What the U.S. Coast Guard says you must carry on board
The U.S. Coast Guard requires all vessels used on coastal waters, the Great Lakes, territorial seas, and those waters connected directly to them (up to a point where a body of water is less than 2 miles wide) to be equipped with U.S. Coast Guard–approved visual distress signals. The same applies to U.S. vessels operating on the high seas.The following vessels need not carry day signals, but must carry night signals when operating from sunset to sunrise:
- recreational boats less than 16 feet (4.88 m) long
- boats in organized events such as races, regattas, or parades
- open sailboats less than 26 feet (7.9 m) long that do not have engines
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| Distress signals. |
In any other boat, you must carry at least one approved day signal and one approved night signal—however (and this is important), if you choose a pyrotechnic device of any kind, such as a rocket or flare, you must have at least three of them. Some pyrotechnics are accepted as both day and night signals, in which case you need only three in total.Approved day-only signals include orange smoke and a distress flag that is at least 3 feet square and that has a black square and a black ball on a bright orange background.An electric distress light that automatically flashes the international distress signal SOS is acceptable for night use only.Signals suitable for day and night use include handheld red flares, red parachute flares, and aerial red meteors. Note that white flares are not distress signals, and may be used legally simply to draw another ship’s attention to your presence. But,
under Inland Navigation Rules only, a white strobe light flashing 50 to 70 times a minute is considered a distress signal.The U.S. Coast Guard offers the following illustration of the variety and combination of devices that can be carried to meet its requirements:
- three handheld red flares (good for both day and night signals) OR
- one handheld red flare and two parachute flares (also good for day and night) OR
- one handheld orange smoke signal, two floating orange smoke signals, and one electric distress signal (the orange smoke signals are approved for daytime only and, because pyrotechnics were chosen, there must be three of them; the distress light is approved for night use only)
Aerial red meteors launched from pistols must be handled with great caution. In some states, flare pistols are considered firearms and you may not be legally allowed to use them.Note, too, that a VHF radio telephone, probably the most effective and most-used distress device, is not
required by the U.S. Coast Guard on small recreational boats.See also
Calling for Help; Pan-Pan Calls.
