In light of the recent tragedy of the NFL players Corey Smith, Cooper and 2 others who took their boat out fishing, capsized and died in waiting for rescue, I wonder how many salt water boater carry emergency signal device such as an EPIRB in case of catastrophic event such as this? And if you do, how much maintenance do you need to do in order to make sure the device is working when you get into trouble?
When I had my sailboat, I thought a hand held, floatable, waterproof, VHF radio is the way to go. Because eventhough the boat has a VHF radio, but I would have to go below the deck to use it. So a hand held one that I can clip to my vest would allow me to stay in communcation and if I am in trouble, I would have it right next to me. But I was told that such a VHF radio would have too short of a range to be any good. However at least in two cases where boaters havd to be rescued by the Coast Guards, it was reported they have seen Coast Guard planes flying over them, or near them, but can't see them. So if those boaters have at least a hand held VHF radio, at that time, they could turn it on, try to contact the plane. It's not as good as EPIRB in these situation, but it's something that you would also use as a regular communication device and would have make sure that it's in working order and battery charged when you are on the boat. What do you think?
When I had my sailboat, I thought a hand held, floatable, waterproof, VHF radio is the way to go. Because eventhough the boat has a VHF radio, but I would have to go below the deck to use it. So a hand held one that I can clip to my vest would allow me to stay in communcation and if I am in trouble, I would have it right next to me. But I was told that such a VHF radio would have too short of a range to be any good. However at least in two cases where boaters havd to be rescued by the Coast Guards, it was reported they have seen Coast Guard planes flying over them, or near them, but can't see them. So if those boaters have at least a hand held VHF radio, at that time, they could turn it on, try to contact the plane. It's not as good as EPIRB in these situation, but it's something that you would also use as a regular communication device and would have make sure that it's in working order and battery charged when you are on the boat. What do you think?
