Module 18 - Signals & Communications
Distress, Urgency and Safety Calls
What you will learn
Choose MAYDAY, PAN-PAN, safety or routine traffic from the danger, trend, time and remaining controls, then name an escalation trigger.
Radio priority is a risk decision. The aim is not to choose the quietest label; it is to tell other stations truthfully how urgent the situation is while the crew keeps the vessel safe.
A Yachtmaster candidate must be able to choose the right level of radio call quickly. MAYDAY is for grave and imminent danger to a vessel or person. PAN-PAN is for urgency, where help or advice is needed but there is no immediate threat to life. Securite is for important safety information such as a navigation warning or severe weather warning.
The priority tells listening stations how to treat the traffic, but no transmission guarantees reception or rescue. Other stations must avoid interfering with distress traffic. The skipper must keep controlling the vessel, protecting life and using other appropriate alerting paths while the radio exchange develops.
Classify a propulsion failure before the margin disappears
A yacht has lost propulsion. In open water it still has control and sea room; after a wind shift it begins drifting towards a lee shore while the anchor is not yet ready.
1. State the condition
Name the hazard, drift trend, people at risk, time available and controls still working.
2. Choose the priority
Use routine traffic, PAN-PAN or MAYDAY according to the real condition, not the crew's discomfort about calling.
3. Set the change gate
Name the loss of control, sea-room limit, casualty change or failed recovery action that changes the priority.
Sense check: A listening station should understand both the present level of danger and what would make the skipper escalate.
Common mistake or limitation
- ‘Use the lowest priority’ is unsafe shorthand: grave and imminent danger requiring immediate assistance must not be under-called.
- PAN-PAN is not a holding label for a situation that already meets the MAYDAY threshold.
- A safety message warns of a hazard; it is not a substitute for requesting urgent or distress assistance.
- A successful transmission does not prove reception, coordination or rescue, so vessel actions and fallback alerting continue.
Recap
- MAYDAY — grave and imminent danger where immediate assistance is required.
- PAN-PAN — urgent concern for a person or vessel without that immediate grave danger.
- Safety traffic — important navigational, weather or other safety information.
- Choose early, state the evidence and update the priority when the condition changes.
Optional quick check
Section 1 of 18
A yacht is disabled in safe open water but a forecast wind shift will remove its sea room within an hour. Which call decision is best?
Sources and factual review
Reviewed 20 August 2026 - Compass Revision editorial review.
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