PLB / "osobní EPIRBS"boja

[Macek0585]

Neny a nebylo by dobré si utřepat na co to vlastně máš a co od toho čekáš?

[Neny]

Tak nato, som prave zalozil, toto vlakno. Chcem len ziskat info o dostupnosti a funkcnosti zachrannych prostriedkov.

[Macek0585]

Nemyslím tím co se dá koupit, takových krámů je na světě hromada. Spíš co od toho očekáváš Ty -jestli Tě někdo uslyší když spadneš do vody, jestli Tě někdo a kdy vytáhne atd. Taky počítej se zpožděním - jestli spadneš do desetistupňové vody tak Ti je Epirb celkem na ho..., na tom moři bych jej bral spíše jako prostředek k nalezení záchranného ostrůvku nebo člunu. No a aby moje máti dostala SMS že se máchám v prosinci v Baltu, když tam je nula a sněží - tak toho bych ji asi celkem ušetřil....

[FordPerfect]

Neny, SPOT nie je satelitny telefon. Pouziva simplexny kanal na Globalstar. Dokaze iba vysielat, "prijima" iba GPS signal.

Porovnanie (z hladiska pouzitia na mori):
(+ vyhoda, - nevyhoda, ? neviem sa rozhodnut)

PLB (Cospas-Sarsat):
+ 406 MHz, 5W vysielaci vykon
+ 100% pokrytie povrchu zemegule
+ vodotesna, stavany a certifikovany pre pouzitie na mori v tazkych podmienkach
+ umoznuje priblizne urcenie polohy aj bez GPS signalu (Dopplerov efekt z LEO satelitu)
? vstavana Lion bateria, vydrzi 24/48 hodin, pohotovostna doba 5rokov
+ po aktivacii je poplach smerovany priamo na SaR (search and rescue) agentury
- vyssia nakupna cena
- vymena baterie a kontrola u vyrobcu (vyssie naklady) raz za 5 rokov
+ ziadne prevadzkove naklady
- problem s registraciou a prevadzkou - Slovenske (asi aj Ceske) specifikum

SPOT:
- 1.6GHz, 0.4W vysielaci vykon
- vyuziva LEO konstelaciu Globalstar (nepokryva 100% povrchu zemegule)
- urceny pre pouzitie na pevnej zemi
- bez GPS signalu nie je mozne urcit polohu
? AA baterie Energizer, 7 dni v 911 mode
+ moznost posielat SMS a email notifikacie ze si OK, moznost trackingu na mape
+ nizsia nakupna cena
- rocne prevadzkove naklady

Z tohoto porovnania mi vychadza, ze PLB je pre zachranu na mori vyhodnejsia volba. Pokial chces zariadenie pouzivat aj na pevnine a ide ti hlavne o to ako dat spravu o tom ze si/nie si OK na miestach kde nie je pokrytie GSM signalom je vhodnejsi SPOT.

[Neny]

Dik za opravu! Asi som sa zle vyjadril. Viem ze sa Spot neda pouzit ako skutocny sat.tel. bo nema primac. Ale ohladne toho PLB uz su aj z GPS. Cakam na mail od CZ predajcu tohoto PLB. Vraj to bezne registruju. No podrobnosti asi az zajtra. http://www.mcmurdo.co.uk/products/produ ... &product=7

[FordPerfect]

Ano, myslim ze EPIRB/PLB bez GPS uz najdes tazko. Ale: mozes byt na mieste kde jednoducho nedostanes fix, (napriklad v norskom fjorde) s horami smerom na juh, alebo sa americky prezident rozhodne vypnut signal, alebo jednoducho tato cast hardware prestane fungovat. EPIRB je mozne aspon priblizne lokalizovat aj bez funkcneho GPS.

Uprimne povedane, myslim si ze PLB nepotrebujes pokial nie si singlehander. Pokial plavas s posadkou a porusis prve pravidlo namorneho jachtingu (nevypadnut z lode) je dolezitejsie, aby sa posadka dozvedela ze si vypadol z lode, napriklad pocas hliadky ked ostatni spia a zacala tu situaciu riesit. A v tomto ti PLB nepomoze. Systemom pre kontrolu posadky a pre pripad vacsich problemov celej lode aj EPIRBom by mala byt vybavena lod, ale pokial sa budete plavit v blizkosti pobrezia obyvaneho pobrezia tak kvalitna vodotesna a pripadne plavajuca rucna VHFka sa mi zda dolezitejsia.

Ked som sa rozhodoval ja, radsej som investoval do kvalitneho PFD (nafukovacia vesta) s integrovanym harnesom, rucnej VHF, a vodotesnej rucnej GPS s mapami. EPIRB si kupim az na vlastnu lod a aj o tom este pouvazujem. Nakoniec, Blondie Hasler, spoluzakladatel OSTARU ked sa ho pytali bezpecnostne vybavene a vysielacku odpovedal iba: "It would be more seemly to drown like a gentleman."

[dan]

to macek ¨..Nicméně k tomu spuštění záchranné akce - podle toho, co jsem ze systému pochopil akci nespouští úřad ve kterém je registrace ale středisko poblíž místa havárie..
to je pravda,nejdriv ale overuje ze se nejedna o nejaky falesny poplach.vetsinou telefonatem na kontakt ktery jsi uvedl ve formularich.takze pokud aktivujes boji treba na jadranu,zachranou akci spousti asi stredisko v bari.automat jim posle tve info a oni zavolaji treba tve babicce,aby si overili ze mas opravdu dovolenku a flakas se nekde na lodi.pacto talosi cesky moc neumi,tak bude komunikace zrejme vedena v anglictine.pravdepodobne si moc nepokecaji.me by zajimalo,jestli te pri registraci epirbu na namornim urade upozornili na skutecnost,ze by tve kontakty mely komunikovat v anglictine.ono je to totiz jinak asi k nicemu... pokud by jsi sem mohl nekdy naskenovat ty podklady tak by to bylo fajn,dik.

[vlado]

Neny ak sa chces rozhodnut co ti zachrani zivot tak si precitaj tento clanok -tvojmu problemu sa venuje hlavne v casti c.3
inak velmi poucne pre kazdeho jachtara v U.K to medializovali a on -Woods-prinasa vlastny pohlad-spatnu rekonstrukciu kde spravil chyby a preco ich spravil .myslim ze su 3 a vsetky v spravil v DOBROM umysle -dobrom su uvodzovky.....aj s tym ako niekto spominal registraciu a potom spatnu vazbu -cize komunikaciu zachranarov s rodinov-cize koho uvediete pri registracii EPIRB aby vedel komunikuvat-nie v CZaleboSK ale anglicky pri rozbehnuti zachrannej akcie cez epirb...
CAST1
Eclipse's Perfect Storm - as it happened

If you read UK newspapers you may have seen some totally erroneous reports about our latest problems with Eclipse so here is the truth (for obvious reasons there aren't many photos to accompany this series of articles)

Please note, the following account was written on board USS Ford and after only 3 hours sleep. Even so, it formed the basis of the Practical Boat Owner article about our storm.

As some of you probably now know, we are no longer on board Eclipse but on navy frigate USS Ford where, apart from saving our lives, everyone has been really friendly and welcoming.

We left Nicaragua on Friday 13th, which probably didn't help matters, and had a very frustrating sail along the coast of El Salvador and then Guatemala. Frustrating, as the weather was really changeable. For example we went from motoring to sailing under reefed genoa alone in under 2 minutes. But we did have some nice sailing for a couple of hours each day - then followed by several hours of motoring. So it was taking longer than we wanted to get to Mexico and we were both getting tired, but Jetti, as always, was preparing good food.

There was a time constraint as we knew there would be a bad gale coming through the Gulf of Tehuantepec on Wednesday afternoon, and we had wanted to get past that area by then. Sadly we didn't quite make it.

The wind got up very quickly from south 7-10 knots to north west 30. As we got away from land the wind increased more. There are several proven, accepted, techniques for handling bad weather in a catamaran. If the wave and wind are not too severe, one can just heave to or take down all sail and lie ahull. But as the wind increases and especially as the wave height increases, this is no longer a safe option. So the next stage is either to run before a gale towing warps, or to lie to a sea anchor.

The problems with the former are that a) you are going with the weather system so you stay in it longer b) if the wind increases you eventually cannot go slowly enough so you begin to surf and overtake the waves ahead c) you end up a long way downwind, at say 50 miles a day d) it would mean that I would be hand steering all the time, as Jetti is not experienced (or in the event as we found later, strong enough) to steer in big seas. So I have always preferred the sea anchor streamed from the bows. However, in 45 years of sailing and around 70,000 of offshore sailing, I have never had to stop sailing because of bad weather.

So it had all been theory for me, until now.

Anyway, at 8pm we decided to stop sailing and use our parachute sea anchor. I had first got this when we did the Azores race in Banshee in 1987, but had only ever used it for practice. This was the first time for real. It took sometime to sort out the bridle so that the boat would stay head to waves. It tended to swing 40 degrees each way and was scary (or so I thought at the time) when we got near-abeam of the waves. Also, from time to time the parachute would collapse, and we'd drift backwards until it reset, which was even more worrying. We spent the night like that, with no sleep of course. Next morning the wind and sea was much worse. Certainly a full gale, but not so bad that I thought the Eclipse was in real danger.

Tests, theory and practice have shown that a catamaran can only capsize if it beam onto waves that are as high as the beam of the boat. So we are 100% OK in waves under 20 feet high, and these were 10 feet. I kept checking the warps and bridles but as the boat swung, the loads on the bridles were very high and eventually first one and then the other 12mm anchor warp bridle broke. Apart from holding the boat into waves the bridle also spreads the load onto 3 wear points. Now, all the load was on one bow roller and the parachute warp was beginning to chafe. I rigged up a second line with rolling hitches, which was rather wet to do on the foredeck. At some stage the forward trampoline started to tear but was still useable with care. (I had planned to get a new one this year as they have about a 5 year life). The wind and sea state had been steadily increasing. Every hour we said, "It can't get windier can it?" By now it was probably a steady 40 knots and 10-15 foot seas breaking over the boat every 10 minutes or so. Our safety depended on our parachute sea anchor holding. But in case it failed, I set up the 2 main anchors to be used as drogues behind the boat.

Surprisingly it was not the warp that broke, but the parachute. This was a 10ft cargo-style parachute specially made for use as a yacht sea anchor. I pulled it on board, the boat drifting beam on at this stage, and on quick inspection found it had shredded and that several parachute lines had pulled out. As I said earlier, I had only used the sea anchor in calmer conditions for an hour or so, just to practice. It seemed an excellent idea, the boat would just bob up and down, just like being on a conventional anchor, but in a real gale the loads were much worse, and the boat was being pulled and jerked as the waves passed. I didn't like it, and I don't think I would recommend a sea anchor again. We threw the anchors over the stern and also added the shredded sea anchor.

It was very difficult to steer, but eventually I got the boat moving downwind. We were sailing at 5-6 knots despite the drogues. We let out more warp which helped slow us to 3-4. I think that might have still meant surfing down some of the bigger waves which would have the potential for a disastrous broach. However the real problem was now the following waves could catch us up and break into the cockpit. For the first time ever on any catamaran I've sailed we had to close the companionway door. The first wave broke into the cockpit. The second wave was much bigger and swamped the cockpit. Even worse it filled the dinghy which we keep in davits. The water weight broke some of the straps, and we had to cut the dinghy loose and so lost it.

Clearly running downwind was not an option. So we now decided to try towing the anchors from one stern. This would allow the boat to lie at a 45 degree angle to the waves. Despite this temporary arrangement it actually seemed to work better than the sea anchor had done. Of course all the time the wind was increasing. We went below again to recover and see how the boat was handling the conditions. An hour later the wind suddenly got up even more. It was now screeching and the rig began vibrating which I had only noticed once before, when tied up in a marina during a 70 knot gale. The waves were now often over 20 feet so it was definitely getting to the dangerous, life threatening stage.

We began to discuss the option of abandoning ship. Unfortunately our Raymarine wind speed indicator was obviously only designed for inshore sailing because it was still reading 32 knots. So I don't know how windy it really was. By 1pm the waves were now consistently over 20 feet, maybe occasionally 30 feet. I know I tend to underestimate wave heights, partly because everyone normally over estimates. For example when sailing in Alaska in the summer I thought we were in 2-3 ft waves, but our skipper wrote 6ft waves in the log. It was getting more and more serious as there didn't seem to be any limit to how high the wind and waves could get.

By 1.30pm the wind really got up. The sea state changed and the whole surface was covered in flying spume, all the wave tops were blown off. It was much the worse conditions I have ever seen, even when standing on a beach looking out at 100 knot winter gales. When I went outside I couldn't stand up except by holding to a tether line. I could feel the skin on my face distorting in the wind. I guess there is a known wind speed when that happens, but I'd never felt it before.

That was when we decided to send out a Mayday, as we knew it would be several hours before any chance of rescue.

Of course it was particularly hard for me as Eclipse is not insured. And of course no one likes the idea of abandoning a boat - usually boats are picked up later undamaged. I can always build another boat, and I had earlier said to Jetti that we might not survive. Accordingly we set off our EPIRB but also called Pip Patterson of the Multihull Centre in the UK using our satellite phone. He gave us the UK's Falmouth Coastguard phone number, and we called the Coastguard direct. We called back every hour to check on progress and to give a weather update and position check. We heard that Mexico was sending out a launch to stand by.

By 6pm it was dark so we could no longer see the waves. We could still hear them crashing onto the boat, but so far, apart from the lost dinghy and torn but useable trampoline there was no other damage. The inside was beginning to become a mess. Normally on a catamaran one can leave cups on the table; there is no need for fiddle rails, etc. Now everything was being thrown around. There seemed little point in putting everything back in place, so most just stayed on the floor or was put on the bunks. The inside stayed dry though, no water had got below except for the one wave when we were running downwind and lost the dinghy. So it was dry and warm below. But all the time a wave/wind squall could have our name on it. We wouldn't survive a capsize.

We were still expecting the Mexican coastguard to call up on the VHF to say they were enroute. So it was a great surprise to hear a female American voice at 11pm saying she was in a helicopter and 10 miles from us. This was the first we knew that the US was involved. We kept in radio contact as they flew in and then set off a flare and made visual contact, although I suspect the pilot had seen us long before through their night vision equipment.

The last book I had read was Perfect Storm, so I knew all about the skills and training of naval rescue personnel. We had earlier prepared some dry bags which we filled with passports, money, ship papers. All those can be replaced, so what else? What I really wanted to take was my computer with all my work on it. But I felt it was too big. In hindsight we could have taken more. We tied the bags to each other and put on shoes and inflated our lifejackets.

The US navy helicopters have a SAR (search and rescue) swimmer who jumps out of the helicopter and swims to the stricken vessel with a lifting strop. It looked very scary to me. A brave man. Eclipse was still moving around quite violently in the seas, but the conditions were fortunately not nearly as bad as they had been when we put out the Mayday. Ironically we probably were over the worst of the gale.

Jetti was the first to jump into the sea and into the swimmer's waiting arms. Five minutes later it was my turn. As I was hoisted out, I looked down and back at Eclipse and hoped I would see it again.

I had not flown in a helicopter before. They look big on the outside, but are cramped inside and very noisy. Our flight back to the USS Ford lasted about 30 minutes. We watched the in-flight movie: the night vision viewer of the frigate as we approached was fantastic. Jetti was shown the weather radar and saw that Eclipse was right in the centre of the storm. We landed on the ship and faced a welcoming party of apparently the whole ship's company, despite it now being 3 in the morning.

A quick debrief, medical check, shower, and then into a set of navy issue jumpsuits. Next, a massive breakfast. We are not sure if it was put in front of us as a test, but it was the biggest meal I've ever eaten. Jetti finished her plates as well. But then neither of us had eaten anything for 36 hours except a few slices of bread.

Then a 3 hour sleep. In the morning we had discussions with the crew. The helicopter pilot said she had great difficulty controlling her helicopter as she was flying at 50 knots to stay in position and going up and down 20ft to stay with the waves. Independent confirmation that it was still a full gale, if not F9. Even so, it was far less severe than earlier in the day. She also said it was her first real sea rescue. She, like the swimmer, had only done simulations in weather this severe. She also admitted that her helicopter had not been airworthy the day before as the rotor blades were being changed.

We met the captain who said he had been steaming his frigate away from the area to keep away from the bad weather. He considers this area worse than sailing round Cape Horn. Even now as I write on board USS Ford, it's hard to keep in my chair as the ship is rolling and pitching. Yet, looking outside, the sea state looks relatively flat compared to what we had been in yesterday.

We have 24 hours before getting to port. We are desperate to see if we can salvage Eclipse. It is undamaged and will probably float for ever. Currently it is only 50 miles from a big fishing harbour, and we hope to find a salvage operator there to tow Eclipse in.

Despite all that happened, I was very impressed with the seaworthiness of Eclipse. No real damage (we didn't like our dinghy anyway), and the boat had survived a major storm without capsizing.

Certainly life would have been much more uncomfortable on a monohull, and ultimately I think had we been on one, we would still have put out a Mayday, as did the yacht in the Perfect Storm.

I'll finish this by thanking all the crew on USS Ford. There will be more about them later. We don't know what the future holds now. In a few days we will know about Eclipse. If it is salvaged, clearly we have to sort that out. If not, we will fly home.
Later, when back in the UK I wrote two more articles, which were then severely edited by Yachting Monthly prior to publication
CAST2
Here's a question you might get in a seamanship exam.

You are sailing a 32ft catamaran along the Pacific coast of Mexico, and are now well into the Gulf of Tehuantepec, keeping close to shore, as the books insist you should. At dusk the light NE wind becomes a strong north westerly, so the swell, instead of being off shore, begins to run parallel to the coast. There is no moon, thus when night falls it is pitch black. Although you can't see it, you know you are close to shore, for the boat is being hit by spray, blown back by the waves breaking on the beach. The nearest safe harbour is 80 miles away.

Do you:

a) Anchor? However you will be anchored less than 100ft from the shore, and will have to spend the night just outside the surf line, pitching and rolling in a big cross swell.

b) Carry on sailing close to the beach? But there's an unmarked reef ahead, and you have already passed inshore of several large sunken trees, left-overs from Hurricane Stan.

c) Get some sea room?

We chose c) Which was the wrong answer.

But at the time it seemed the seamanlike thing to do, so we began to sail further out to sea. Less than an hour later the wind picked up to over 30 knots on the nose.

So another exam question:

You've already been sailing for four days in very changeable weather and had little sleep. There is plenty of sea-room and no shipping, so do you now:

a) Stop sailing until dawn?

b) Carry on? Even though it would mean hand steering all night. It also means you will be very tired next day, when you will have to not only enter a strange harbour, but also deal with the notoriously complex Mexican immigration procedures.

We chose a) Another wrong answer.

Crossing Biscay during a November gale we had been able to sail Eclipse to windward, while sitting inside, steering using the autopilot remote control. In another gale off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, we ran before the wind. In May last year I helped sail a 35ft Banshee catamaran down Channel. The SW wind held steady at over 40 knots for several hours as we beat into 5m high waves round Portland Bill. But these were all "yachtsman gales"; now we were to face something very different.

There are 3 proven techniques for riding out bad weather. Lie ahull, run before, or lie to a parachute sea anchor. The first two would have meant drifting downwind and further away from our destination, so we decided to deploy our parachute sea anchor.

Parachute sea anchors

I bought mine when I raced in the 1987 AZAB on a Banshee. When I had practiced using it in winds of 35 knots and moderate waves I had been very impressed as to how quietly the boat lay; however this was to be the first time it had ever been used in anger. Nigel Irens told me that he had once damaged his trimaran's rudder as it was swept backwards when lying to a sea anchor, so first I made sure that Eclipse's were centered and well lashed. It then took some fiddling to set up the parachute bridles so that Eclipse would stay bow on to waves, but once I was satisfied, we went below for the night.

The sketch also shows the swivel between parachute and warp which stops the warp twisting up, and the fender. This not only indicates the parachute's position, but more importantly keeps it near the surface. Some people deploy fenders that are too small, you need at least 35 kgs of buoyancy, or something like a 1m long fender.

Looking back, that first night was actually OK, even though the wind and waves built up steadily; by next morning the wind was probably around 45 knots and the waves 3-4m high. Eclipse was being pulled up and over, indeed often right through, the steepest waves. As the day wore on the wind kept on increasing, while the waves, which by mid morning were around 4 - 5m high, remained very short and steep. Most had big breaking crests which looked more like those seen on a surf beach than what one might expect offshore. So the sketch accompanying my PBO article was misleading as that showed 15m high waves 70m apart - in the worst of the storm we actually experienced 6-9m waves 30m apart.

Not surprisingly, by now there were huge loads both on the 25mm main warp and also on the bridles. Maybe the 50m of warp I had let out wasn't enough, but it proved totally impractical to lengthen it in those conditions. Anyway, conventional wisdom is to have the parachute in the next wave train, which is what we had.

Eclipse was being washed backwards in the biggest waves, which was not really surprising, as when I went onto the foredeck I could see that Eclipse was coming clear out of the water back to the mast. Worse, we were surging to and fro and swinging nearly broad-side to the waves. Clearly something had to give, there was just too much load. Finally first one and then the other bridle broke. I used the main anchor warp to make up new bridles because they helped spread the loads and prevented some of the swinging. Mind you, it was hard work tying knots on a foredeck which was alternately going underwater and then leaping 3m into the air!

Our parachute was about 3.5m diameter. In hindsight I should have bought a bigger one. Jim Duerden of Top Cat Cruising has experimented with different parachute sizes. He found that while 3.5m diameter was OK for a narrow beam 9.5m catamaran, when he tried it on a wide beam 11m catamaran it surged around just as Eclipse did. He later changed to a 5.5m diameter chute and solved the problem. Bigger might be better, but of course everything costs money, and, even for safety gear, that's always limited (you're looking at around GBP1000 for a 6m chute and 100m warp).

However it's clear that even between the major manufacturers there is disagreement about the correct size of sea anchor. For example, for a 32ft/5 ton boat Paratech, (www.seaanchor.com) recommend 3.6m, while Fiorentino, (www.paraanchor.com), recommend a 2.7m diameter. Still others say 6m.

Both suppliers and users also have different opinions about warp and bridle lengths. Some recommend a main warp as thin as 12mm (our broken bridles were this diameter), some say use 30m long bridles, but most say use bridles about the length of the boat - which is what we did. Some people have said you can make a sea anchor from a storm jib - but I doubt that you could actually rig it up during a storm and anyway, I don't think it would work. Even our 3.5m diameter parachute had an area of about 12 sq m, much more than our 5sq m storm jib.

As is now well known, our parachute eventually broke. Although 20 years old it was heavily made, and certainly stronger than others I've looked at. Even so, when I pulled the remnants in I found some of the canopy lines had pulled out and the top had shredded.

Running Before

We were no longer able to stay bows on to the weather, so we now tried running before the waves. Bernard Moitessier said one should do this as fast as possible to ensure that the boat keeps ahead of any overtaking waves. That's what the Smeetons tried, but they famously pitchpoled, not once, but twice. Robin Knox Johnston has said that Suhali was too slow to be really safe in the Roaring Forties.

Although Eclipse is directionally stable and has regularly surfed at 16 knots, high speeds are only safe when running before a big swell which has long wave lengths. More usually one needs to sail slowly.

To do this one uses drogues; it doesn't really matter how sophisticated they are, they just need to slow the boat. Fortunately I had already prepared warps to stream from the stern for just this eventuality. I led one to each genoa winch so that it would be easy to adjust their lengths. It only took a few minutes to deploy them, and then later, to slow us down from 6 knots to 4, I added the remains of the parachute and its warp.

Again, running before a storm towing warps was a new experience for me. I found Eclipse very heavy to steer, Jetti wasn't strong enough. Clearly I at least would have to stay outside - we couldn't use the autopilot because we needed to avoid the waves ahead.

However it was immediately obvious that running before these very steep, high waves wasn't safe. Had we gone "over the edge" it would have been like falling down a waterfall, and no boat could survive that. So we had to sail slower than the waves, which meant that the breaking waves overtook us. The first wave splashed into the cockpit, but the second was much bigger and washed over the whole boat. It filled our dinghy - which we carry in davits - so we had to cut it free and thus lost it. Some water even got below to wet the carpet. We couldn't continue like that, so now we had only lying ahull as an option.

Lying ahull

Lying ahull means that not only does the hull structure get battered by the breaking waves, but more importantly, the boat will lie broadside to the approaching waves.

For 15 years I have been the "Multihull Expert", sitting on the international "Stability and Buoyancy" committee that has been defining stability standards, in part for the RCD. Thus I know that, unless the wave height exceeds the boat's beam, a boat is safe when lying beam-on to steep, breaking waves. When such waves exceed the beam then there is a risk of a monohull being knocked down or of capsizing a multihull.

So we cautiously luffed Eclipse and lashed the rudders to lee. We streamed the warps off the windward stern, my idea being that, when a wave hit, with the daggerboards raised, the bows would be pushed to lee while the drogues would keep the boat moving in a constant direction. The waves were now averaging 6-8m high, however Eclipse has a 6m beam, so to start with, at least, we would be safe.

Unfortunately, statistics show that one in every 1000 waves is twice the average height. If a wave passes every 30 seconds then that extra high wave occurs about once every 8 hours. In total we were 28 hours at the mercy of the storm, so were certainly pushing our luck. Maybe a little learning is a dangerous thing, but knowing the statistics was a major reason for deciding our lives were in danger.

Despite Eclipse being undamaged and upright, we called a Mayday. Ten hours later we were picked up by a helicopter from USS Ford.

Conclusions

Had the wind been "only" a steady 45-50 knots we would have had no problems. But it was very much more than that. Indeed the helicopter pilot reported flying at 50 knots just to keep station and going up and down 6m to stay a constant height above the waves. That's at least F10. Even so, we thought that the weather had improved significantly since earlier in the day.

So how windy was it at its worst? I don't know; our Raymarine ST40 refused to read more than 32 knots. But I do know that my face was distorted by the wind and that I couldn't stand up without holding on. At one stage the whole sea turned white - so was that F10-11, 60 knots - or more?

It was very sad to lose Eclipse. Fast, comfortable and safe, Eclipse had been our home for 5 years. But we are still alive and eager to build and cruise another catamaran.

CAST3
Eclipse's Perfect Storm Part 3

"What's the worst that can happen?" asks Jetti.

My first instinct is to say, "We could die", but I think for a minute and then say "One of us might die."

Very quietly Jetti says "Isn't it time to set off the EPIRB?"

We knew any help would be some time in coming and, as there seemed no prospect of any improvement in the weather, I reluctantly agreed. I ripped off the EPIRB cover (and was slightly startled when the whip antenna sprung out) and fired it off. Immediately it began to flash and beep. Very encouraging! I also activated our DSC VHF radio. We knew that was a forlorn hope though, as it was unlikely that there were any vessels within 20 miles of us.

We were on our 32ft catamaran Eclipse in the middle of the Gulf of Tehuantepec - renowned as the "Bay of Biscay" of the eastern Pacific, having been lying first to a sea anchor and then a-hull for over 18 hours. The wind and sea state had been steadily increasing since dawn. I'd just been outside to check on conditions and found to my horror that the wind was now strong enough to distort my face. The wind was screeching and the rig vibrating in a way which I had only experienced once before, when safely moored in a marina in 70 knots of wind. The waves were now up to 30ft, and breaking over us more frequently. The sea was covered with spume and looked like those photos in Heavy Weather Sailing that give one nightmares.

Fortunately, despite the atrocious conditions Eclipse was coping well without any help from us, there was no damage and only a little water had got below. However, as we were on a relatively small catamaran, capsizing was a possibility. Although we were warm and dry, we could hardly hear ourselves talk.

A couple of years ago I bought a second hand Iridium phone, primarily for sending emails using the Mailasail service. I also used it occasionally to phone home at birthdays and Christmas but now it was to prove its worth, for I used it to phone Pip Patterson in the UK. I knew his number by heart, and he knew the boat - having sailed with me across the Atlantic. Furthermore as an experienced sailor he wouldn't get panicked by a call from a yacht in distress at sea.

When you register your EPIRB and DSC sets you give a contact name in case of emergency. Don't give your, possibly elderly, non-sailing parents. Choose someone who can actually be of help. Most people don't realise that the UK Coastguard also put a huge reliance on their CG66 form, so you should/must fill one out and also keep it updated. Fortunately this is easy to do by going to https://mcanet.mcga.gov.uk/public/cg66/

Pip gave me the UK's Falmouth Coastguard phone number, so I called and explained our predicament. We then phoned Falmouth every hour to give a weather and position update. Pip also immediately started contacting Mexican marinas and harbour masters by email. This meant that while we were still on our rescue ship we were able to start the ball rolling looking for Eclipse.

Some might think "why call for help when there was nothing wrong with the boat?"

We faced two choices. Stay with the boat but risk losing our lives, or get off the boat alive - but maybe lose the boat.

Not a hard choice really.

Next time you drive your car at 70mph put your head out of the sun roof and feel your face distort. Sit at home and imagine a 20ft wave.

It would wash over the top of your house.

Then imagine it happening again a minute later. Then imagine it going on for 15 hours.

When sailing in the USA in 2003 Eclipse was hit by lightning, but it was all over in a flash and I didn't have time to think "will I live or die". I have been in car crashes and have had a few seconds to think "Will I survive?" We had 15 hours of wondering, and that's the real reason we decided to call a mayday. If you haven't been in a similar position, you have no idea what it is like to think that every moment might be your last.

The first rule of survival is that everyone must survive. That's why it's usually a case of "women and children first". In an all male situation it's often "every man for himself" which is a very different attitude.

The exception being when getting into a liferaft as then the strongest and heaviest should get in first. So although I thought I might survive a capsize Jetti, who is older, and a less experienced sailor than me, might not. As Eclipse hadn't been capsized by 70 knot winds and 30 ft seas the conditions to cause one would have to be even worse than we were currently experiencing. We'd lose our Satphone and gps, and, without them to give our rescuers our position, the outlook would be bleak. I was also concerned because neither of us had eaten properly and had already been awake for 30 hours.

We were going to get steadily less able to help ourselves.

We were, however, reluctant to call for help as we knew it meant people would be putting their own lives at risk when rescuing us. On the other hand, why tell people to buy EPIRBs, DSC radios and the like if you're not expected to use them? If you have a fire at home do you try to put it out yourself or call the fire brigade? Haslar and Tilman were adamant that one should never call for help. Wisely Haslar sailed alone, but I wonder what Tilman's crew were thinking when they disappeared without trace?

During our hourly calls to Falmouth it had became clear that several countries were now involved with our rescue, and we were told that the Mexican Navy would be at our position at dawn. Also, more chillingly, we were told that our Mcmurdo EPIRB was no longer transmitting. This was a real surprise to us, as it was still beeping and flashing. I wouldn't buy one again.

So it was our Iridium phone that saved our lives.

Not only that, but had we left it on standby when we left the boat, then Iridium could have "pinged" to locate it, and thus saved Eclipse as well. Go out and buy one.

Incredibly there are some people who want to risk their lives for the sake of others. Thank God.

At 11pm we had a shock when we heard a female voice saying she was flying a US navy helicopter and was 10 miles away. This was the first we knew that the US was involved. As they flew nearer we set off two flares (the first one didn't work) and made visual contact.

US navy helicopters carry two SAR (search and rescue) swimmers, one who goes in the water while the other acts as winch man. Both are fully trained to be either, indeed ours tossed to see who would do which job. The winner wouldn't stay in the safety of the helicopter but would be the one who jumped in. Clearly they relished the thought of performing a real rescue in survival conditions. On our way back to the ship I thought I've never seen two happier and more excited people. We made their day, just as they had made ours.

So our first real look at our rescuers was the sight of a man on the end of a wire, suspended 100ft below the helicopter with arms outstretched looking for all the world like a flying Superman. He was directing the pilot (who can't see straight down) to a suitable position off our lee quarter. The pilot later said she had great difficulty controlling her helicopter as she was flying at 50 knots to stay in position and was also going up and down 20ft to stay above the waves. Even so, we felt that the wind and sea had moderated since earlier in the day.

Ironically we probably were over the worst of the gale, however having called a Mayday we couldn't then back out.

The noise was deafening, we could no longer hear the pilot, even through the cockpit loudspeaker. The swimmers hand signals added to the confusion as we couldn't decide whether he was still directing the helicopter or telling us to jump in the water. Jetti went back inside and called the pilot who replied "We're ready. It's time to get in the water, folks."

So we tied the grab bags to each other, then Jetti calmly inflated her lifejacket, walked down the transom steps and headed towards the swimmer. (To read my thoughts on Grab Bags CLICK HERE) Incidentally, you shouldn't inflate lifejackets until you're actually ready to get in the water, they'll just get in your way as you prepare to abandon ship.

Five minutes later it was my turn. Unlike Jetti, I am a dinghy sailor, used to swimming in rough water, so I wasn't put off by waves breaking over my face. Instead, I found that the hardest part of the rescue was actually getting into the helicopter. It was a real struggle, probably because we were flying at 50 knots just to stay still - so the wind was blowing us backwards, and thus the winch was pulling the lifting strop at an unfair angle. We lost one bag (unfortunately containing our log books and diaries) when it caught in the helicopter door.

Once seated we were startled when the winchman pulled out a long knife and moved towards us. Without giving us time to protest he slashed both our lifejackets. Normal procedure I realised, as he didn't want us trapped inside the helicopter if it were to ditch. But he could have let us deflate them ourselves!

Half an hour later we landed on USS Ford where after a quick debrief, medical check, shower and meal we were able to get some much needed rest. Thirty six hours later USS Ford berthed in Guatemala.

Aftermath

Despite all that happened, I was very impressed with the seaworthiness of Eclipse. The boat had survived a major storm with no real damage and without capsizing.

The crew on USS Ford were fantastic. Saving our lives wasn't enough, they also looked after us like royalty. So too did Colin Gracey of the British Embassy in Guatemala. He met us off the ship and drove us 80 miles back to the Embassy, where we phoned home. He even recommended a good hotel and later helped ordains the search for Eclipse.

On my return to the UK I visited the Falmouth Coastguard Station who had coordinated our rescue. It was a real eye-opener. The days of Coastguards standing with a telescope to their eye are long gone! The UK Coastguard seem to the ones whom the rest of Europe look to when disaster strikes, when they act as rescue co-ordinators using a very sophisticated computer management system. During my visit they were helping a medical evacuation in the Western Approaches and a 406 EPIRB alert in the USA.

We also visited the San Francisco Coastguard station which had helped liaise with USS Ford.

The big disappointment was the Mcmurdo EPIRB.

Neither USS Ford nor its helicopter received any signal - even when the EPIRB was actually in the helicopter. Back in the UK I checked with Kinloss and learnt that the EPIRB only transmitted a brief signal. Sadly Mcmurdo weren't as dismayed and apologetic as I'd have expected.

CAST4
Eclipse's Perfect Storm - the finale

Eclipse found by fishermen!

That's the good news. The bad news comes in several parts.

First is that it's in a bit of a mess! It's incredible what 10 weeks at sea can do. The second part is that when it was found by tuna fisherman on April 5th Eclipse was 1000 miles from the nearest land (Acapulco), 1800 miles from Ecuador (where the fishermen are based), 2200 miles from Panama and over 1100 miles from where we abandoned it.

In other words, Eclipse is in the middle of the Pacific!

Even worse, and as we feared, the tuna fishermen were not the first to find Eclipse. The first "salvors" took the engine, all the electronics, mainsail, boom and who knows what else. So it would cost thousands in materials alone to get it back to a sailable state. But at least it is still upright and appears to be floating on its marks so cannot be leaking.
Unfortunately during subsequent emails and telephone calls to the fishermen's agent we learnt that the vessel that found Eclipse was, at nearly 300ft long, no fishing boat, but rather a fishing ship. We also learnt that it cost USD28,000 a day to run and that they estimated that salvaging and towing Eclipse would waste them at least two days of fishing. So it would cost a minimum of USD56,000 to tow Eclipse back to Ecuador
After adding in a reasonable salvage fee, it was clearly uneconomic for these fishermen to save Eclipse. The problem is that Eclipse was found over a thousand miles from land. The Pacific is a big place, it doesn't look far on a map, but in comparison the 2000 mile towing distance back to Ecuador (the fishermen's home port and thus the cheapest/simplest destination) is like making a complete circumnavigation of Great Britain, or sailing from Trinidad to New York, or La Paz to Vancouver.

Clearly no one would tow a boat that sort of distance without a substantial reward.

So reluctantly we agreed with the fishermen that Eclipse should be left floating ready for the next person to find it. So if you know anyone who wants to try to bring it to shore for us, the approximate position is 5N 110W. But bear in mind Eclipse is missing all sails, engine, electronics, boom, all running rigging and much else. We can give you the name of the fishing agent in Panama if you are serious about looking for it, but in reality, we assume Eclipse will continue to be a safe haven for seabirds for some time to come.

We have contacted a Pacific current drift expert who told us that he expected it to take about 2 years for Eclipse to reach the Philippines or Japan, providing it doesn't hit land before then of course.

dufam ze som to skopiroval vsetko- nevidel som tam copyright tak to asi bude OK

[Macek0585]

To Dan:
Samozřejmě že kontakty zadáváš ty o kterých předpokládáš, že budou aspoň jeden na příjmu - myslím tím smysluplném příjmu, který bude schopen odpovědět na základní dotazy v nějaké lidštině. Navíc jsi k tomu v dotazníku přímo vyzván. Takže jsem kromě sebe (neboť já při aktivaci Epirbu můžu být v ostrůvku na příjmu),zadal ženu která vládne angličtinou a dva lidi z firmy, kteří většinou vědí jestli jsem u moře nebo jinde a navíc jsou schopni plynulé komunikace v angličtině a němčině a navíc není předpoklad, že by byli se mnou naráz na lodi. Skripta hledám, ale zatím ne moc úspěšně ((((

[Macek0585]

Takže skripta nejsou ( Nicméně si myslím že dostatečně popsán je systém na stránkách http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/

[dan]

to je ok,dik,

[Neny]

Ahoj. Boju som nakoniec kupil tuto
http://www.mcmurdo.co.uk/products/produ ... roduct=101 .
Pracuje v dvoch frek, 406 a 121,5 MHz, ma priamo zabudovany GPS modul, takze vysiela presnu poziciu. Vcera prebehla uspesna registracia na Rizeni letoveho provozu CR. SP Zachranne koordinacni stredisko, Navigacni 787, 25261 Jenec. Na Slovensku sa to nepodarilo zaregistrovat, pretoze podla namorneho uradu a telekomunikacneho uradu ma vacsina slovakov namorne lode, a preto sa da registrovat len EPIRBS boja. Pre tych par uboziakov co si poziciavaju lode sa zakon neoplati upravovat. Uvidime co prinesie buducnost. Na slovenskom koordinacnom zachrannom stredisku mi bolo povedane, ze oni to mozu zaregistrovat len s lietadlom (kedze su letecka zachranna sluzba, zachranuju len havarovane lietadla) a neustupili ani ked som slubil, ze ak raz budem slapat vodu niekde v atlantiku, tak poviem zachranarom ze tam podo mnou niekde v hlbke je vetron a nie lod . Cize registrovat sa v CR moze len obcan CR. A takisto obcan CR sa moze registrovat len v CR (niekde tu padlo, ze je lepsie sa registrovat v UK, ale podla slov predajcu a pracovnika koordinacneho centra to nie je mozne, iba ak na meno prislusnika toho statu kde sa to registruje). PLB boja je vyrobcom predkodovany pristroj pre konkretnu krajinu. Do formulara sa uvedu tri blizke osoby, u ktorych je predpoklad, ze budu vediet kde sa prave nachadzate. Mali by vediet anglicky, aj ked nase centralne koordinacne stredisko, pod ktore patria vsetky okolite staty, je v Moskve ! Udajne zachrana prebieha tak, ze signal z boje (406MHZ) pride cez satelit do strediska v Moskve a tam ho obratom overuju v stredisku kde bola PLB registrovana podla serioveho cisla a kodu statu a oni zasa volaju konkretnim ludom. Trochu sa to moze zdat zdlhave, ale pripadne falosne poplachy a zneuzitia nie su ziadnou vynimkou. Na Slovensku v roku 2003 bolo udajne 23 falosnych volani (z cca 75 tiesnovych volani), a to mame len boje LTD do lietadla. Inak zaroven tato boja vysiela aj na frek. 121,5MHz, ktore udajne stale monitoruju lokalne strediska a zachranne sluzby. Po overeni pravosti signalu z Moskvy volaju na najblizsie koordinacne centrum zapojene do systemu Cospas-Sarsat. Toto su informacie a vysvetlenia od pracovnikov Koordinacnych centier zapojenych do systemu Cospas-Sarsat, pracovnikov telekomunikacnych uradov a namornych uradov CR a SR.


Na ukazku kopirujem registracny formular, ktory je zatial iba pre LTD, ale v CR ho akceptuju aj pre PLB.

Registrační formulář ELT 406 MHz

Informace uvedené v tomto formuláři jsou rozhodující pro úspěšné pátrání a záchranu (SAR)

Provozovatel je povinen podle předpisu ICAO Annex 10, Vol.III, Part II, Chapter 5 zaregistrovat každý ELT.
Všechny údaje, uvedené v tomto formuláři, mohou být poskytnuty jiným organizacím, které se podílejí na pátrání a záchraně.
Registrace ELT není zpoplatněna a provede se zasláním tohoto vyplněného formuláře na výše uvedenou adresu.

a) Důvod registrace

Nová registrace ELT Změna informací o ELT / provozovateli / vlastníku / letadle
Poznámka: při každé změně registračních údajů zpracujte a odešlete nový registrační formulář.
Tento ELT je záměnou za ELT dříve registrovaný pod 15ti místným kódem:                          

b) Informace o ELT

Kódování ELT podle L10/III, Hlava 5, Doplněk 1, ustanovení 1.3 (letadla zapsaná v LR ČR)
ustanovení 1.4 (letadla nezapsaná v LR ČR)

Typ ELT: ručně aktivovaný (AF) Automatic Fixed (AP) Automatic Portable
(AD) Automatic Deployable (S) Survival ELT 1 počet ELT na letadle
2 1 C E 6 x x x x x x x x x x
- 15ti bitová identifikace majáku v hexadecimálním tvaru
(poskytnuto dodavatelem ELT)
Výrobce ELT: Mc Murdo, UK Model: Fast Find 210 S/N vysílače: 210-xxxxxx

c) Informace o provozovateli

Provozovatel / Vlastník: Ing. Janko Hrasko M.B.A.
Adresa: Obrancov mieru 16, 163 00 Praha
(domů -- (zaměstnání +42077 (mobil +42191
FAX:       1. e-mail: xxxxx@gmail.com 2. e-mail: xxxxxxx@seznam.cz

Nouzový kontakt (H24):

Kontakt 1 Kontakt 2 Kontakt 3
Jméno Mrkvicka Rudolf Hraskova Maria Hrasko Lubor
( domů -- -- --
( do zaměstnání -- -- --
( mobil +42077xxxxx +42191xxxxx +42190xxxx

d) Informace o letadle

Poznávací značka: -- Typ / Model: ZZZZ Základna: Praha
zkratka ICAO
           
- 24 bitová letadlová adresa - 6 znaků v hexadecimálním tvaru – byla-li přidělena pro palubní odpovídač sekundárního radaru módu S (přiděluje ÚCL pro civilní a MO pro vojenská letadla)

Barva / Značení letadla: PLB is for personal use only.
Číslo satelitního / mobilního telefonu používaného na palubě: --
Poznámky: Imported by POHODA-SERVIS s.r.o., contact: +420777045540

Požadavek: na všechna dispečerská stanoviště provozovatelů, sklady leteckého materiálu a laboratoře, kde se provádí manipulace s ELT, umístit kontakt na RCC z důvodu zrušení falešného poplachu, který byl způsoben nahodilým spuštěním ELT.
Aktuální kontakty jsou uvedeny v AIP GEN 3.6.1

Datum: 18.11.2009 Podpis:      
CAA-F-CAT-ELT-06-09 J.Ch.

[Libor]

Díky Neny. Cenné to informace. Zájem o bezpečnost (tak jako v autech) stoupá.

Jen jsem nepotřehl ty kontakty. Mají mluvit anglicky, rusky, nebo jakkoliv?

[Neny]

Udajne je vhodna anglictina, mozno pre pripad, ze by si informacie chcelo overit konkretne patracie stredisko vykonavajuce zachranu .

[Neny]

Prave som hovoril s CZ koordinacnym strediskom a tam mi dalsi pracovnik povedal, ze ten formular nepodavaju dalej ale zostava v CR, takze ho overovat bude pracovnik hovoriaci po cesky, aj to len v pripade, ze ich vyzve na kontrolu stredisko, ktore zachytilo signal. Vraj to nie je povinnost overovat, je to priamo na tom konkretnom pracovisku, ktore ako najblizsie zachytilo signal a spusta zachrannu akciu. Lisi sa to udajne pripad od pripadu, podla toho ake vybavenie ma konkretna krajina, v ktorej bol vyslany a zachiteny nudzovy signal.

[Pepa]

Neny, zdá se, že jdeš po zatím neprošlapaných cestách. Jistě jsi si prověřoval více informací k možnosti využití těchto prostředků. Bylo by od tebe moc hezké, pokud by jsi se o tyto informce podělil.
Například k otázkám..
proč jsi se rozhodl právě pro tento typ
kde jsi jej koupil, cena
ovládání
výdrž zařízení a jeho parametry /odolnost vůči vodě/ atd.
podmínky a důvody oprávněného použití
odvolání planého poplachu

Je toho jistě ještě více, tak to zkus postupně. Budou to jist informace zajímavé.
Díky předem.
Pepa

[Neny]

Preco tento model? Dualne frek. 406 a 121,5 + vstavane GPS. Odskusany bezporuchovy model aj ked su na trhu jeho novsie verzie. Cena 6600 Kc, da sa zohnat aj za 6000 ale zas nemaju tovar skladom. Skladom ju maju tu http://www.pohoda.com/ aj ked ju priamo nevystavuju. Je to oficialny predajca Mc Murdo pre CR. Informacie o tejto boji vam rad da priamo pan Kluger na tc.+420777045540.

Ovladanie. Je velmi jednoduche, odstrani sa krytka vypinaca, vytiahne sa paska, ktora sluzi ako antena, stlaci sa vypinac a je to. Pozor na prijimac GPS, ktory sa nesmie nicim prekryt. Je tam kresleny manual, takze to vie spustit aj male dieta. Je tam aj tester funkcnosti pristroja, jeho systemov a baterie.
Vydrz zariadenia. Minimalne 5 rokov, potom sa zariadenie posiela predajcovi alebo vyrobcovi na vymenu baterie (nie je uzivatelsky vymenitelna). Aj v piatom roku fungovania garantuju funkcnost vysielania minimalne 24 hodin na dvoch frek. Novsie drahsie modely maju min. 48 hodin. cena cca 9000 Kc. Je odolny voci vode, ale asi len do jedneho metra (este preverim). Predava sa k tomu vodotesne puzdro, ktore je aj narazuvzdorne.

Dovod pouzitia. Je to asi na kazdom cloveku kedy citi ohrozenie a potrebu privolat pomoc. Letecke LTD sa spustaju vecsinou automaticky pri prudkom poklese vysky alebo pri naraze. Velakrat sa zapli v turbulenciach.

Podmienky odvolania planeho poplachu. V pripade, ze sa poplach spusti nahodne (omylom), odporuca sa ju nevypinat, ale najprv kontaktovat stredisko zachrany. Az po upovedomeni strediska a ich odsuhlaseni sa moze boja vypnut. Okamzite vypnutie boje by mohlo mat za nasledok, ze stredisko bude pokladat lod alebo lietadlo za potopene. To by mohlo spustit zbytocnu zachrannu akciu, za ktoru by ste mohli byt financne zodpovedny.

Originalny elektronicky formular na registraciu PLB a LTD, ktory poskytol spominany pan Kluger, zavesim do tohoto vlakna na stiahnutie hned ako zistim ako sa to robi ;o).

[alffa]

Originalny elektronicky formular na registraciu PLB a LTD, ktory poskytol spominany pan Kluger, zavesim do tohoto vlakna na stiahnutie hned ako zistim ako sa to robi ;o).

Nevím v jakém formátu ten formulář je, ale asi žánou možnost nezjistíš.
Nic jiného než obrazové, audio a video formáty, do vlákna zavěsit nelze.

Pokud ten formulář není vystaven někde na webu, abys na něj mohl dát odkaz,
nezbude než ho nahrát do modulu ke stažení u nás, nebo někam jinam na web a pak sem teprve dát ten odkaz. Jinak to nepůjde.
alffa

[Neny]

Uz len pridavam link na ten formular, nech je to vsetko pokope! Klik http://jachting.info/modules.php?name=D ... it&lid=284

[toms]

Po Nenyho úspěchu s registrací jsem se rozhodl svůj PLB zkusit taky zaregistrovat v ČR. Nějak, ale v tomto vlákně postrádám kontakt na Záchranné koordinační středisko. To jsi to tam Neny vyřizoval osobně, nebo poštou?

[Jezura]

www.rlp.cz, najdeš si telefonní číslo a řekneš jim, že chceš přepojit na SAR (search and rescue - pátrání a záchrana).

Takhle jsem si aspoň PLB registroval já (McMurdo FastFind Max GPS - kupoval jsem to u Imramovského). Jsou tam celkem ochotní (zatím), byť není jejich povinností to registrovat pro jiná zařízení než letadlová ELT.

Formulář jsem jim posílal naskenovaný emailem

[Neny]

Ahoj. Boju som nakoniec kupil tuto
http://www.mcmurdo.co.uk/products/produ ... roduct=101 .
Pracuje v dvoch frek, 406 a 121,5 MHz, ma priamo zabudovany GPS modul, takze vysiela presnu poziciu. Vcera prebehla uspesna registracia na Rizeni letoveho provozu CR. SP Zachranne koordinacni stredisko, Navigacni 787, 25261 Jenec.

Ahoj Toms. Vo vlákne je to tu a ak si stiahneš formulár je to dokonca aj v jeho hlavičke. Poslal som to poštou.

[toms]

Tak jsem dnes provedl pokus o registraci svého PLB. Posílat formulář poštu se mi nechtělo a v diskuzi ani jinde jsem fax, nebo email na SAR nenašel tak jsem tam zavolal a zeptal se kam ho poslat. A dostalo se mi rovnou odpovědi jako již před léty PLB/EPIRB se registrovat nedá!

Takže dotaz na ty s úspěšnou registrací: S kým jste se na SARu o té registraci bavily?

Neny když jsi to posílal poštou máš nějaké potvrzení že registrace proběhla?

[Jezura]

To Ti nelhali, pokud to deklaruješ jako EPIRB - tak se obrať na ČTU (ale to musíš mít loď a zařízení které je certifikované jako EPIRB, tedy ne PLB), pokud to deklaruješ jako ELT - tak na ŘLP (ale to musíš aspoň příležitostně létat, což je můj případ, berou i PLB coby nouzovou náhražku ELT do malých letadel).

Pokud to deklaruješ jako PLB, tak Ti to v Čechách asi nikdo nezaregistruje. Můžeš se zkusit obrátit na výrobce, resp. dovozce aby Ti poradil, nebo podat stížnost na ČTU, ale to Ti asi mnoho nepomůže...

[Neny]

Ahoj Toms. Jedna elektronicka registracia prebehla v samotnom sistéme tu http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/ musíš sa preklikať až po CZ Republik, bo kaďý maják má svoju predvolbu v kode podla krajiny odkial pochádza užívatel(udávaš 2 tel. č. anglicky hovoriacich ludí,čo vedia kde sa asi nachádzaš ) a úspešnosť si overíš už na druhý deň, priamo v sistéme kde si registroval, či to prebehlo v poriadku. Písomnú registráciu som posielal na uvedenú add. stredisku ktoré riadi a vykonáva záchranu na úzamí CZ Rep. a to na Rizeni letoveho provozu CR. SP Zachranne koordinacni stredisko, Navigacni 787, 25261 Jenec.(udávaš 3 tel. č. ludí ktorý nemusia vedieť anglicky, zato vedia kde sa nachádzaš) na druhý deň som zisťoval či je všetko v poriadku a druhá smena potvrdila že sme registrovaný a v prípade poplachu budú vedieť o koho sa jedná.