska wondering if this is going to start another jackieboy
rant.......

--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

Eric, Are you under the impression that everyone, here in this group has
taken a boating course?

I have been boating for 47 years and never took a boating course.. Not to
say that I couldn't benefit from one. Never too old to learn.

The reality being, that for my first 35 years of boating, I never had a VHF
radio and never felt I needed one until I finally purchased a boat that had
one. Until recently, the cost of a VHF radio was about the equivalent of a
medium size main sail. What do you think I would choose?? (Now, the price of
VHF comes down while the cost of sails go up. Go figure?)

I believe the PanPan is much more recent and maybe I missed it's
introduction to the recreational boating community.

I think the reason I raised the question was because I got to thinking about
that "Big Red Button" on my new DSC VHF, labeled "Distress" (or some word to
this effect). Understand that by activating this button/switch, my VHF will
automatically send my distress signal and vessel ID (MMSI) and GPS position
(assuming GPS is connected). However, I'm also hearing that the USCG is not
yet equipped or manned to monitor for this emergency frequency.

Steve (still learning)
s/v Good Intentions


"Eric" wrote in message
...
Pan Pans and Maydays are clearly defined in the course material that you
have from your boating course.
Eric

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be
declared.

I have hard the USCG declare "Pan-Pan", followed by a requirement that
all none "Pan-Pan" traffic on channel 16 traffic be suspended.

Can an individual boat declare "Pan-Pan", say when a crew member is lost
overboard, etc??

I fairly sure I understand when I could send a "May Day" but, to me, Pan
Pan is something more recent and I must have missed out on earlier
definition..

Thanks

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

"Steve" wrote

/snip/
I think the reason I raised the question was because I got to thinking
about
that "Big Red Button" on my new DSC VHF, labeled "Distress" (or some word
to
this effect). Understand that by activating this button/switch, my VHF
will
automatically send my distress signal and vessel ID (MMSI) and GPS
position
(assuming GPS is connected). However, I'm also hearing that the USCG is
not
yet equipped or manned to monitor for this emergency frequency.

Steve (still learning)
s/v Good Intentions

Hi Steve,

Full coverage of VHF-DSC will not be complete until the Rescue-21system is
fully implemented, and that may be another two years. But in the interim,
USCG Stations and Groups have installed DSC guard-receivers that alert to
all Ch-70 (Distress button) messages. This may not be complete in all areas,
but it has been in effect on the East coast for over a year.

This afternoon a search involving two USCG vessels working an area from the
Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay out to the Atlantic-side of Virginia Beach
oceanfront, lasted about two hours before being classed as an uncorrelated
Mayday and suspended. Someone had pressed the Distress button on a
DSC-equipped VHF radio, and no position or other information was sent. Every
boater's DSC-equipped radio that was in range and operating, would have been
commanded to ch-16 as an alert-tone sounded. This way, all vessels in range
of the distress will be able to hear the voice mayday when (if) it comes.
When the sending-radio is through with it's timed-distress signal, the
operator may turn to ch-16 and make his voice call of distress. When that
doesn't follow, it ties up valuable assets and personnel that are unable to
assist vessels in real distress. That's the second false-DSC alert this
week, and it's only Tuesday.

Jack

PanPan....

I understand anyone can declare a PanPan. We did it on the Florida West
Intracoastal this year when we assisted two somewhat elderly boaters
clinging to thier still running but swamped skiff.
They were going in circles in the channel. We had to forget (for the most
part) the traffic and hope the other boaters heard the warning. The Coast
guard responded on the air, but did not need to physically assist. I believe
they "cleared" the PanPan. Fortunately, the boaters were not hurt. Although,
the woman was run over and only her clothes were cut by the prop!

So much for the ******* in the 45 footer that swamped them and kept going.
Too bad the waterways are full of low lifes like that.

Wayne, Quo-Vadis Too

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be
declared.

I have hard the USCG declare "Pan-Pan", followed by a requirement that all
none "Pan-Pan" traffic on channel 16 traffic be suspended.

Can an individual boat declare "Pan-Pan", say when a crew member is lost
overboard, etc??

I fairly sure I understand when I could send a "May Day" but, to me, Pan
Pan is something more recent and I must have missed out on earlier
definition..

Thanks

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Hi Peter!

I do not disagree with you on the matter that CGs will procees a Pan Pan or
Mayday according to the emergency of the situation if described, but when I
got my operator licence, them calls were clearly described as such:

Mayday: Life threatening emergency.
Pan Pan: Non-life threatening emergency.

I do not believe the boat is the greatest concern to rescue people and CGs.
So I believe asking the question "Is someone's life in danger?". That's the
only thing one should ask himself. Yes: Mayday, Nope: Pan Pan and that's it.

Another good thing is that you can't get shot by a Canadian CG as they don't
carry guns! ;-)

Jean
Montreal

Hoping you guys in BC have a better summer than the winter was for you! That
applies also to you US West coast people!

Peter Bennett wrote:

Although "Mayday" officially indicates the _vessel_ is in grave and
imminent danger, you are unlikely to be shot if you use it for man
overboard or serious medical emergencies.

Frank wrote:

Merci, cher! I have no trouble understanding Haitians and vice versa;
but as to the rest... grin

Hope I didn't offend you. I forgot to tell it was also the most
beautifull accent and is music to my ears! I would have said that
Moncton's Chiak was the hardest to understand but, is it French? No.
That's switching from French to English every two words or so! ;-)

Best regards "cher"!

Jean
Montreal

No offense taken at all. I'm actually an Irish/German boy from New
Orleans, so my exposure to Cajun French is second-hand. I didn't learn
it as my first language at my daddy's knee like those "down-bayou"
Cajuns, some of whom even went to French-(Cajun)-speaking schools until
high school. grin

This particualr thread/phrase reminds me, however, that even New
Orleanians who don't speak it use a lot of borrowed words and phrases,
like saying (of a broken thing) "It won't march." Obviously carried
over from "ne marche pas."

"WAYNE STEINARD" wrote in
news:kzYZd.2956$uw6.172@trnddc06:

So much for the ******* in the 45 footer that swamped them and kept
going. Too bad the waterways are full of low lifes like that.


All it takes is M-O-N-E-Y........Common sense isn't required.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:33:59 -0500, Jean Dufour
wrote:

Hi Peter!

I do not disagree with you on the matter that CGs will procees a Pan Pan or
Mayday according to the emergency of the situation if described, but when I
got my operator licence, them calls were clearly described as such:

Mayday: Life threatening emergency.
Pan Pan: Non-life threatening emergency.

I do not believe the boat is the greatest concern to rescue people and CGs.
So I believe asking the question "Is someone's life in danger?". That's the
only thing one should ask himself. Yes: Mayday, Nope: Pan Pan and that's it.

The CPS Maritime Radio Course manual states that a Distress (Mayday)
call can only be sent if the _vessel_ is in grave and imminent danger,
or is aware of another vessel that is in grave and imminent danger -
no mention of people.

However, I have a US book that does include "person" in the above
definition, and I recall seeing something from a Canadian Coast Guard
website that indicated that a person in danger could justify a Mayday.

I always teach that whether a person in danger is a justifies Mayday
or not, it will be handled with the highest priority, regardless of
how the originator of the call started it.


Another good thing is that you can't get shot by a Canadian CG as they don't
carry guns! ;-)

this is true...

Jean
Montreal


--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 07:43:40 -0800, "Steve" wrote:

Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be declared.

Less than MayDay and a judgement call on the urgency. Possibly
appropriate in a situation of unknown severity.

I called Pan-Pan a few years ago in the middle of the night on Lake
Ontario after sighting flares. The Coast Guard operator told me I made
the right call with good form, then explained it was the military on
an exercise and that they claimed there was no need for broadcast
notice because "nobody ever sees our flares". We continued cautiously
through the area and never sighted lights or other signs of the origin
of the flares.

Ryk

"Rolf" wrote in message
ups.com...
Some examples may help from my own experience with my 33 ft sailboat..
Once I was in the shipping channel very close to Golden Gate bridge.
Suddenly my ruddeer breaks off and i am without steering. My boat
cannot be steered without the rudder. There is a lot of current and
also some very heavy container and ther large ships. Even though the
boat was not sinking, I felt my life was in imminent grave danger from
the rocks and possible being hit by a big boat which have no room for
maneuver. I called Mayday and the coast guard obviously agreed with my
judgement. They came out and towed me to a small yacht harbor. At this
point the emergency was over and they left after giving my vessel a
safety inspection.

Good call.

If I would have been some other place where there is no shipping
traffic and no rocks, this would have been a call to a towing service,
which is neither Pan, nor an urgency call. Running out of gasoline is
not normally a Mayday ( no people in imminent danger ) nor a Pan, nor
an urgency call. It is simply a telephone call to atowing service to
bring gasoline or tow to a pump. The coast guard will not respond in
this case.

I would dissagreed here. I think a Pan-Pan would be reasonable because
being adrift with no control can quickly deteriate into a dangerous
situation.
One should first attempt to summon help via phone, radio, handwaving, etc
but if that is unsuccessful then declaring a non-lifethreatinging emergency
is reasonable.

In San Francisco Bay we get a lot of securitee calls from the coast
guard, which advises people of floating logs in the water.

Same here on THE bay.




Doug Dotson wrote:
"Steve" wrote in message
...
Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be
declared.

I have hard the USCG declare "Pan-Pan", followed by a requirement
that all
none "Pan-Pan" traffic on channel 16 traffic be suspended.

True. Pan-Pan (pronounced Pon-Pon) is a non-life threatening
emergency.

Can an individual boat declare "Pan-Pan", say when a crew member is
lost
overboard, etc??

Any vessel can call Pan-Pan. A crew member lost overboard would be a
MAYDAY
however.

I fairly sure I understand when I could send a "May Day" but, to
me, Pan
Pan is something more recent and I must have missed out on earlier
definition..

Thanks

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:31:46 -0500, Ryk
wrote:

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 07:43:40 -0800, "Steve" wrote:

Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be declared.

Less than MayDay and a judgement call on the urgency. Possibly
appropriate in a situation of unknown severity.

I called Pan-Pan a few years ago in the middle of the night on Lake
Ontario after sighting flares. The Coast Guard operator told me I made
the right call with good form, then explained it was the military on
an exercise and that they claimed there was no need for broadcast
notice because "nobody ever sees our flares". We continued cautiously
through the area and never sighted lights or other signs of the origin
of the flares.


This is a good point because it illustrates how "Pan-Pan" alerts
others to your apprehension of danger, rather than just your OWN
danger. Sighting flares at night in such a spot (usually sparsely
travelled out of the ship lanes) leads to a reasonable assumption that
someone was potentially in a Mayday situation.

I am glad the Coast Guard was able to provide a reasonable answer that
put the matter to rest. Did you provide a GPS lat/lon or just a
general DR position, because I can see a situation where a boat could
sink within a short distance of a military exercise without
necessarily being seen. Ironic, but they are separate situations that
might be proximate.

R.

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote:

"Steve" wrote in message
Can I get a clear definition of "Pan-Pan", who and when may it be
declared.

I have hard the USCG declare "Pan-Pan", followed by a requirement that all
none "Pan-Pan" traffic on channel 16 traffic be suspended.

True. Pan-Pan (pronounced Pon-Pon) is a non-life threatening emergency.

Can an individual boat declare "Pan-Pan", say when a crew member is lost
overboard, etc??

Any vessel can call Pan-Pan. A crew member lost overboard would be a MAYDAY
however.

From a UK perspective, I've been told that MOB on a well-crewed race
yacht involving say, a foredeck monkey, would be a Pan-Pan, but a MOB
where the remaining crew are 75-yo grandfather on the helm, and an 12-yo
child down below would be a Mayday.

I assume we all agree that SAR prefer to downgrade rather than upgrade
when it's too late.

ISTR that (in the EU at least), 'Pan-Pan Medico'[0] has been depricated.

rgds, Alan
[0] i.e STFU, I want to speak to a doctor 'cos I'm not sure that it's
'grave and iminent'
--
99 Ducati 748BP, 95 Ducati 600SS, 81 Guzzi Monza, 74 MV Agusta 350
"Ride to Work, Work to Ride" SI# 7.067 DoD#1930 PGP Key 0xBDED56C5

On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 15:37:08 -0500, rhys wrote:

I am glad the Coast Guard was able to provide a reasonable answer that
put the matter to rest. Did you provide a GPS lat/lon or just a
general DR position,

Full precision position data and description of the situation in my
original broadcast, just as they taught me in class. I was rather
surprised and pleased that I managed to get it right. We confirmed on
further exchange that yes, we were about X miles due south of Y by our
reckoning just to be sure I wasn't reading the data points wrong.
(decimal vs DDD:MM:SS?)

because I can see a situation where a boat could
sink within a short distance of a military exercise without
necessarily being seen. Ironic, but they are separate situations that
might be proximate.

I suspect they saw us, even though we weren't showing anything more
than nav lights, and that's why we didn't see them ;-)

Ryk

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 17:37:33 -0800, Peter Bennett
wrote:
///

Although "Mayday" officially indicates the _vessel_ is in grave and
imminent danger, you are unlikely to be shot if you use it for man
overboard or serious medical emergencies.
///

There is something about this note on Mayday that doesn't seem quite
right to me. Mayday is (in my view) associated with imminent
danger to life. A ship, a sail boat, or an airplane may be lost, but
if life is not in question, the degree of attention is not the
highest, as I see it.

Brian Whatcott Altus, OK