What Justifies a "MAYDAY"?

[FamilyVan]

I'm confident I have more experience on this subject then you will ever have.

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[Cadence]

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

First of all- I was answering the OP, this wasn't about you. No I didn't suggest heaving too, you made that part up. Yes, proceed to dock while administering first aid. Maybe the may day will only result in an ambulance meeting you at dock. But that is definitely better than an ambulance not meeting you at dock. Even the most rookie RIB operator can pace a sailboat under way, so no need to lose time heaving too. I can recognise symptoms of a cardiac crisis just fine thank you. Given what a bog deal you are making about this, I get the impression I've returned to dock for medical emergencies more times than you have left the dock. Period.

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[hpeer]

FWIW, I come down firmly on Newts side.

[FamilyVan]

There aren't sides? Did you read the posts. I was responding to the op, generally a serious medical emergency justifies a may day. I wasn't speaking to newts unique situation. He found a quarrel where non existed.

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[s/v Beth]

Cumbaya...Cumbaya, Cumbaya, Cumbaya. (lets all hold hands and sing!) Cumbaya Cumbaya....
(for those not familiar with it, this is a singing exercise they use in the western US to get fighting children to settle down)

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by hpeer

FWIW, I come down firmly on Newts side.

You must be in gest. Not everyone one is an egotistical heart Dr. if true? I'm just a dumb guy. If I thought someone was having a heart attack, You bet your ass I'd Mayday. That chopper would beat the hell out of my speed unless I was in the slip having cocktails.

Thought I wouldn't be crass. Can't help myself.

Did I read that right? Broken arm and ribs dislocated shoulder but I got the mic. and told them I didn't need them? Were did that come a dime novel.

[Coops]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

Cumbaya...Cumbaya, Cumbaya, Cumbaya. (lets all hold hands and sing!) Cumbaya Cumbaya....
(for those not familiar with it, this is a singing exercise they use in the western US to get fighting children to settle down)

I am not familiar with Cumbaya. Kumbaya however, I am, but hate the song

Joan Baez - Kumbaya (1980) - YouTube

Coops.

[shufti]

Out of interest - seems here (from what I'm reading) what constitutes grounds for a mayday depends on the opinion of the skipper in US waters. Do you have no specific regs dealing with this?

[s/v Beth]

Coops, I am not particularly fond of it either, cause it means I have to settle down. As for my accident Cadence, you can look it up. I wrote about it a few years ago (2012). That is really what happened. I just am a onry old sailor. Sorry I offended you Van. I was trying to get you to see a different point of view and failed. It happens.
And as for the other, maybe the CFer who it happened to will pitch in. We are still good friends and I talked to him today on this forum. But it is his medical care and he may wish to keep it private. As I said, stuff happens.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

Coops, I am not particularly fond of it either, cause it means I have to settle down. As for my accident Cadence, you can look it up. I wrote about it a few years ago (2012). That is really what happened. I just am a onry old sailor. Sorry I offended you Van. I was trying to get you to see a different point of view and failed. It happens.
And as for the other, maybe the CFer who it happened to will pitch in. We are still good friends and I talked to him today on this forum. But it is his medical care and he may wish to keep it private. As I said, stuff happens.

Just sounded far fetched. You must be one lucky person or unlucky depending on a point of view. Do you have a link to your write-up?

[s/v Beth]

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ill-90276.html
It looks like the accident occurred in 2012. Man time flies.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ill-90276.html
It looks like the accident occurred in 2012. Man time flies.

Thanks for the link! Yep, flies faster every year.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by shufti

Pretty simple distinction betwen mayday and pan pan calls here in OZ.



So if THE BOAT is in grave danger - MAyday.

If a person is in grave danger - PAnPAn

Yeah, I agree thats the standard version.... But I think its outdated. in sailing ship days when crew were expendable. But just imagine these days if you were 20 miles off Sydney Harbour with 5 children on a birthday cruise who came down with salmonella from the chocolate cake and you only called Pan pan and 4 died.

When you got the shore you told Channel 9 "Well, the boat wasn't in danger..."

Mind you, in the USA 1 adult with the runs after chocolate cake would have Maydays ringing out across the continent (and incontinent!)

[FamilyVan]

No problem Newt, my post happened to be posted right after yours, so I can see how you may have thought I was being disagreeable, like you I frequently return to dock for medicals. The at sea transfer can be arduous and in some cases we are able to provide better care ourselves, than that which can be provided by the local CG or Marine Police. However, I always call ahead for an ambulance, and an escort if appropriate. I'm Captain of a 700 passenger ship, so I encounter a great many medicals on board in a year. Even when I was in the Coast Guard, we would transport by ship, the risks of a helicopter transfer at sea are many, and there aren't nearly as many SAR assets as we would like (especially whirly birds, although they are more common in the US). Again, as Newt pointed out, be prepared to provide life saving assistance for long periods of time, especially in remote areas.

[hellosailor]

"MAYDAY. Obviously is is for a life-threatening emergency, "
Not really. This is a problem with the US educational system, it doesn't teach people how to use a dictionary or how to go without one.
A "life threatening emergency" is simply one of the two categories of emergency, as defined by pretty much every organization that has a finger in the pie.
An "emergency" is defined by all of them as being a situation where there is an imminent threat of LOSS OF LIFE or EXTENSIVE PROPERTY LOSS.

So, a splinter is not an ordinarily an emergency. (If you're a lady of the night, and the splinter is going to cause you to be unemployable, which in turn will cause you to miss the payment on your Mercedes and have it repossessed in the morning, that might still be an emergency.) As the British would say, that's a damned inconvenience but it is not an emergency.

If your foot is caught in an alligator which is threatening to drag you into the swamp and eat you, that's an emergency. (Unless you're a PETA member, in which case that's just a bad day at the office.)

If a herd of elephants is trampling your begonias? Right, like the Brit said, damned inconvenient. If your baby is playing in the begonias, now it becomes an emergency.

MAYDAY is, very simply, reserved for emergencies. Ask yourself "If we don't get help, right away, are we all going to die? Pretty much for certain? Or, is this expensive yacht going to become a huge burning hulk?" If the answers are yes, you call Mayday.

If the engine has quit, the boat is dismasted, there's a foot of water in the bilge BUT the storm is moving away and you're about to be stranded in the middle of what used to be the town park, where you can sleep it off and wait for help? No, that's not a Mayday call. That's (cue the Brit) another Damned Inconvenience.