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Err...Do not issue a MAYDAY until you are aseriously ready to abandon ship. They DO mind if you take that one back, they may even insist that you go ahead with evacuation fomr your boat if you have made that call.
You can however make a PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN call and get the information out there and have them standing by on alert, tracking your position and progress, without in any way relinquishing being the master of your vessel and responsible for all of its desicions.
I have had to issue one PAN PAN call in my life so far. I was very glad I did, and even more glad I did not start with a MAYDAY. As it was, me managed to save the boat by ourselves, (though a water police boat came alongside to shadow us for the last half hour or so, and when the diesel engine drowneda bit and stopped, they towed us the last three hundred meters to the dock because it was simpler then watching us drifting around the docks tryng to get restarted).
P.S, in answer to the last post, the coast guard tends to bring in the sunken boats if they are at all moveable because otherwise they cause problems in two ways. They are a hazard to navigation in that other boats run into them and then need the coast guard, or they spill contaminents into the water...But the second reason we have noticed is that other people will try to take them in tow and "Salvage" them or even jump aboard capsized or grounded boats in order to start removing winches and other hardware..often at great perril neccesitating rescue (and hopefuly arrrest, the bastards). So the CG usually gets tasked with bringing the boat in and thus avoiding further work down the line. There is even a recognised payment shcedule they can charge the insurance company or local parks/environment body for doing it.
Sasha
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