Vendee Globe and Alex Thomson / Hugo Boss

dom said:
I have 2x EPIRBs, several PLBs, and when offshore, an AIS beacon in every lifejacket.
Thought it would be fairly obvious what was going on if they all lit up.
Multiple EPIRB/PLB activations might even expedite tasking ?
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Thanks for all the comments about multiple EPIRBS when racing. An interesting topic.

I only sail on one boat that is coded and is required to have one, we sail with a crew of 24 and only carry the one EPIRB. It is kept safely in the wheel house and goes with the skipper onto a liferaft.
 
RivalRedwing said:
And the battery life of an EPIRB is...... not very long once activated (2-4 days)
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'Back in the day' I and colleagues carried an EPRIB-of-sorts in our 'officewear'.... which was called a S.A.R.B.E. ( Search and Rescue Beacon) which transmitted on 243.0MHz. It was known that the batteries might last as long as 6 hours, but rather less if really cold and wet - as in a single-seat liferaft somewhere north of Shetland. Guys like me carried a 'cadged' spare battery in a pocket.

I'd look to buy a 406 MHz EPIRB that has user-replaceable batteries, or recharged on board like a handheld VHF.
 
Ravi said:
Taking the vessel EPIRB into the liferaft raises the question of how the vessel can be tracked to prevent it becoming a hazard to shipping (or for recovery).

You could argue that you would only take to the liferaft if your boat was sinking but many experienced sailors have abandoned ship for it to be later found afloat - perhaps semi-submerged. So, history would suggest that it would be an imprecise judgement call.

You could also (understandably!) argue that increasing the probability of your rescue is more of a priority than the very slight chance of your semi-submerged vessel being a hazard.

I can see both sides of the argument but, (given an unlimited budget!), multiple EPIRBS definitely makes sense.
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The EPIRB is there to save life not track abandoned vessel. Have you considered it's limited battery life? Always take it with you.
 
zoidberg said:
'Back in the day' I and colleagues carried an EPRIB-of-sorts in our 'officewear'.... which was called a S.A.R.B.E. ( Search and Rescue Beacon) which transmitted on 243.0MHz. It was known that the batteries might last as long as 6 hours, but rather less if really cold and wet - as in a single-seat liferaft somewhere north of Shetland. Guys like me carried a 'cadged' spare battery in a pocket.

I'd look to buy a 406 MHz EPIRB that has user-replaceable batteries, or recharged on board like a handheld VHF.
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On the kipper fleet our sop was use one at a time. Theory being more than one of us made it into the MS10.
 
Ravi said:
Ft


So why was Escoffier trying to mount his EPIRB on the boat before abandoning ship?
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you would have to ask him. They are designed to float free.

EDIT: in fact he talked about wondering whether to stay on the boat but the decision was taken out of his hands.

second edit because people don't believe people on the internet so this is an authoritative source:RNLI
 
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Ravi said:
Ft


So why was Escoffier trying to mount his EPIRB on the boat before abandoning ship?
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He said they tested beacons in various places on the boat, and with all the carbon fiber laminates the transmission was severely affected, he wanted to put it on a pole.
He had half a boat in vertical position.. anyway, the wave washed them both on the water before he could do anything.
 
It feels like a lot of boats are in trouble this year so I went back over previous years (thanks Wikipedia) to see how this edition compares with earlier ones. The graph suggests we haven't seen the end of casualties yet by any means. I think the immediacy of the communications now means we get more involved in the emerging stories and it feels as though there are more casualties than normal. In reality it's just a very dangerous race, and always has been.

Vendee.JPG
 
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