Safety - EPIRB/PLB, flares, essential?

[FishnMiss]

I thought I'd start a topic.

With few unfortunate events/news (missing hikers and campers, capsized boat/kayak, divers got hit by a boat, etc), I'm becoming more and more concerned about safety.

Especially for kayak fisho and landbased fisho who fishes remote places. Do you have and always take an EPIRB/PLB? Where do you keep it? Backpack? Dry hatch?
What about flares?

Where can I find a good deal for PLB btw? They all seem to be in $250-$300 range.

Without being nasty, if you’re timid or afraid then don’t kayak fish.
I fish solo in kayak often and I’m not fussed if it’s day time or night time.
I always have safety gear on me and with my yak- Flares, PLB, VHF, Floating torch, Mob in w/proof Lanyard, Bilge pump, spare oar & safety flag.
At night I also use a bright 180 Deg LED Stern Light.
Read the weather, check tides, currents etc and go within your capabilities BUT if you’re not confident go with others more experienced and if you’re fearful/afraid or timid then stick to piers and LB

[FishnMiss]

I use the GME PLB & have an EPIRB also for Offshore.
Not sure how good this is but you can use this Spot Connect Gen3 device (below)

https://www.arnoldsboatshop.com.au/spot ... gJhNvD_BwE

[happyfriggincamper]

I think your post was well intentioned fishnmiss, but have misinterpreted sebs concern.

[cheaterparts]

Read the weather, check tides, currents etc and go within your capabilities BUT if you’re not confident go with others more experienced and if you’re fearful/afraid or timid then stick to piers and LB

A bit harsh ! I don't think there is anything fearful about trying to your self as safe as possible on the water
and finding guys with experience isn't always easy for a new guy to the sport

[Bugatti]

Read the weather, check tides, currents etc and go within your capabilities BUT if you’re not confident go with others more experienced and if you’re fearful/afraid or timid then stick to piers and LB

A bit harsh ! I don't think there is anything fearful about trying to your self as safe as possible on the water
and finding guys with experience isn't always easy for a new guy to the sport

I agree (maybe not on the harsh, as I think FishnMiss's intentions are admirable for looking after Seb), but yes, Seb has been a standout role model (even adjusted my moral compass pointing towards Sebland).

He has "voiced" his journey, questions, discoveries, achievements concerns and most of all the open willingness to find out things.

I have to say it again , , , , "All hail Seb "


Cheers, Bug


oh. ps Seb, great thread and I'm sure it has helped out an inordinate amount of people with similar questions & concerns

[Sebb]

Without being nasty, if you’re timid or afraid then don’t kayak fish.
I fish solo in kayak often and I’m not fussed if it’s day time or night time.
I always have safety gear on me and with my yak- Flares, PLB, VHF, Floating torch, Mob in w/proof Lanyard, Bilge pump, spare oar & safety flag.
At night I also use a bright 180 Deg LED Stern Light.
Read the weather, check tides, currents etc and go within your capabilities BUT if you’re not confident go with others more experienced and if you’re fearful/afraid or timid then stick to piers and LB

FishnMiss I'm sure you meant well.

Well, when I said more and more concerned, literally stressing the 'more'. I even wrote it twice!

I have done kayak fishing before, mostly solo. I have done a lot of solo fishing in remote places. Of course prepared, being careful, checked the weather and safe etc. So far, I'm well and alive thankfully.

With the recent news of unfortunate events, I'm becoming 'more' concerned. Questioning myself 'is this (safe) enough'.

If I was that 'scared/worried/timid', trust me I wouldn't spend $2000+ on a kayak. Which I just did few days ago.

The objective question/topic here is that if EPIRB/PLB/FLARES are essential, especially for the stuff I do (kayak fishing inshore, in the bay, fishing in remote places) and would like to hear from other more experienced people that knows more about EPIRB/PLB/FLARES.

I don't think anyone can be overly cautious about safety. Better safe than sorry.

[FishnMiss]

I wouldn't spend $2000+ on a kayak. Which I just did few days ago.

The objective question/topic here is that if EPIRB/PLB/FLARES are essential, especially for the stuff I do (kayak fishing inshore, in the bay, fishing in remote places) and would like to hear from other more experienced people that knows more about EPIRB/PLB/FLARES.

I don't think anyone can be overly cautious about safety. Better safe than sorry.

Hi SEB,
My apologies, I should have been more specific in my reply.
It's good to have more safety gear and not less and I firmly "personally" believe that a PLB should be worn by every kayak fisho and any boatie who fishes solo.

At the cost of only $250-$300 for 8-10 lifespan that's really cheap when considering the value of a life and it makes rescuing (If needed) so much easier.

Situations unfortunately do arise when forecasts are hopelessly wrong and you find yourself in sudden gusts of wind and 2m swells and it's good to know should you end up in strife you have the safety gear that could save you or even someone else. I wouldn't hesitate either to deploy my PLB or EPIRB if I saw someone else in trouble if I couldn't render assistance.
Having personally experienced some tricky situations, I made/make the comments that if a person was timid or overly cautious/fearful then perhaps kayak fishing should not be attempted.
It's a fantastic sport/hobby and can be very addictive, although personally I find it very re-energizing and some times helps me unwind.

If you can, then I would recommend getting yourself a PLB, VHF radio, waterproof phone pouch on a lanyard, floating torch. The EPIRB for anything offshore (Not just the 2nm regs) and flares.
Good to hear the discussion on safety as it is something not spoken about very often at large.
There are top blokes on here like Cheater, /Litres & Laneeds who know their stuff and maybe 1 or 2 others who could input & maybe at times you could hook up with them heading out. If you need help, I and others are around to help if we can.
My apologies once again for poor choice of words.
Cheers.

[Sebb]

I wouldn't spend $2000+ on a kayak. Which I just did few days ago.

The objective question/topic here is that if EPIRB/PLB/FLARES are essential, especially for the stuff I do (kayak fishing inshore, in the bay, fishing in remote places) and would like to hear from other more experienced people that knows more about EPIRB/PLB/FLARES.

I don't think anyone can be overly cautious about safety. Better safe than sorry.

Hi SEB,
My apologies, I should have been more specific in my reply.
It's good to have more safety gear and not less and I firmly "personally" believe that a PLB should be worn by every kayak fisho and any boatie who fishes solo.

At the cost of only $250-$300 for 8-10 lifespan that's really cheap when considering the value of a life and it makes rescuing (If needed) so much easier.

Situations unfortunately do arise when forecasts are hopelessly wrong and you find yourself in sudden gusts of wind and 2m swells and it's good to know should you end up in strife you have the safety gear that could save you or even someone else. I wouldn't hesitate either to deploy my PLB or EPIRB if I saw someone else in trouble if I couldn't render assistance.
Having personally experienced some tricky situations, I made/make the comments that if a person was timid or overly cautious/fearful then perhaps kayak fishing should not be attempted.
It's a fantastic sport/hobby and can be very addictive, although personally I find it very re-energizing and some times helps me unwind.

If you can, then I would recommend getting yourself a PLB, VHF radio, waterproof phone pouch on a lanyard, floating torch. The EPIRB for anything offshore (Not just the 2nm regs) and flares.
Good to hear the discussion on safety as it is something not spoken about very often at large.
There are top blokes on here like Cheater, /Litres & Laneeds who know their stuff and maybe 1 or 2 others who could input & maybe at times you could hook up with them heading out. If you need help, I and others are around to help if we can.
My apologies once again for poor choice of words.
Cheers.

Thanks. I knew you meant well. All good.
Agree, $250-$300 is a cheap 'life insurance'.

I'm still a newbie in kayaking (and kayak fishing), only been 18 months or so, hence I have a lot of questions sometimes. And yes, safety is always a good topic to be discussed as it should be on the top of the priority list.

I will get a PLB and strap it on the shoulder on the PFD. I can always take it when hiking etc too.

[Tim399]

I would strongly recommend all boaters use SafeTrx, a tracking, logging app developed by the Coastguard.

https://coastguard.com.au/safetrx/

It allows you to log trips, it send regular positional updates (using location service of your mobile device) and provides automated overdue notification and escalation.

The app and service is free, but I would urge people to make donation to a very worth organisation.

I think I saw this at vyak. Seems like a good app.

Something to keep in mind with some tracking apps (not sure about this one) is if they continuously take data from your phone like gps coordinates, it can drain you phone battery fairly quickly, similar to if you were using google maps, leaving you with one less means of communication.

[meppstas]

A side question on this topic - ive got a plb, primarily for no reception deep bush fishing trips. From memory, there was a sheet which had a link to a site where you can register your trip. Obviously this is an added support in help getting to you if its triggered - do people register their trips in those circumstances?

Meppstas, if you're reading - not sure if tassie has a option to do this, but if yes - do you register your trips officially?

Also interested if any vic based sea men (...chuckle) do this?

Mine is just an emergency personal location beacon hfc, just have to pull the aerial up and that sets it off... I think you can still go online an register a trip if you want to, but with the amount of trips I do I don't bother.. with the GPS set up they can pin point to around a meter of where I am..

cheers
Adrian