ChristianSch

Marine traffic

Looking closely at the marine traffic site all the ships have weird ancient old position reports but if you click on track usually the most recent track shows. Past the Falklands is a line of ships denser than in Hongkong. Probably fisherman but definitely noteworthy. Are there some without AIS turned on? You bet there are!

Just check the AIS reports near the horn.. It doesn't get more live than that

Since 2004 I've argued against the quick release of the tether being a snap shackle. First of all, they open just as easy hiking against the lower life line as scurrying on your belly over deck and overboard through the life lines. OSR (off-shore safety rules) removed that wording and stressed the knife (or similar). The snapshackle is just too tempting because you just swallowed a gallon of water or other discomfort. 90% of the racers are on relatively slow boats. If you are on a multihull or fast planing boat some type of quick stop may still save you better than bopping in 20' seaway. If your electronic gear works you may be picked up before hypothermia sets in. EPIRB mostly takes hours till a helo shows up and your crew still has no message from the EPIRB where to look. Hopefully your tracker was running and you can see where a kink in the track marks where something extraordinary happened to mark THE SPOT of the MOB. The MOB button often has too much delay but you should still push it. However stay with the boat and duckt tape the snap shackle unless you are one of those who gets hoisted into the mast just using the snap shackle of the spi halyard.

After a little more research it is certain that the laser has to be RED and no more than 1 mW https://www.laserstoday.com/2017/06/fdas-proposed-change-to-the-regulation-of-laser-pointers/ FDA and FAA are in agreement that other colors especially green are bad and should be banned. Coast Guards all over the world should be proactive specifying what helps and what is dangerous. Not just categorigly talk about all lasers in emergency situations. We all know the laser scanner in the supermarket and would love to have something like that when we are alone in the angry sea with possible rescue at the horizon (especially during daylight)

Haha, love to meet the MOB who doesn't use the rescue laser because Senate didn't pass the bill and let the SAR overlook him.

Thank you for pointing out, what the flip side of having found the needle in the haystack could be. It's very helpful to discuss this since it isn't child's play. Nobody wants to be abandoned after the MOB has been found. Because of hypothermia time is of the essence and most of the time you don't have an hour to spare for drawn out searches because the rescuers didn't see you from 5 miles away 80-90% of the time being blocked by waves. note, US Congress recently passed the H.S. 386 Securing Aircraft Cockpits Against Lasers Act of 2011 bill, which prohibits a laser pointer from being aimed at an aircraft. The bill specifically exempts "an individual using a laser emergency signaling device to send an emergency distress signal." Rest assured, it continues to be legal to use your Rescue Laser to signal an aircraft in an emergency!

For the last 13 years we had a chem light (glow light) in our PFDs. It's the back up which (nearly) never fails. For the last 4 years we have small LED torches with a red laser pointer integrated. In bad visibility the laser beam penetrates rain etc. much better than any other light. Rain even helps to flare the pinpoint beam. Greatland even sells rescue lasers which are flared for 10 times the price of a waterproof laserpointer. If you are unconscious only an automatic PFD and (automatic) AIS has a better chance. In any case get the other boats on the radio CH 16 by shooting a couple of red stars to alert them to a grave incident. They in turn may relay the mayday with red flares and the radio. If there is current involved (like Gulfstream) time is even more pressing and the waves probably much higher.

During unsettling times like squall, thunderstorm and lightning the VHF radio is rarely listened to if even turned on because most racers are dealing with their own sails. I wouldn't be surprised if very few competitors even heard the mayday. My experience is to shoot a red flare into the sky to grab everyone's attention in line of sight. Usually the first reaction is to listen to channel 16 Once that is accomplished the communication can be established with a much larger audience and you can go from there. Looking forward to get more first hand experience from Mark and the rest of the MERIDIAN crew

The Sherlocks shipped the masts from Portsmouth UK to Kiel Germany and now this behemoth doesn't fit under any bridge exiting the Baltic Sea. Alternative routes are too shallow. https://www.google.com/amp/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3832041/amp/Russian-billionaire-s-megayacht-featuring-masts-tall-Big-Ben-never-able-sail-Baltic-Sea-BIG-shipping-routes.html

That looks very much like the aftermath of a large breaking wave. A photo 10 seconds after this photo would have probably clarified this

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=89551&view=findpost&p=2259891 Kohinoor Cowes 1973