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Don Gray (Warrior's Wish) in Bermuda 1-2

BobJ

BobJ

Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
2008 SHTP vet Don Gray will be racing in the Bermuda 1-2, starting June 5th. Don finished 2nd in his division in the 2007 B1-2. Go Warrior's Wish!

Another race currently underway is the OSTAR solo trans-Atlantic race. (Don says he wants to do OSTAR someday too). I'm rooting for young Oscar Mead on the J/105, since it's a big sister to my boat. Oscar is 18 years old.

If you want to get an idea how sloppy it can get in the English Channel, take a look at the video on Oscar's site of Solo Channel Week 2008, esp. starting at about 2:30 on the video. (FWIW, the top J Boat in that race was a J/92.)

http://www.teamoscarmead.co.uk/PhotosVideo.html
 
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Well, ARE ePIRB better than nothing?

This event just confirms my suspicion that ePIRB has gone the way of dinosaurs. Pity that it is the "accepted" technology.
 
I think the technology is okay (as long as it has a built-in GPS), but Don's accidental activation is an example of why I have a Class II (manually activated) EPIRB mounted inside the companionway, reachable from the cockpit, rather than a Class I (float free/automatically activated) mounted out in the cockpit.

The only benefit I can see to the externally-mounted float free type is that it sets itself off if the boat sinks. At that point I'll either have the EPIRB with me in the life raft or I'll be dead. Thoughts?
 
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BobJ said:
I think the technology is okay (as long as it has a built-in GPS), but Don's accidental activation is an example of why I have a Class II (manually activated) EPIRB mounted inside the companionway, reachable from the cockpit, rather than a Class I (float free/automatically activated) mounted out in the cockpit.

The only benefit I can see to the externally-mounted float free type is that it sets itself off if the boat sinks. At that point I'll either have the EPIRB with me in the life raft or I'll be dead. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had the same concern about the float-free variety, that they might be prone to accidental free floating, so mine is also mounted just inside the companionway. I suppose if the boat sank so rapidly I couldn't get to it then I would be screwed, but I would think if I had at least 30 seconds I could both get the raft and the EPIRB no problem.

- Mark
 
GPS input

Happy 4th July to all of you from sunny Guernsey!

FWIW, at least Don knows his EPIRB works....!

I totally agree with Bob and Mark's comments... ACR have kindly donated (!) their all-singing, all-dancing top-of-the-range EPIRB (GlobalFix iPro) to the new 'Nereida' and I chose the manually-deployed version - which Don's experience, I think, demonstrates to be the better choice - certainly for single-handers (see Mark's comments!).

I now have the seemingly-simple job of figuring out how to feed it GPS info from the chart-table, which it's fixed above, close to the companionway. (It has a removable lead provided for GPS input.) The idea is that if it's constantly fed with GPS info, it will immediately give accurate position data if it's deployed, rather than having to get a fix from a 'cold start' - which is, presumably, what Don's was trying to do... unsuccessfully??

I hope you're all having a great sailing season. I'm hoping to get out and about in "Nereida" soon - once I get my missing anchor chain onboard ... I'm somehow not keen to go anywhere without it....!
 
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