Personal Safety Gear for SHTP

Continuing down the list of what to bring - I already have a pretty thorough and sea tested list for personal safety items (excluding sailing gear). The key difference and discussion point between single handed and crew is around the use of lifejacket.

Even doublehanded where you spend most of your time alone on deck or fully crew at night, or in rough weather, tethers are key to safety. Going overboard in the middle in the ocean with any kind of reduced visibility is a big no no. If you do need to go overboard for any reason, including a person bet and you have someone else on board, you want to carry a hand held VHF that is waterproof and that has GPS capabilities so you can guide the boat toward you. Unfortunately that doesn't work real well if you are unconscious.

A personal EPIRB will trigger somethign in a Coast Guard office but your crew would have to figure out clever ways to get to the information, and by that time, you may be drowned or too hypothermic to really care about being saved.

However, whenever there is one person nearby who can come and rescue you, in the event of tether failure, etc... a lifejacket is advisable as keeping afloat and serving energy, being able to be in the fetal position to keep warm can be the difference between life and death. I'd argue that in really cold waters, you should wear a full survival suit or not bother with a lifejacket. Take a gun instead if you don't like the idea of falling asleep from the cold within a min or so of falling overboard.

However if you are alone on the boat in the middle of nowhere, your safety is to remain with the boat. Unless the boat is so far underwater that your feet can't touch the deck, stanchion or any part of the standing rigging, you should figure out a way to be with your boat. That's where survival is. Anything else is trying to kill you more or less delectably. I know that when you feel seasick, it FEELS like you are dying, but it really is just an illusion donned on you by some clever Jedi.

When you are out of the boat and detached from the boat, the boat is gone...and when that is the case, staying afloat for a few more minutes buys you  few more minutes of anxiety but will not buy you survival. You should bring a lifejacket on board, no question. In the first days or the last days, you might be around boats - if you happen to be close to a boat and you know, wear it. With a hand held radio, if you were to fall overboard, you could hail the boat and they may be able to come and rescue you, otherwise, I'd argue that wearing a lifejacket alone in th emiddle of nowhere is futile and I would focus all the efforts on staying with the boat, and sink and drown as quickly as you can when that's not the case anymore...

From a personal safety standpoint (the boat comes with jacklines and higher lifelines to help with that...AND a deck and a cockpit that's as clean of lines as possible, etc...), that means, tether, tether and spare of the spare tether. So if there is any problem with any of your tether, you still have a tether.

And tethers with ALWAYS one end clipped on, whether you are clipped onto the other end. Whether inside or outside the boat, the tether is always attached to a solid unmovable part of the boat...tether not useful to you if tether is overboard...

For SHTP, I will be carrying


For when you believe there is a rescue option within your lifetime:

• Self inflatable lifejacket, ocean grade (ie keeps your head out of the water once it inflates) with a spare cartridge in the event of accidental blowup - with manual inflation possible, with harness capabilities for tethering
• Spare self inflatable lifejacket ocean grade with its own spare cartridge in the event that you lose the first one with harness capabilities for tethering
• Each of the above with a pair of crotches
• Spare regular Bay lifejacket in case both lifejackets above are dead in the water
• A whistle  (no idea how effective that is!!! And cheap!!)
• A personal strobe  (no idea how effective that is at night! and cheap!)
• Hand Held VHF with GPS/DSC calling capabilities
• Personal EPIRB (wearable)
• Spot Device (if you think your personal EPIRB needs a backup)

For all the time:

•  Dual end tether (yellow tether for Elise) + spare - double safety hook...There are ones that don't release on the chest end which force you to use your knife...Some people prefer because it is unlikely that the tether will accidently open. Interesting to hear feedback...

• Spare blue tether
• Spare climbing sling in the event of a jackline going 'woosh', or in the event your forestay breaks, or as a fast track of 'holy crap I need to be on the bow NOW to gyve that pole or take that kite down'
• A personal knife - last thing you want is to have a foot caught in a line that wants to drag you off the boat...A knife is also good of course if you need to cut off a line that's threatening to do more damage than good, like 'I need my kite down and for some reason my clutch won't release it' but that's not just 'personal safety'.

For when you don't want to/don't feel it is helpful to wear a lifejacket (and you like the freedom of movement you get when you don't)

• Harness (not lifejacket based) that's ocean graded that you can tether to and a spare...

That's about it! Anything that is critical absolutely critical for survival is likely to come with redundancy, particularly if it is light :)