How and why you should log a transit report via VHF radio.
10 July 2018
Submitting a transit report when leaving on passage is a prudent thing to do. It acts as a safety blanket in the event that you incur a problem and lose an effective means of communication. A third party will know when you left and when you should get into port. It could mean the difference between life and death.
To submit a transit report call the coastguard on the appropriate channel for your area (check your almanac). If you hail them on CH16 perhaps call them on CH16 and state;
“[Insert station] coastguard this is [your station name], routine traffic. Over”.
The coastguard will probably send you to their working channel which will probably be a duplex channel, meaning other vessels can’t hear your broadcast.
Calling in a transit report should go something like this;
- call the Coastguard on the appropriate channel
- provide your departure and destination ports
- say how many people are on board
- tell them your estimated time of arrival
- when you've arrived at your destination, call the same coastguard to confirm your safe arrival
In addition to submitting a transit report or making a VHF radio check before your passage, consider registering with the SafeTrx app.
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