Distress beacon on the yacht you bought is calling for the previous owner

A distress beacon doesn't work on its own. It transmits an ID number to rescuers, and everything else — what the vessel is, how many people are on board, who to call ashore — comes from the registration database tied to that number.

Which leads to something unpleasant: the beacon on the yacht you bought still points to the previous owner. The signal will go out, rescuers will receive it, and they'll call someone who sold the boat three years ago and now lives in another country.

Who this concerns right now

• You bought a used yacht. The beacon is almost certainly still registered to the seller.
• You're doing a delivery on someone else's vessel. Check what's registered on that vessel's beacon — you'll be the one they come looking for.
• You borrowed a personal beacon from a friend or bought one secondhand.
• You changed your phone number, home port, or crew. The data is outdated even if the owner is the same.

The UK's guidance for skippers, effective from 2026, explicitly makes registration mandatory for 406 MHz EPIRBs and personal locator beacons on vessels covered by the rules. But the point here isn't the penalty for non-compliance — it's who actually gets searched for.

How an EPIRB differs from a PLB

The two get confused, and the difference is a practical one.

An EPIRB is registered to the vessel. It floats free and activates on its own if the boat sinks, provided it's mounted in a hydrostatic release, runs longer, and is registered to the vessel.

A PLB is registered to the person. It's small, worn in a lifejacket pocket, activated manually, runs for a shorter time, and is registered to the owner.

Which gives a simple rule: a PLB is not a substitute for an EPIRB. If you go overboard with a PLB, rescuers search for you. If the vessel is sinking and the EPIRB didn't float free because there isn't one, no one finds out what happened.

How to check your beacon in ten minutes

1. Find the ID number. The fifteen-character hexadecimal code is printed on the casing. Look for a string of letters and digits next to Hex ID, UIN, or 15 Hex.
2. Check the battery expiry date. It's also on the casing. An expired battery means the beacon doesn't work, and that's the most common thing found.
3. Check which database it's registered in. A beacon is registered in the country of the vessel's flag or the owner's citizenship, and each country has its own registry. If you don't recall registering it yourself, it's still registered to the previous owner.
4. Update the details: vessel, call sign, MMSI, number of people on board, and two shore contacts who will actually pick up the phone.

According to Cospas-Sarsat, a correctly registered beacon allows the alert to be processed faster and a rescue operation organized sooner: rescuers immediately have someone to call and something to search for.

What most often turns out to be wrong

• The shore contact is the owner themselves, who is at sea at the time. The contact should be someone who stays ashore.
• The number of people on board is from last season.
• The beacon is registered to a vessel that's been sold.
• The phone number is a decade old.
• The hydrostatic release has expired. It has its own service life, usually two years, printed on the casing. An expired release won't let the beacon go when the vessel sinks.

Three dates you should know for your beacon

Write them down and keep them with the vessel's papers:

• battery replacement date;
• hydrostatic release date, if fitted;
• date the registration details were last checked.

The last one is what nobody tracks, and it's the one that goes stale first.

What not to do

Don't test the beacon by activating it. An actual activation puts rescuers into motion. Beacons have a separate self-test mode — a short press per the instructions — that doesn't send a distress alert.

Don't throw an old beacon in the trash. It contains a battery and a transmitter; a discarded beacon can activate at the dump, and these false alerts happen regularly. Take it to a place that accepts them.

In short

A beacon transmits an ID number, and rescuers read everything else from the registry. After buying a vessel, after changing your phone number, and before a delivery on someone else's boat, check who it's registered to. Ten minutes at a desk decides whether they come looking for you or call the person who sold this boat three years ago.