Listening in on the crazies on VHF Channel 16

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Dwight Landis
Dwight Landis is a longtime sailor and currently enjoys his days at sea aboard Imagine from the Sailtime Fleet.

By Dwight Landis

When I’m about to get underway, one of the first things I do, as I am sure that most of you do, is to turn on VHF Channel 16 and monitor it for hailing, distress, and important information. During the past several months, I have learned quite a bit from listening to the talk on this channel. The communication has ranged from the comical, to the serious, to the hysterical. I have heard everything from children (and adults!) playing around and being reprimanded (with the threat of possible legal action) by the Coast Guard, to some guy repeatedly asking if anyone has gas for his dinghy at Smugglers, to someone else calling May Day, May Day…. my boat is sinking.

I really get annoyed at people not using this channel as it is intended. Even though it is really amusing to hear how dumb people can be, I hope that others listening are not getting the signal that this is the way to communicate on an emergency channel.

I would like to give a few examples of what I have recently heard. A while back, I recall something like this being broadcast: “Anyone, Anyone, our motor has quit and we are going to land on the rocks”. Response from Coast Guard (CG): “Ma’am, what is your location and are you in immediate danger?” Response from boat: “I just want to get out of this ocean! “ CG: “Ma’am, what is your location?” Boat: “Just get me out of this ocean!”

Several months ago, I heard something like this while we were returning from Ventura on a calm weekend afternoon: “ I am taking on water, does anyone have a pump?” A few minutes later…I am taking on a lot of water and really need a pump. The Harbor Master (HM) responds: “What is your location?” Boat responds: “I am outside Oxnard.” HM:”Can you give me an exact location?” Boat: “I am about a mile from Oxnard and starting to sink, I really need a pump.” Several minutes later, Boat: “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, I am sinking fast and need a pump, I really need a pump! ……” Finally help arrives but the boat almost sank. If they were farther out, they would have been in real trouble!

Then several weeks ago during a Catalina trip, I heard a call from a boat taking on water near Two Harbors. I followed the event on both 16 and when the conversation was switched to other frequencies. Apparently the galley had about 2 feet of water and the pump was barely keeping up with the bailing. The captain hailed the CG and quickly and accurately relayed all of the necessary information. Help soon came because the CG and other boats in the area knew the location and came to assist.

Captain Dan in a previous blog (VHF Radio Procedures in SoCal Waters—May 28,2007) talked about the accepted way to hail another boat, so I don’t want to rehash this. But, calling for help in a serious situation is another matter. I sail quite a bit; but, fortunately I have never had to make a distress call or even call vessel assist I guess I never really thought about it much and assumed that I would handle it, if and when it ever came up. But after hearing several distress calls and listening to the dialogue between the CG and captains, I started thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to plan out what I would do if disaster should strike. After all, it’s prudent to plan for a wild fire or earthquake, why not a sailing emergency as well.

I don’t want to get into a lot of specific details of the marine emergencies I monitored, because we want to cover emergency procedures in future articles. But there is one important thing I learned from all of this. The most important thing can be condensed into a phrase that landlubbers also know much too well. That is: “location, location, location, it’s all about location”. It’s true in real estate and it’s also true in a marine emergency. For a sailor in distress, you can’t get help if help does not know where you are!

So based on the distress calls I have heard, if I were in trouble I would immediately send out a message on Channel 16 giving basic information like my location, boat description, nature of the emergency, and the number of people on board. The call would go something like this: “Coast Guard Sector Channel Islands (or Los Angeles, San Diego, …) this is sailing vessel _________, my current position is 119 37decimal123, 34 36decimal456. I am a white 36 foot sailboat taking on water. I have 4 people on board. Over.” The CG is going to ask for this information and a lot more, so to save time, give them enough details so that they can quickly evaluate your situation and formulate their response tactic. First and foremost, always be aware of your location. Going out into the open ocean without at least a GPS and marine band two-way radio is being STUPID! Think ahead and plan for a real emergency. Remember, when you really need help, time is of the essence.

Dwight

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9 thoughts on “Listening in on the crazies on VHF Channel 16”

  1. If I’ve got an emergency, I want to get the adrenalin flowing at the other end of the radio. So I’m going to start with MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, THIS IS THE SAILING VESSEL SANCERRE.

    When the CG calls back, they’re going to ask me if I am in immediate danger. I will respond: AFFIRMATIVE (because I am either sinking or on fire.)

    I will be prepared to give my position from the GPS. Caution: it’s easy to confuse the cursor position, the waypoint lat long and the Present Position or VES POS. It’s very important to know the difference and know how to find VES POS.

    If they want to switch channels in an extremely tense situation or when it is simply difficult to see the radio frequency (night, reading glasses missing), I will respond NEGATIVE, REMAIN 16.

  2. Ever since taking ASA 105, I always think of Lat and Long as expressed in degree, minutes, and seconds. When I monitored the distress calls, I always heard the Coast Guard call out degrees and minutes with a decimal. It seems to make sense because when I check the GPS on our boat Imagine, it comes up with a location showing something like 119.234. However,I did hear other boats in the area give their location in degrees and minutes and the CG seemed to be able to convert quite easily.

    With most GPS systems, you can page through to find a display that gives a summary, such as your location, speed over ground, and more. If you haven’t played around with this, I would suggest that you do. In an emergency, it only takes a second to bring up this screen and you have all of your information.

    I am also wondering if the CG (like 911 calls) records your CH 16 call and can retrieve your information once you have broadcast it.

  3. RE: Lat Long.
    The most common format these days is degrees, minutes and tenths of minutes.

    Degrees and thousands of degrees is a format I’ve seen used in satellite pics.

    CG is expecting degrees, minutes, tenths.

    Some GPS units allow you to change that display, especially the older ones, which is what you’ve got on Imagine. There is frequently a “units” or “setting” control that might allow you to put Lat/Long in the expected format.

  4. As usual remaining calm in an emergency is the single greatest advantage you can have. Taking the time to fully determine your situation, position, and needs are paramount to receiving help from the Coast Guard as well as surrounding vessels. Thirty seconds on your part may speed help a great deal. Speaking slowly, and clearly is a must. If time allows, let the CG go thru the questions they have been trained to ask. The dispatchers are trained to deal with situations with a set of questions designed to get the facts so they can have a more effective response.

    Perhaps the lack of radio knowledge is yet another reason we need licensed boaters.

    One final point, if you hear someone asking for a radio check, respond to them. It will not only help them to make sure their radio works, but both of you will get some valuable radio practice.

  5. It’s also a pretty darned good idea to make sure at least one other person on board knows how to use the radio, and read the lat and long off the GPS. After all, you could have a heart attack or get pitched overboard. If you’re sailing with lubbers, this will require an additional crew briefing.

    Marine VHF has almost gone the way of CB—rife with frivolous and inane communications. The FCC is supposed to regulate this, but in wake of budget cuts, virtually of their attention is focused on the cellular and broadcast segments. The Coast Guard actually does a fairly decent job of policing things, even though it’s really not their job.

  6. Wayne and Randy have come up with some really important points that a lot of us may not have though of. That’s the benefit of this type of blog.

    I agree that a radio check is important, but don’t do it on Channel 16. On several occasions I have heard the CG reprimand sailors for doing this on #16, so switch to another channel to acknowledge your radio check.

    I also carry a back up GPS and a two-way marine band radio in case the ones on the boat fail for some reason.

  7. The radio checks are sort of a Catch-22. Yeah, you’re supposed to do that on channel 9, but not too people monitor 9. So invariably boaters switch back to 16, where they risk being scolded by the CG. If I hear someone asking for a radio check on 16, I usually respond with a quick and terse “loud and clear.” That way it gets rid of them and clears the frequency.

  8. You may have just heard this breaking story on the news: Here is a excerpt from CNN:

    (CNN) — Rescued after spending eight days lost at sea, Tressel Hawkins was happy to be back in Texas.

    Three missing boaters were returned safely to Port Aransas, Texas, after their rescue on Saturday.

    “Actually, it feels great to be on solid ground,” he told CNN on Sunday.

    Hawkins, 43, and his fellow boaters, Curtis Hall, 28, and James Phillips, 30, set out to catch swordfish and marlin when they set sail about 100 miles south of Matagorda Bay in Texas. But one night early on during their trip in the Gulf of Mexico, Hawkins was jolted by a “rude awakening.”

    The bean bag Hawkins was sleeping on started to float beneath him, he said. There was a water extractor malfunction, causing so much water to get into the boat that the water was knee high, he said. »

    There were yells and screams and attempts to stop the flooding, but it was too late. The boat capsized. They jumped ship, wondering how it all happened so quickly.

    “We’re just trying to get each other calm and try to get as much stuff as we could because we knew automatically it was going to be a survival test,” he said.

    The men were missing at sea since August 22.

    The Coast Guard had searched a week for three men before calling off the search Friday after it said it had looked more than 86,000 square miles.

    A day after the Coast Guard ended its search, the crew of a private vessel found the three sitting on top of their capsized 23-foot fishing vessel about 180 miles from Port Aransas, Texas, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

    Based on the comments in this blog, when I saw this report I could only shake my head in disbelief, especially when I read that the boater had said: “We were just trying to … get as much STUFF as we could”. Hello. The only stuff these guys needed was a GPS and radio, which apparently they did not have.

    I rest my case!

  9. Channel 16 this last weekend:

    Mr. Bayliner: “Hello? (pause) I think my boats on fire?” (not a hint of panic in his voice)

    CG: “Vessel reporting on fire this is Coast Guard sector Los Angeles, what is your current position and how many people onboard?”

    MB: “Ah never mind, I think it just overheated…yah, it’s overheated”

    CG: “Vessel now reporting overheating this is Coast Guard sector los angeles, Captain are you sure there is NO fire onboard and you are in no immediate danger?”

    MB: “No fire, just lots of white smoke. Can someone tow me back?”

    CG: “Vessel reporting overheating, if you are in no immediate danger please contact vessel assist.”

    MB: “Can you call them for me?”

    CG: “Captain – sector los angeles, vessel assist can be hailed on this frequency.”

    MB: “Hello vessel assist my Bayliner overheated. Hello (pause) is anyone there? (pause) Hello?”

    Me: Click (the sound my radio made when I turned it off).