What PLB. to buy?

[FishyInverness]

Keith, I've got the ACR ResQlink. It clips onto my LJ which I always wear, whether I've got crew or am single handed. The aerial can unclip itself from the stowed position which is sometimes a nuisance, but otherwise it's a good bit of kit. The McMurdo equivalents didn't used to have positive buoyancy so had to be stowed in the pouch to ensure they would float. I don't know whether the current ones have fixed this.

The McMurdo 220 now comes with a buoyancy pouch as standard, it used to be a purchasable add-on. I can't really envisage any reason it wouldn't be kept in the pouch permanently anyway - it's designed so it doesn't interfere with the operation and when on, it looks just like it's part of the unit itself....

 

[lancelot]

Keith, I've got the ACR ResQlink. It clips onto my LJ which I always wear, whether I've got crew or am single handed. The aerial can unclip itself from the stowed position which is sometimes a nuisance, but otherwise it's a good bit of kit. The McMurdo equivalents didn't used to have positive buoyancy so had to be stowed in the pouch to ensure they would float. I don't know whether the current ones have fixed this.

Thanks Jon. I am certainly looking at the ACR. Did not realise the aerial problem - will look into this.
Regards,
Keith.

 

[bedouin]

Really?

Someone slips over the side of a boat with two or three other people on board, on an average August day on the south coast. They're surprised and shocked, but within thirty seconds they've rolled the jib away, strapped the main amidships, and started the engine. After a further thirty seconds they're back with their man, chucking him the end of the mainsheet (they should really have had a buoyant heaving line, but it's in a locker somewhere and the mainsheet was to hand in the cockpit). They have an AWB with a platform stern and a swim ladder, and wearing shorts and a rugby shirt their floater is able to clamber aboard without too much trouble. Much relief all round, wobbly legs as the adrenalin disperses, and he's down below to dry off and warm up.

I'm not trying to play down the hazards of a man overboard, obviously there are any number of scenarios where things are far worse than the above - but neither do I think it's unrealistic for the sailing a lot of us do.

The PLB probably first got a fix while the man was being manoeuvred round to the stern, and by the time it's flashed up on a computer in Falmouth he's already in the saloon with the kettle on. The PLB hasn't been any help, and I didn't find this situation hard to think of.

(Now watch as the two-tone perception disease kicks in and people criticise me for saying PLBs are useless in all situations )

Pete

Really

When I am skipper MOB is always MAYDAY - far too easy for a situation to deteriorate rapidly and I don't like the idea of trying to explain to someone's relatives why I didn't call MAYDAY.

Similarly if someone wearing a PLB were to go overboard I would expect them to activate it immediately rather than waiting for a few minutes to see if the remaining crew were able to retrieve them in time.

Downgrading/Cancelling a Mayday (and PLB activation) is easy. Bringing a dead crew member back to life is somewhat harder.

TBH if the conditions were so benign that I would be confident in the immediate recovery of a MOB I would probably not be insisting that people wear LJs anyway

 

[SteveSarabande]

I have an xcr. It is a pain though as the clip holding the aerial keeps coming undone in my pocket

I am on trying to find a case/holder to attach it to my lifejacket. What do people here use?

 

[DinghyMan]

I would use one of these

http://ffsystems.co.uk/plb_canister.html

but that's because I make them....