by screeming reels » Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:14 am
Hi lads,
Regarding the vhf debate on this thread, as a person who is well experianced in maritime rescue i hope you take this advice as it will help you be recovered or assisted much quicker.
firstly, there is nothing wrong with using a mobile, but, only the recipient of the call would be able to help initially, and often from all mobile call alerts that we recieve there is often much confusion as to what is going on, ie no accurate position of your emergency.
mobile phones hate water of any kind and will fail with the slightest water ingress, they are not designed for the job of marine comms.
With the VHF, any other vessel in your area will immediately respond to any distress call on channel 16, if the coastguard dosn't respond first. they are trained to ask the right questions as to discover your position, they will know the local landmarks, thus allowing the rescue services to get to with the minimum of lost time.
I appreciate that when on such a small boat, space is a problem, but as you know marine handheld vhf's are getting smaller each year, and most are now waterproof to a depth of a couple of meters, just what you need if you have capsized, it will still work, your mobile will not.
If you are in cove or an isolated area we can home onto your signal from the helicopter, we cannot home the mobile phone.
So in summary, if you want a 90% better chance of getting rescued, get a VHF, yes you need a licence, but it is not difficult to obtain, and the subsequent cost of the licence is small.
Hope this explains a little about the pro's and cons of the mobile phone debate, its your neck !!! you have the choice.
Oh, and when going out in the kayak, or any craft, PLEASE let someone know where, when, how many onboard, and your return time, nobody ever plans to get into trouble!! it will save your life
regards
screeming reels