calling coast guard from a kayak?
 

when calling from a boat usually you identify yourself as your name and your boat name, what do you say when you call from a kayak?

i was wondering this the other day and cant find anything online. lol

What color is your kayak and location

You give them the best description that you can. I called once on the bay bacsause these boaters were intentionally running their boat close to myself and my buddy. The looked out the window of the Coast Guard office there on Harbor drive and confirmed that he could see me. It was pretty cool actually. They answer really fast and do everything they can to be sure your safe and taken care of.

Now that a lot of us have GPS units you can also give them the mark readings to help them.

Do you use your VHF or Cell phone? If it's a VHF, in the past you were required to register as a VHF station and received call numbers like "WSP7792". You would use your boat name and this number as your "on-air" identification. Not sure if you have a name for your kayak vessel, but you would at least have a call number... or maybe something like this... "Vessel: Redsledteam WSP7792" ? Did the rules change for VHF radio stations?

it would be from VHF, didn't know about the registration.

I'm a little 'old school', so the VHF regulations may have changed.

I used my cell when I called them from. I have their number saved in the event my radio doesn't work.

Ask drake.:rolleyes:

:doh:

set to speed dial..

i actually meant to ask him on Saturday, since he's a coastie and all. the only thing us jarheads are good at is getting out of speeding tickets.

Ed, I'll will call as Kayak (1) if I,m the first to call, others can call as kayak 2,3 ,4 etc. all the same vessel on the Same day? :)

Ok Leo, what happens if on the same day, in the same area kayak 2, 7 and 21 all have the same make, model and color kayak and kayak 13 has the same color too but has a different model and puts out the call for help? :eek: :biggrinjester: Which one do you go to if you are providing assistance?

you look for the one without a rod in his/her hand... :D

Or the one that's upside-down!

I'm not even good at that. Got pulled over by a prior marine(same as myself) and couldn't even get the speed reduced and I was getting ready to go to Afghaniland.

My friend, with 21 yak out there, your buddys will give the better help that you can need. Cheers:cheers1:

Would have mattered much this weekend as visibility was about 30 feet! :D
Attachment 7893

Great and important question that I hope we can get a definate answer for.

I like to believe that in the case of an emergency where no one was around to help and I had to call the CG I would be able to give an approximate location based on landmarks in the event my GPS is down.

must be why i didn't see you out there. :D

Fri. at LJ, or sat NPH?

sat. LJ. i coulda sworn you posted you were going there on sat... oh well.

(After initials call), you give details:)

nah too many people, beside the Lizzards were WFO sat up here. :eek:

so Drake what's the correct way to radio in and what format is easiest for you guys as far as gps goes?
degrees minutes seconds or degrees minuets fractions or decimal?

Me at work

Attachment 7895

Doesn't matter to me I got your # from Candy

But seriously, people over think it too much. It really depends on what the problem is. Are you in trouble? Or are you calling on behalf of someone else?

If you or someone in trouble, first thing you do is call the emergency number
Emergency Phone: ( 619) 295-3121 ( San Diego)

If you were smart, you left a float plan behind. You give them the contact number of the person with your float plan first, that way if you lose reception, phone gets wet or battery dies, they can find out most of what they need to know.

Second off, if theres 20 kayaks out there, and 15 of them are the exact same make model and color, chances are in the event of an emergency there will be a ton of other kayaks huddled around. We're no stupid. When we see clusters like that it's an obvious sign something is wrong. If you're by yourself an no one is around, thats self explanatory. Also, it's not hard to identify your kayak even with the same ones out there. Hopefully most of us carry these long poles with big flat panels on the ends, otherwise known as "great signaling devises"

Also, GPS coords are great and all, but not really crucial. If you call and say "I'm on my kayak, I launched from LJ shores and I'm in front of the condo" we'll get there. As long as you're not hiding in the cave, we'll get to you pretty quick. We have both water and air support. In heavy fog, finding you will be really tricky and that when GPS will come in handy, but we have special equipment to help us. Also, carry a firefly. Even in daylight, the flash from a firefly can bounce around in fog making it much easier to locate someone. A noise device whether is be a whistle or a horn is also a must have.

If you use a radio, put out your mayday, Mariners law should hopefully make sure any boat in the area will come to your rescue.

Hope this helps.

Thank you, sweetie, now we can all fish in peace knowing we will be ok. I vote sticky for just Drakes post ;)

yep.

:reel:Thanks for "reeling us in" Drake. Sometimes when I'm not fishing, it's easy for me to go off tangents ... in all directions. :party:

Thanks Drake!

Thanks Drake. I appreciate the information.
:cheers1:

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