How to Signal for Help From a Boat

Learn what you need to know to survive a boating emergency. Practice safe and effective signaling.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Electric Distress Lights
• Flare Guns
• Handheld Flares
• Short Wave Radios
• Distress Flags

1. Attach and wave a distress flag on a paddle or boat hook, or hang it from a mast.
2. Use a flag that's 3 feet by 3 feet, and orange with a black square and circle on it, when you need to signal for help during the day.
3. Use an electric signaling device at night. These handheld flashlights flash the international distress signal (SOS) in Morse code (...---... or the more familiar dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot).
4. Ignite a flare ("handheld pyrotechnic device") and hold it over the side of the boat in such a way as to avoid burning yourself or your vessel.
5. Fire a flare gun or other pyrotechnic firearm. Stand with your back against the wind and fire the gun while pointing your arm about 60 degrees above the horizon. Increase the angle for stronger winds, but don't fire at angles above 80 to 85 degrees.

Tips & Warnings

• All boats used in U.S. coastal waters, the Great Lakes, territorial seas, and connected bodies of water are required to be equipped with U.S. Coast Guard-approved visual distress signals. Contact the Coast Guard for specific regulations regarding your type of vessel.
• Check the labels of your distress-signaling devices to see when they will expire.
• Avoid firing flare guns toward other vessels or land structures where the falling flare might cause a fire.
• Flare guns and similar flare-propulsion devices are similar to firearms in many respects and should be handled with extreme caution. Some states have prohibited the use of these devices.