Swallow · 1993 Catalina 270 · emergency, side 1

Seconds count

Man overboard · fire · taking on water · injury · who to call

1 of 2
7 Aug 2026

Someone might die — call 911 Only the boat is broken — call TowBoatUS There is NO Coast Guard on Lake Lewisville Nobody goes in the water after anyone

Man overboard

SHOUT "man overboard" so everyone aboard hears it.
THROW flotation at once — anything that floats, immediately, even if it lands short.
POINT. One person does nothing else but point at them and keep pointing.
Note the time and a landmark. There is no GPS aboard and no MOB button.
Start the engine. Check for lines over the side before you engage gear.
Come back, approach from downwind, stop alongside and recover over the lowest point. Nobody else enters the water.
Not recovered within a minute or two? Call 911 while you keep trying.

Fire

Everyone forward and upwind. Lifejackets on.
Cut the fuel: pull the red SHUTOFF control right out.
Cut the power: battery switch OFF, AC main OFF, shore cord off if alongside.
Extinguisher at the base of the flames, short bursts, sweeping.
Do not open the engine box wide. Air feeds it. Discharge through the smallest opening you can.
If it is not out in seconds, get clear, get everyone off, and call 911.

Taking on water

Find it before you fight it: engine bay, seacocks, shaft seal, hatches, deck fittings.
Close the nearest seacock. Plug what you can — a soft wooden plug beats a perfect one later.
Bilge pump to MAN. Hand-pump and bail as well; buckets move more water than pumps.
Call 911 and say the words "we are taking on water".
If you cannot stop it, head for shallow water. A grounded boat can be recovered.
Lifejackets on before it gets interesting, not after.

Injury or illness

Call 911. Give a landmark, not coordinates — we have no GPS.
Say which lake, which shore, and what you can see from where you are.
First aid kit is in the galley, marked.
Head for the nearest dock with road access, not necessarily our own.
Send someone to the road to meet them and wave them in.

Calling for help

No Coast Guard on this lake — ignore the BoatUS card's advice to hail them. The VHF is not working and there is no handheld, so use a mobile phone.

Life at risk
Emergency — lake rescue	911
Boat disabled, everyone safe
TowBoatUS Lake Lewisville, 24 h	(972) 757-5004
BoatUS dispatch, or the app	(800) 391-4869

Other
Denton County Sheriff, non-emergency	(940) 349-1600
Ours — fill in by hand
BoatUS member no. freshwater, exp. 31 Jul 2027
Skipper

Say: Swallow, a 27-foot white sailboat, Texas 2538 HA, on Lewisville Lake. Then how many people are aboard, what has happened, and the nearest landmark you can see.

Swallow · 1993 Catalina 270 · emergency, side 2

Minutes count

Engine trouble · cross-starting · grounding · steering

2 of 2
7 Aug 2026

She is a sailboat. With wind and sea room, sail A tow is a phone call: TowBoatUS (972) 757-5004 Anchor rather than drift onto something Never crank in COMBINE — charge first, then crank

Engine trouble

Does it crank? That splits the problem in half.
No crank, no click → electrical. Battery switch ON? Shift lever exactly in neutral — work it firmly back and forth and try again. Then the connections.
Cranks but never fires → fuel or glow. SHUTOFF control pushed fully in? Preheat working?
Fires then dies → fuel starvation. Filters, or air in the line.
Crank no more than 20 seconds, then rest 30. A cooked starter ends the options.
Stopped under way? Check fuel, the raw-water seacock, the strainer, the filters, the belt.
Overheating or no cooling water: stop it. A cooked engine is worse than a tow.

Cross-start from the house bank

Only when the start battery is flat and everything else has been tried.
Engine OFF. Switch all house loads and instruments off.
Battery switch to COMBINE.
WAIT several minutes. You are charging the start battery, not cranking on the house bank.
Switch back to ON and crank from the start battery alone. Leave it in ON and charge before stopping her again.
Do not crank in COMBINE. The lithium bank's BMS may open under the load and take the bilge pump and monitoring with it.

Running aground

Throttle back at once. Do not power on and drive her further up.
Deep water is usually where you came from. Note the wind before you do anything.
Heel her: crew to one side, or swing the boom out with weight on it.
Reverse gently. If she will not come, wait or call for a tow. Do not damage her trying.
Check the bilge and the keel joint afterwards, and again the next visit.

Steering failure

Slow down. Balance the sails — she will steer on them alone for a while.
Emergency tiller is in the port lazarette. Its deck port is under the removable seat between the aft lockers.
Anchor if you have neither steering nor sea room.