Epirb? flares? 2 way radio set to maritime channel, cell ph in a waterproof case?

[plummet]

In light of Gunnars near death experience.
What is the best notifucation safety device out there?
What do you use? what is the brand? advantages, disadvantages?

Any left field ideas? Carrying flippers? a small electric motor that can power you back if you cant swim?
Is there such a thing as deadman notification device? ie you stop moving so it notifies authorities?

[K-Roy]

when I go solo with foil, I always take a mobile phone under my vest...

[edt]

Cell phones often don't have reception even a little bit off shore. EPIRBs are the best but expensive. Fins wouldn't have helped Gunnar. Electric motors get wet. I would go with a whistle. Doesn't need batteries and can be heard a mile away. Jetscream whistle is $2.50. Even if you aren't in trouble and are trying to rescue someone having a jetscream whistle on you is great, because once you reach the victim and determine he or she needs help, you don't have to kite all the way back to the launch, you can immediately start signalling with your whistle. What are the odds that Gunnar bought a whistle after this incident? Pretty good I think.

[foilonfoil]

In light of Gunnars near death experience.
What is the best notifucation safety device out there?
What do you use? what is the brand? advantages, disadvantages?

Any left field ideas? Carrying flippers? a small electric motor that can power you back if you cant swim?
Is there such a thing as deadman notification device? ie you stop moving so it notifies authorities?

On water emergency communication starts with a marine radio. By law, all vessels will have a marine radio monitoring Ch16, so a hand held marine radio allows you to communicate with harbor patrol, coast guard, or vessels around you. Adding a cell phone is a nice bonus. PLB's and other emergency satellite devices are designed for life and death situation and their activation will bring a massive response. At a minimum, I will carry a marine radio in a radio dry bag when I leave the beach. When I do serious offshore adventures, a small drybag with short swim fins, whistle, strobe, pub, together with my hand held marine radio is not that much to carry.

[Slappysan]

The Ocean Signal PLB1 is nice because it's the size of a cell phone.

I have yet to see a VHF that wouldn't be overly annoying to carry (including the water proof bag).

[Foil]

Anyone who has been on this forum or the old flexifoil kite forum for many years(I used to be "kiteing colin" until I could not log in anymore) know that I have used pains wessex personal mini flares, a pack of 9 magnesium red mini rocket flares that give off an ear splitting bang and a bright red rocket flare which flies up to around 100 ft,
this pack of 9 flares is only the size of a big mobile phone and twice the thickness, so very easy to carry under an impact vest,
getting it wet is ok, but for years of use better kept in a pouch or a freezer bag, they have never failed me, as one german windsurfer knows who broke a boom and was out at sea drifting way out on the red sea, and in tenerife a french kitesurfer stuck out at sea with a downed kite that would not relaunch, both were in deep distress and deep trouble, but 3 flares later with 30 seconds gaps between each firing and my wife who is tuned into always listening for the distinctive crack of an exploding flare was on the binoculars and scanning the sea looking for me and any other flares I send up in emergencies, in the uk when a family of 3 were washed out on a rip tide and in a state of panic I used 3 more flares whilst 2 of us started dragging them back in with our kites, the flares alerted the public who called the coast guard who in turn sent a quick response land rover onto the beach to help sort them out, and finally I found out at sea in wales uk a family out water skiing who had hit a sand bank and were stuck, the good old flares never let me down, the skiers did not have any kit with them for this situation.
I tried a mobile phone once out at sea,in a pouch, it sort of worked, but it was just a trial and very frustrating to use as pauline could hardly hear me and I had to guess what she was saying as it was so hard to hear her, and this was on a calm day, another time i tried it there was no signal and I could see the beach where pauline was waiting for my call. however I have not tried a modern phone, I think the one I used was a "mars bar" phone.
after Gunners story I am ordering a new set of mini flares which is not easy as new laws of mailing them have been introduced.
I always carry my knife, upgraded to a propper marine type now I use a foil board and have been wrapped a few times, wear a rugby helmet and an impact vest.and try to get Pauline to the beach every time as safety look out which she does for everyone on the water, always looking out with our high power binoculars.

[pmaggie]

For me, always mobile phone in my vest. It may seem incredible that nobody notice someone who needs help but it happens. First of all, on our lake there's a time of the day, late afternoon, with a particular light condition: you just can see quite nothing at water level until you're very close. Second, the lake is big and there are a lot of schools teaching with boats, so it's very common to see people with their kite in the water unable to relaunch who are just waiting for the boat support. Third, the panorama from the spot is limited to the frontal zone, very very small in comparison to the kite zone that, particulary in case of foil boards, can extend for many kilometers upwind of the launching/landing area. You notice someone in troubles only if he's riding just in front of the beach, elsewhere only a boat or another kiter can help. So a cell phone imo it's mandatory.

[Dave_5280]

In light of Gunnars near death experience.
What is the best notifucation safety device out there?
What do you use? what is the brand? advantages, disadvantages?

Any left field ideas? Carrying flippers? a small electric motor that can power you back if you cant swim?
Is there such a thing as deadman notification device? ie you stop moving so it notifies authorities?

On water emergency communication starts with a marine radio. By law, all vessels will have a marine radio monitoring Ch16, so a hand held marine radio allows you to communicate with harbor patrol, coast guard, or vessels around you. Adding a cell phone is a nice bonus. PLB's and other emergency satellite devices are designed for life and death situation and their activation will bring a massive response. At a minimum, I will carry a marine radio in a radio dry bag when I leave the beach. When I do serious offshore adventures, a small drybag with short swim fins, whistle, strobe, pub, together with my hand held marine radio is not that much to carry.

foilonfoil - which marine radio models would you recommend?

I also saw another reason for marine radio over cell phone: "You can only call one person with a cell phone. With a marine radio, you can call everyone in range. Those who hear your signal can home in on your exact location—unlike with a cell phone."

[Sandras]

Cell phones often don't have reception even a little bit off shore. EPIRBs are the best but expensive. Fins wouldn't have helped Gunnar. Electric motors get wet. I would go with a whistle. Doesn't need batteries and can be heard a mile away. Jetscream whistle is $2.50. Even if you aren't in trouble and are trying to rescue someone having a jetscream whistle on you is great, because once you reach the victim and determine he or she needs help, you don't have to kite all the way back to the launch, you can immediately start signalling with your whistle. What are the odds that Gunnar bought a whistle after this incident? Pretty good I think.

After watching Gunnars video, I added a whistle in my harness. (best effort to benefit ratio)

[RagingGrandpa]

"Don't go out further than you can swim back" is a dying concept in the age of the hydrofoil. And the buddy system is not especially helpful either... if the wind dies, your buddy is floating there with you; if your gear breaks, he can only help by returning to shore and requesting 3rd-party assistance.

I have ambitions to use the HF in the same way as a non-motorized sailboat, on our local big body of water, Lake St Clair. A direct crossing is 5 miles or more.

I've been searching the forum- folks seem to be doing this kind of foil touring, but I didn't find a thread specifically for the topic of non-emergency recovery.

With a sailboat, plan B on my lake is phone for a tow, with marine VHF as a helping hand once they dispatch a motorboat. With kiting, the cell phone call part of this process is difficult if you're just floating in open water- even with a phone in a drybag, placing a call with adequate audio to transact business is iffy.

I have a marine VHF HT and am happy to carry it... its audio works better than a cellphone if you're swimming, but a 5W transmitter is unlikely to reach the tow service dock from all points in my kite route, and hailing other pleasure boaters begging favors for my non-emergency becalmed situation isn't very responsible.

Has anyone experienced a better solution?

Thx