These three articles seem to have the best coverage of this week's boat sinking in the Texas Gulf.

One of the two passengers survived 30 hours in the water after drifting for 50 miles, the other didn't make it.

Two marine radio Mayday calls went unanswered, no cell phone coverage available. The survivor spotted a manned oil rig about 3 PM and swam for it, but could not reach it. Coast Guard search was initiated ca. 27 hours after sinking, based on an overdue report from the survivor's wife, at 11:30 PM. Around 2AM the survivor reached an unattended oil rig and phoned his wife, asking her to have the Coast Guard phone him back. The Coast guard looked for his friend at the last reported position, but a fisherman found the body first (ca. 9 AM).

Information on Coast Guard Search

Fairly detailed account

Another fairly detailed account.

They were wearing PFD's and had extra flotation, but for some reason the PFD wouldn't keep the deceased's head out of the water -- not good enough for more than a couple hours. They were also lacking in signalling gear. Meeting the minimum Coast Guard/DoT requirements for gear is fine until you find yourself floating.

A PLB would have ended this ordeal quickly and a signal mirror may have gotten a response from the first manned rig. PFD's can have pockets where critical survival gear can be kept on your person. When you're floating in the middle of nowhere, signalling gear is critical. PLB, PLB, PLB

Good post rafowell, thank you.



As is so often the case.

Not all vests are equal. From an old story on the main ETS site:

http://equipped.org/997ditch.htm

I've discussed it before, but my PFD is a Switlik Modular Aircrew vest; it will hold your head upright. The equipment in my vest includes a PLB, marine VHF radio, signal mirrors, red laser and other items. Looking at my equip't list, I need to get a couple smoke flares -- too much reliance on electronics.

I'm getting an error when I try to link to the info on the CG search. It may be an expired link.

Boy, that happened fast. I wonder what the heck happened.

Yeah, a PLB and a signal mirror would sure have been handy. Good things to have attached to your life vest (or in pockets of the vest). That air crew vest sounds like a nice one.

I'm not a boater (more hiking and backpacking), but keeping things on one's person is a recurring theme as one dissects incidents like this.

HJ

HJ -- It is a nice flotation vest; I bought it for flying, but it would do well for sport fishing. I mostly fly over-water and figured if we were ever forced into a ditch situation, a radio would be nice to have in the life-raft.

A thread here (much like this one) had a boat sink on a short timeline and handheld marine VHF radio (one of the floating models) found its way to the surface and was used to make a mayday call after the survivors were in the water. As I recall, those guys had no PFD's, but the radio got them assistance in the way of a larger commercial vessel -- Channel 16 is a great emergency communication channel.

That thread gave me the idea to put a Marine VHF radio in my aviation survival vest. It's a nice radio, but I hope there is never a need for it.

My sea kayaking vest always contained three flares and a signal mirror - never had to use them, thank goodness.

I have said this many times, but it bears repeating. Flares SUCK as signaling devices.

Get a PLB or SEND and carry it, carry a good signal mirror, good flashlight (or laser flare) and a good whistle.

Anything less and you are gambling with your life.

Just be aware that a handheld VHF used by someone floating in a PFD will be have a very short effective range. VHF radios are essentially line-of-sight. Antenna height above the water of the radios at both ends of the coversation is the critical factor (wattage less so). The usual quoted maximum range of the typical 5 watt marine handheld is about 5-6 miles. But this assumes both sending and recieving stations are above wave height. If you are bobbing up and down in any sort of waves, your conversation is likely to be intermittent at best. In effect, anytime you can't see them, you can't talk to them.

The second thing to remember is that even if another boat has a VHF, there is no guarantee that they are monitoring Channel 16. They are supposed to, but many vessels don't. In particular, recreational vessels often turn the radio off, since listening to routine hailing transmissions all day can be annoying. USCG Stations on shore usually have a very high antenna, and monitor Ch 16 24/7, so they might hear your Mayday. Even then, however, when you are down in the trough between waves they probably won't recieve your transmissions.

Don't get me wrong, I think marine handheld VHF radios are a great idea. I always carry one when sea kayaking. Just don't get your expectations too high! And try to get that Mayday off before you are in the water.