May Day - It's Not Just for Pole Dancing

 


In the land from whence I came, each spring youngsters are gathered, paired with partners of the opposing gender, dressed in matching pastel colors and then perform a sort of dance where they skip around a pole while weaving it in a rainbow of ribbons. No, no one thought it was gay, unless by gay you mean happy, in which case, yes, it was a very gay night indeed. These were simpler times.

We did this just as generations before us had. We assumed it was a standard rite of passage for every fourth grader in the world. At different times, we all were shocked to learn that the May Day program, and the winding of the May poles, were not an official requirements by the Department of Education. Others in the world had never heard of our little pagan ritual, including people as close as the next town over. But to this day, if you say May Day to a Maries R-2 School District Tiger, they will start hearing that little piano ditty in their head that sent them skipping around a large wooden pole in perfect choreography while holding a brightly colored ribbon. 

Fast-forward 40+ years, and you catch me today experiencing May Day in a totally different context, although no less important: the May Day distress call. When I told my wife what we worked on today, her first question was, “Where does the term May Day come from?” I know not. Our class is all about saving lives. If you want trivia, go to practically any bar in Tacoma on a weeknight and you’ll find a plethora of such answers via their Bar Trivia games. 

I’ll share with you now some of my May Day learnings from today, in case you ever have occasion to become distressed at sea. 

1. Find your radio, make sure it is on. 

2. Tune it to VHF Channel 16 (or SSB AM 2182 kHz)

3. Press the microphone button and say… you guessed it! May Day, May Day, May Day!

4. State the name of your vessel three times. For example, I would say, MV Doolin Rogers, MV Doolin Rogers, MV Doolin Rogers. 

5. State Latitude/Longitude. If you don’t know, at least take your best guess at a visual description and hope for the best. 

6. State the nature of your distress, for example: Taking on water. 

7. Estimate present seaworthiness of vessel. 

8. Estimate number of people on board (POB). In our case, 12 thereabouts.

9. Amount of survival gear on board. 

10. Briefly describe boat: Length, type of vessel, hull/trim color, # of masts, and any other fun facts (things that may be an answer in a future Bar Trivia game). 

11. State you will be listening on Channel 16. 

12. End message by repeating the name of your vessel. 

13. You might want to ask the Coast Guard to confirm they received the message. 

If you are not in distress, but happen to hear a message like this on your radio, right it down and relay it to the Coast Guard. This is particularly important to do if you hear this message on a different channel, because the person has skipped step two. If they skipped step one, you won’t hear the message at all. 




Comments

  1. Jennifer JonesMarch 22, 2026 at 5:28 PM

    I am confident that I could still wind the may pole!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fred and Ann KoenigMarch 23, 2026 at 2:21 PM

      You should show up at the next May Day Program and tell the fourth grade teacher that you're ready to sub-in if they have a no show.

      Delete

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