How a Mayday works
The captain holds the orange button for five seconds — no menus in an emergency. The fleet and the director are interrupted, the boat’s position goes out, and the nearest boats are asked by name to respond, each with its distance and bearing. The director gets a script ready to read to the authorities, and an all-clear stands everyone down.
NautiSignal adds to your distress tools; it never replaces them. A Mayday on VHF Channel 16, an EPIRB or PLB, and a call to the Coast Guard remain the first moves in a real emergency. What NautiSignal adds is the tournament: the director and the boats closest to you know at once, even out of VHF range of each other, as long as their radios are connected.
When something happens offshore, everyone needs to know fast.
More than catch reports — a clear, prioritized way to handle safety on the water, from a routine check to a full emergency.
Routine status from a vessel.
Mechanical, fuel, tow, or support request.
High-priority situation requiring attention.
Highest-priority alert with optional location sharing.
The fleet and the director are interrupted, your position is sent, and the nearest boats are asked to come to you.
- Mayday relay for sportfishing vessel Lucky B, boat 23.
- Position 26 degrees 46.2 minutes north, 79 degrees 58.9 minutes west, as of one minute ago.
- Six souls aboard. Nature of distress: unknown.
A mayday drill, shown with simulated data — the entire chain, from the orange button to the call to the authorities, rehearsed before it is ever needed.
Rehearsed before it is needed
The whole Mayday chain — from the orange button to the script for the authorities — can be run as a drill before lines in, so the first time a director and the fleet see it is never a real emergency.
Make safety part of the setup.
Tell us your boat count, dates and format and we’ll build the right setup and a per-boat quote.