What to Do in a Boating Emergency: A Step-by-Step Guide

Why You Should Read This Before You Need It

In an emergency, your brain will default to whatever is most practiced. If you've thought through the steps beforehand — if you've visualized what you'd do — your response is faster, calmer, and more effective. If you're reading the procedure for the first time while the boat is taking on water, you've already lost ground you can't recover.

None of these scenarios are exotic. Man overboard happens on flat-calm days to experienced boaters. Fires start from electrical faults with no warning. Boats run aground on familiar routes when the tide drops. Read this now, when you have time to think about it.

Man Overboard

Man overboard (MOB) is one of the most time-critical emergencies on the water. Cold water incapacitates a swimmer faster than most people expect — cold water shock can cause involuntary gasping and muscle failure within minutes, even for strong swimmers. Your response in the first 30 seconds matters.

Immediate Actions

1. Shout "Man overboard!" immediately — so everyone on board knows what's happening.
2. Assign someone to keep eyes on the person in the water and never look away. A person in water is nearly invisible from 50 yards. Do not lose visual contact. The spotter's only job is to point at the person in the water constantly.
3. Throw the throwable PFD (Type IV cushion or ring buoy) toward the person — not at them, but near enough that they can reach it. Throw it immediately.
4. Note your GPS position or press the MOB button on your chartplotter if equipped. Some VHF radios have an MOB function that marks position.
5. Call for help on VHF Channel 16 if the person isn't immediately recovered or is injured.

Returning to the Person

The quickest reliable method to return to a person overboard on a powerboat is the Williamson Turn: come hard to one side (say, hard to starboard), let the bow swing about 60 degrees, then come hard to port and swing through until you're on the reciprocal course. Done correctly, this puts you back on your track approaching the person from the opposite direction.

Approach from downwind or downcurrent, whichever is stronger, so the boat doesn't drift over the person. Cut the engine before the person is alongside — propellers are a serious hazard. Have a line ready to throw and a plan for getting the person back aboard, which is harder than it looks if they're incapacitated or exhausted.

Once aboard, treat for hypothermia: wet clothing off, insulation on, horizontal position, and seek medical attention even if the person seems fine. Cold water immersion can have delayed cardiac effects.

Boat Fire

Fire on a boat is particularly dangerous because you're surrounded by fuel, the vessel is enclosed, and there's nowhere to go except the water. Speed matters.

Immediate Actions

1. Alert everyone aboard.
2. Call MAYDAY on VHF Channel 16 with your position — do this early, before the situation escalates.
3. Turn the vessel so the fire is downwind. This keeps flames from sweeping toward the cockpit and anyone aboard. If the fire is in the engine compartment, shut down the engine first.
4. Fight the fire with an extinguisher if it's small, contained, and you have a clear escape route behind you. Aim at the base of the flames, not the tops. Most fires should be fought with a single sustained discharge; don't spray in bursts.
5. If the fire cannot be controlled, don't attempt to fight it. Get everyone into life jackets and prepare to abandon ship.

Never Open an Engine Hatch on Fire

An engine compartment fire starves for oxygen once the hatch is closed. Opening it introduces fresh air and can cause a flashover — an explosive expansion of the fire. If your engine space is on fire and the hatches are closed, use a fixed suppression system if equipped, or keep the hatches closed and fight the fire from the fixed injection port if your extinguisher has one. Do not open the hatch.

Flooding and Sinking

Flooding can happen from a failed through-hull fitting, a broken raw water intake hose, a collision, or in heavy weather. The outcome depends on how quickly you can reduce the ingress relative to the vessel's reserve buoyancy.

Immediate Actions

1. Find the source. Water has to be coming from somewhere. Common sources: through-hull fittings below the waterline, raw water cooling hoses, the stuffing box around the propeller shaft, or a damaged hull section.
2. Reduce ingress if possible. Stuffing box too loose: tighten the packing nut. Failed through-hull: close the seacock or plug the fitting with a wooden emergency plug (these should be tied near every through-hull on your boat). Hose failure: clamp it off or stuff it with a rag.
3. Bilge pumps on. Automatic bilge pumps should be running; switch manual pumps to on. Know where your manual bilge pump is before you need it — electric pumps fail.
4. Call MAYDAY on Channel 16 early. It's much better to call and not need the Coast Guard than to need them and not be able to call because the water reached your radio.
5. Get life jackets on everyone.
6. If the vessel cannot be saved, abandon ship when help is close — not when the vessel sinks. A floating vessel, even waterlogged, is easier to find than people in the water.

Running Aground

Running aground is embarrassing but rarely immediately dangerous — unless it's in surf, rocks, or a shipping channel. The priority is assessing the situation before taking action.

Immediate Actions

1. Stop the engine immediately. A running engine in shallow water can suck sand and debris into the cooling system and destroy it, and prop wash can push the boat harder onto the bottom.
2. Check for damage. Is the boat taking on water? If so, treat it as a flooding emergency. If not, assess whether the grounding is soft (sand, mud) or hard (rocks, coral).
3. Check the tide. If the tide is coming in, you may float off on your own. If the tide is going out, you'll be harder aground in an hour than you are now — act quickly.
4. Try to back off. In soft bottom, gently applying reverse while someone pushes off with a boat hook from the bow is often enough to free the vessel the way it came on.
5. Shift weight. Moving crew to the stern can lift the bow. Moving crew to one side can shift the heel to reduce draft. Every inch of depth helps.
6. Set an anchor. Deploy the anchor in the direction of deeper water and pull against it using the winch or engine to "kedge" off. This is the most reliable method when backing off doesn't work.

If the vessel is hard aground, taking on water, or in a dangerous position (surf, rocks, channel), call for assistance early. BoatUS or Sea Tow can often pull a vessel free without damage. The Coast Guard responds to groundings when there's a safety concern. Don't damage the vessel further by forcing it.

Prepare Now — Practice Mentally

The most effective preparation is simple: walk through each of these scenarios in your head before your next trip. Where is your throwable PFD? Where is the closest fire extinguisher? Where are your through-hull seacocks? Do you know how to use your VHF radio to call for help?

Our pre-departure safety checklist prompts you to verify all of this before every trip. Brief your passengers on basic emergency procedures — where the life jackets are, what Channel 16 is, what to do if someone goes overboard. It takes three minutes and it matters.