Safety equipment is no substitute for preparation, planning, skills, fitness and experience. Having these keeps you out of trouble and lets you deal with tougher conditions when things change for the worse.
Most safety equipment is about getting help, but of course, it’s better not to get into such a situation in the first place. If you can’t remount your surfski, you shouldn’t feel happy to go paddling just because you’ve got a PLB on you. Don’t rely on others and put them in danger. That said, if you know how to use it, safety equipment may just save your life.
I had a look at the options and thought I’d share my research.
The basics:
- PFD/buoyancy aid
- Leg leash – tethers you to the boat so you don’t lose it.
- Bright clothing – your boat is practically invisible on the water!
Paddle leash– there’s a lot of debate around these, I’m not opening that can of worms!
Means of communication
Mobile phone
Pros: convenient, everyone has one!
Cons: breaks easily, patchy signal, poor battery life, difficult to use at sea (especially a touch screen).
Carrying a cheap push-button phone solves some of these issues.
VHF radio
You may use a VHF to: communicate with other paddlers in your group, prevent a collision, get a weather forecast, get permission to cross a major port or tell the coastguard your plans. In an emergency, VHF can be used to make a distress call and help search and rescue pinpoint your location. It’s very useful.
VHF works by line of sight meaning transmitting and receiving antennas have to be able to ‘see’ each other. It only works in a straight unobstructed path. Waves, cliffs and the curvature of the earth block VHF. Since a kayak is so low down, the line of sight to the horizon is less than 2 nautical miles but as ships and land stations have elevated masts, signals can be received up to 7 miles away.
- Illegal to use on land so can’t communicate with a support crew. e.g. can’t tell downwind driver “we’re getting off at x, not y”.
- Since VHF works by line of sight it shouldn’t be relied upon for sending a distress message, but it’s very useful in conjunction with a PLB (see below).
- Some have GPS and Digital Selective Calling (DSC) built-in (see below).
- Training and qualification are needed to use VHF.
DSC (Digital selective calling)
A feature of some VHF radios, DSC can be used to send an automatically formatted distress alert to the Coast Guard and all other DSC radio-equipped vessels. If the radio also has integrated GPS, this will be included in the distress call. DSC has a far greater range than voice transmission on VHF but is also limited by line of sight. DSC can also be used to ‘direct dial’ other radios
Means of locating
Personal Location Beacon (PLB)
Press a button and an SOS signal is sent to emergency services.
How do they work? They are all slightly different, but this is how the Ocean safety PLB1 that I have works:
PLBs transmit for a minimum of 24 hours (by which point you’d hope you’d been rescued), and then they need a replacement battery. Not a means of communication, just a means of location. The Mcmurdo Fastfind RLS gives you a reassuring signal to show that your distress signal has been received by search and rescue.
GPS tracker
I’m using a SPOT gen 4 tracker provided by Geo Tracks. This has the added functionality of being able to send a 3 different customisable messages and an SOS signal over the satellite network.
A tracker is very useful when doing downwinds for your land crew to follow you. They can spot if you have gone off course and come into difficulty and either find the location where you need picking up or coordinate a search and rescue with emergency services.
GPS trackers with SOS buttons are basically an alternative option to a PLB as well as being a tracker.
Apps like RYA SafeTrx (see below) are a starting point but have the limitations of patchy mobile signal.
Garmin inReach is another option. Available as a stand-alone product or on various GPS mapping devices. It allows people to track your trip on the 100% global Iridium satellite network. You can also send messages and send an SOS signal.
Pyrotechnic flares
Hand flare– short-range distress signal, visible up to 7 miles away. Pretty ineffective in daylight.
Parachute/rocket flare– long-range distress signal, visible up to 20 miles away.. Sends flare to a height of 300 meters which drifts down on a parachute whilst burning brightly.
Smoke flare – short-range distress signal, visible up to 3 miles away. For daylight use – ineffective at night.
Pyrotechnic flares are difficult to operate from a kayak and dangerous, especially in a rough sea. They rely on someone actually seeing the signal in the short duration (less than a minute) that they’re visible.
LED electronic flares
Electronic flares are an alternative to pyrotechnic flares. Some have a range up to 7 miles for up to 6 hours. Some flash an SOS signal and emit infra-red light which search and rescue can see.
Pros: Much safer, signal for a longer duration can be re-used after battery replacement.
Cons: Will people recognise an LED flare as a distress signal? It can be confused with a buoy. How visible is it during daylight?
From my research, the Ocean Signal EDF1 and the MK3 Odeo flare look the best.
In my opinion, they aren’t as effective as pyrotechnic flares for attracting attention but are more effective for helping people pinpoint your location.
A freely available app. It’s the replacement for the official voluntary safety ID scheme (CG66). You register personal and vessel details and can enter trip plans which directly inform the HM coastguard of your journey. During the trip, the app tracks you, and in an emergency can send your location directly to coastguard search and rescue. It also alerts designated emergency contacts should you fail to arrive on time and allows them to track you while you’re on the water.
Signalling mirror/dye/whistle
Deciding what to use
The more of the kit on this list that you carry, the safer you’ll be. Build redundancy into your safety net – if your VHF fails what will you do then? A PLB or tracker with integrated SOS is a great investment as the last resort in a life-threatening situation.
Other considerations
- Tell someone where you’re going, what time you expect to be back.
- Notify the coastguard of your trip – they won’t stop you and would rather the first they heard of your trip was not something going wrong!
- Check your equipment – integrity of hull, rudder system, bailer, paddles.
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