So far the Firefly 3, the ACR MS-2000, or the 'Princeton Tec: Aqua Strobe Light' look like they might be good choices for my husband. Thank you OBG, DesertFox and Hacksaw for sharing those. My husband has quite a bit of emergency gear for sailing, but not a good strobe light. He would have to decide which of those he likes best.

Do you think a good waterproof headlamp would be a good thing to also have on your person while sailing? Maybe one like one of these - though NOT to replace the strobe light: http://onkayaks.squarespace.com/waterproof-headlamps/

Or any of these waterproof Princeton Tec's (the link won't work): http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/sto...dkey=SiteSearch

I haven't found anything about how Roger Stone, the man who saved the 2 students, died. Just that he was apparently trapped. I did find this about him: http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/u-s-coas...ilboat-capsized

I remember posting here years ago about a similar story where a man was trapped underwater - here is the paragraph from that story: (Sail Magazine 12/2003 - special issue on safety at sea) where one of the survivors had to cut his safety line to keep from drowning. John Rogers, the survivor said: "I was on deck, clipped on with my safety harness, and suddenly found myself trapped under water in complete darkness. Fortunately, I had immediate access to my knife, as I could not get the safety clip on my tether undone and had to cut myself free. I found my way out from under the boat, inflated my PFD, and started looking around and calling for other survivors."

He said in the subtitle of this article: "In the ultimate survival test, it's the gear in your pockets that counts the most!"

Joy