FACTS: ABOUT DISTRESS CALLS

• 'Mayday' is used internationally to signal life-threatening distress situ-ations and comes from the French term 'Venez m'aider, which means 'come help me: .

• 'Pan' comes from the French term 'panne, which translates to mechani-cal breakdown and is a backronym for 'possible assistance needed' or 'pay attention now:

• The CPS and CCG offer free, volun-tary boat safety inspections that take as little as 15 minutes.

Article courtesy of the Boating BC Association. For more details on boating safety be sure to visit www.boatingbc.ca or www.cps-ecp.ca