The subscription can be temporarily stopped when not in use. That, in my case, brings on need for a reminder note but is much cheaper.
On land, this is one reason I prefer the inReach devices: I can explain the problem, which may be the difference between a SAR team on foot being sent to assess, and a helicopter being dispatched immediately.
Anecdote is always dangerous but there are occasional stories of calmac ferries, fish farm work boats etc plucking people from the water because they were the closest asset. I also recall a RIB user in the Irish Sea going o/b and recovered something like 90 minutes later because of his PLB - I think probably wearing a drysuit as he didn’t even go to hospital.
I’ve heard Belfast CG making a PanPan call to try and locate the origins of an EPIRB (no vessel details were provided so I assume unregistered). I guess your first step might be to wait for the some position updates to see if it appears to be doing a speed that suggests it’s on a vessel or adrift. I guess each situation will get its own assessment - good weather in a fairly busy bit of the Clyde ultimately got a MOD plod response not a helo. I don’t know the outcome but it didn’t make the news so presumably was not a rescue!
I suspect the coastguard team and lifeboat/helicopter can and will do a lot in parallel. If they get a PLB/EPIRB activation they can already start preparing while someone in the team is tasked with trying to contact the casualty/shore contact. If they still can't establish that the activation is a false alarm they will proceed as if it isn't and go ahead with whatever they have started preparing. Even after that, if they do manage to establish that there is no emergency the assets will be stood down.
yes the whole shore contact thing seems a bit odd - "is Mark at sea?" "No - he's at work" "Oh well his EPIRB had gone off mid channel, I guess we should send a lifeboat to see why"! I think its mostly a relic of the days before they were GPS enabled - because a good shore contact might narrow the search area. The one thing they *MIGHT* do is confirm which boat they are looking for (colour, name, description) and number of people on board. That might be more important for a PLB when you could be walking, paddling, sailing, powerboating...
In the Solent your risk is getting run down not freezing to death! The OP is going to be somewhat more remote, with less readily available rescue resources and passing traffic but still not exactly out of reach. I would be genuinely surprised if he was ever out of both mobile phone and VHF coverage going from Cardiff to Glasgow. I think if he's planning 24/7 passages where he will be effectively singlehanded because the other person is asleep then a PLB starts to make a lot of sense, but you could argue a MOB alert / AIS MOB Locator might be valuable too.
I don't recall any case of a MOB who activated a PLB but where the rescue didn't arrive in time in UK waters?
I can on mine
confirmed both satellite and AIS were received and that GPS was correct.
A member of this forum previously described the process from first hand experience. The response starts immediately in terms of finding assets that are able to respond. Contacting may happen alongside that but it in no way slows any actual response action.
But the MAIB reports don't seem to 100% agree with that assessment. I don't have time today to trawl back through them all but you need to be very careful analysing what "response starts" and "finding assets" means. Nobody is putting the kettle on. If the SOP is every EPIRB/PLB activation gets a helo/lifeboat assigned AS SOON AS THE MRCC RECEIVES IT then the MAIB reports seem to contradict this. Feel free to provide actual evidence that this routinely happens. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a SOP because each activation is unique, and dynamic. Part of the changing assessment being - do we know what the vessel is, and who is on board?
That isn't what I said though. when there's an activation in local and relatively safe waters I'm sure more scrutiny is used and boats asked to look out. There have certainly been lots activated on ferries over the years.
Which is why I called your previous post (#27) "a bit of linguistic semantics"!
Its the word I've highlighted in bold that makes me uneasy about people's assertions in this area. A typical response to a GPS confirmed position EPIRB/distress alert might be - from activation to UKCG receiving the alert ~ 5 min it is then passed to the relevant MRCC; you can expect them to immediately try to contacting the vessel, checking the databases, and other vessels in the area. The evidence seems to be that ordinarily they don't immediately task designated rescue assets - that happens either when something confirms the issue or when they fail to ascertain enough to rule out a false alarm.
The evidence seems to be they are only calling the rescue organisations after at least some initial attempts to raise the vessel directly, see what local eyes can see, and or speak to shore contacts. Are those enquiries more likely to be productive if you know who/what you are looking for?
The solent seems like a prime example where knowing what you are looking for might be rather important. It does take time to get a rescue underway and from what I've seen, in UK waters, its unlikely a helo is airbourne or a lifeboat crew slipping lines in much <30 minutes from activating a PLB/EPIRB without something else confirming the likely distress.
You think that a mid atlantic EPIRB has them calling container vessels asking them to reroute before contacting the shore contacts or determining what the container ship should be looking for (aircraft, ship, sailing vessel, ocean rower) you are surely mistaken. Cheeky Rafiki were sent an email before anyone began to look for assets >20 minutes after the PLB activation, and this was on a vessel which CG were already aware was having problems.
there's nothing I recall in the MAIB reports to suggest that people didn't follow the process (that would merit further probing on why - staffing, training, fatigue etc).
To me the idea of what counts as "immediate" has similar differences as with how far ahead the average leisure sailor might be thinking about collision avoidance vs a large ship.