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Aqua-Link Equipped
- Category: Safety & navigation
- Published on Thursday, 01 July 2010 18:23
- Written by Josh
For quite some time - almost my entire coastal kayak fishing career in fact - I've been skimping somewhat on safety gear. Ironically, I carry more safety gear than anyone I know. But that doesn't really excuse the one gaping hole in my safety-kit, which is some sort of Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (or Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon if you swing that way, or EPIRB if you like to keep things simple). For someone who goes out solo as far as I do as often as I do, having a last-ditch backup plan in the form of an EPIRB makes all the sense in the world. As a kayak fisho I haven't always needed one - even when I first started venturing out into the blue. Thats because I was generally always fairly cautious in the early days, playing it safe and sticking relatively close. But in the past few years I've ventured further and further off shore with increasing frequency. That gaping hole has been a monkey on my shoulder for most of that time so I'm pleased to reveal that the ape is gone. Kinda...
There are a few reasons it took me a while to invest in an emergency locator solution, partly because of the frequency switch a few years back (which held me back until the crossover took place, back when I first started thinking about them) and also because of the price. These things aren't cheap. Over time, however, I've come to realise that the peace of mind is worth it. The freedom to venture out wide off shore with relative safety has a price. It's taken me this long to manage to acquire one and even then I kind of had to barter my way to get it... but I digress.
In seeking out a suitable model there were several qualities I was looking for. They include being GPS equipped (which means that responding emergency services will get a more accurate fix on your position) and including a strobe light, which could mean the difference between being found or not in low-light situations. Battery life was also a consideration that I gave almost as much priority to size. In the end, however, I did have to compromise on battery life in order to get a unit that was compact enough to be carried in (and leashed to) my life vest pocket. And that particular compromise is somewhat controversial.
Here's the thing: the only device I could find compact enough to be suitably stored on my person at sea only has a 24 hour battery, instead of the Australian standard required 48 hours to be officially classified as an Epirb. Although the device works in exactly the same way as an Epirb (and emergency services will respond to it equally) it's not actually legal as an Epirb (and is instead classed as a 'PLB'), meaning that I could still be fined for not having an Epirb if more than 2 nautical miles off shore. After careful consideration I decided that the fine was irrelevant - my only concern here is personal safety and suitability to the task. So I went ahead and bought it anyway.
Most similarly priced Epirbs don't have the GPS receiver (let alone a 66 channel one), so aren't actually as accurate as this unit and almost everything I looked at was simply too chunky to carry on person in a kayak. Yes, it would be nice to have 48 hour battery life, but I figure that being in a kayak (going out of my way to avoid kayaking in conditions that would hamper search & rescue crews), it's highly unlikely that I'll be compromised at a distance that complicates search efforts.
So by buying the ACR Aqua-Link PLB, I haven't really covered myself legally, but I have enhanced the capability and dependability of my safety kit by a large margin and thats what counts.
1 hour ago
