personal locator beacons and other safety gear

ChrisS

ChrisS

Member III
I'm thinking of buying a PLB--does anyone have insight about brands and models? Westmarine only sells ACR brand (which is giving out rebates until June 15th). This is something I'd use for coastal trips along the California coast.

What other safety gear do you consider essential for coastal crusing? When I was in the merchant marine, we had survival suits in our cabins, but I never hear of them mentioned in sailing circles.
 
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NateHanson

Sustaining Member
I've heard of sailors going north from here carrying survival suits, FWIW.

Are you considering the PLBs and the handheld locator to be used by the boat crew?

My first priority (which you may already have covered), would be harness/PFDs that are really comfortable and wearable and fitted with automatic strobes, tethers you like to use, and jacklines that are easy to rig. This is the first line of defense for MOB, and if it's used, it's the only mechanism that will get tested. The rest can be backups. MOB pole and horseshoe, with drogue, and automatic light.

Depending on your definition of "coastal" a raft and Epirb might be called for.
 
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rgoff

Member III
A just bought a SPOT for my upcoming RVing for several months. Tried it a few times and it seems to work great. Very reasonably priced, I think.

I like to camp in out of the way places and I'll send a position report each day to my kids with it. If they don't hear from me for a week, at least they can tell the police where to start looking for me. :)
 
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