NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: lifeboat navigation
From: Dan Allen
Date: 2002 Oct 23, 11:59 -0700
From: Dan Allen
Date: 2002 Oct 23, 11:59 -0700
On Wednesday, October 23, 2002, at 11:08 AM, Cliff Sojourner wrote: > so I guess this begs the question, what navigational items are > appropriate to pack in the ditch bag? Probably the most important thing is to have a registered EPIRB. After that a VHF handheld radio with lithium long-life batteries, and water. THEN traditional navigation items like a sextant, tables, etc. I've read many of these "Survive the Savage Sea" and "Adrift" books and the common theme from so many is not so much that you can find help as that they can find you. In many cases ships are visible to the stranded but the stranded are just so unobservable that they are passed unknowingly. Perhaps a small object that opens into a huge radar reflector would be wise to carry. The EPIRB lets somebody know to start looking, and the newer Inmarsat-E EPIRBs (see http://www.navtec.de/english/epirb1.htm) have a GPS in them that will lead people right to you. A VHF handheld radio would have saved many of these people if they could have called to a passing ship on it. Don't take one with a built-in rechargable pack because it will die, but get one that can take AA lithium batteries. These have a long shelf life and a couple of sets of these in with the radio would be the way to go. Dan
