Originally Posted By: Doug_Ritter
[quote=wildman800]at 250 miles offshore, I'd want a quality offshore life raft, as well as good PFDs for the entire crew. As for GPS, at least two with plenty of spare batteries.

Oh, and an EPIRB with PLB backup


I'd make darn sure that I added a survival or "Gumby" suit for everyone on board to that list, if I was that far off shore. A PFD is fine to keep you afloat, but it's not going to do much to save you from hypothermia. Water temperatures near San Francisco are probably well below 70 degrees fahrenheit, right now. Water temperatures around Nantucket are about 70 now. At a water temp of 70, you may have as little as 2 hours before you are unconscious or totally exhausted. You are unlikely to survive two days at that temperature in a PFD.

I worked on tugs that were mostly in brown water, rarely went into areas that were not considered Inland waters under the Rules of the Road, hardly ever left sight of land, and I cannot recall ever getting as much as 20 miles offshore. We always had Gumby suits on board.