39. Sailing S/V Lazy Gecko - Final Tasks Before We Depart

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this useful information with us! We have already had a conversation about ordering the above mentioned pieces of equipment especially to attach to Rhys' PDF. Safety is incredibly important to us! Please feel free to share all you know, as we feel it is important to be prepared for every situation, but at the same time want to make sure that we do not have useless stuff aboard. - Brittany

Lazy Gecko Sailing

Yeah we should've mentioned it. Jeremiah has been collecting extra parts for 2 years. We have tons of them for that reason. :)

Lazy Gecko Sailing

I think your idea about getting prescriptions filled in advance is great. You did not mention a CEPAP prescription. If you don't have one with you, some places won't replace a CEPAP or any of its pieces for you. Face masks and hoses break or get misplaced at inconvenient times! Some places will accept a fax or an email from your prescribing physician. This does not work if you don't have good contact information (mine had retired) and it still is hassle to avoid if possible.

Yeah, we were shocked at bad they were. As search pilot I can tell you the #1 piece of gear to have on is the PFD. We have an average laucnh time of over 30 minutes and can have flight times of up to 2+ hours depending on how far out you are, and how accurate the location info is. To be located/seen, the #1 piece of gear is a signal mirror. They never expire, are small and easy to store, and are easy to use (must learn how to use them!!) I have spotted one from 25 miles. very effective. I have spotted one from 10 miles in overcast/minimal sun conditions. i keep two on my PFD, one in each pouch just in case. At night, a Firefly type PFD strobe is AWESOME! Be sure EVERYTHING in the PFD pouches is connected to the PFD with good string. When you open the pouch in the water to get something, everything else tends to float out or sink.

Awesome post! Yes we will have our up-to-date equipment in a ready location and others as back up and also for training purposes. That's a pretty bad ratio at 1:100!

Lazy Gecko Sailing

At our annual aviation survival quals for Coast Guard Auxiliary, we tested a few boxes of expired flares. Out of about 100, only 1 fired! They were out by 3 years and had been stored in secured/dry containers. we keep our airplanes out of the water as much as possible :) ... Personally, I would now never depend on an expired flare .. at least that expired.

That's exactly what we did Walter! The more the better in our opinion!

Lazy Gecko Sailing

Don't throw out those flares if you still have them. The law states you need a certain amount of none expired flares. But you can also have the old flares on board to complement the required ones. Being that they just expired a few weeks ago, keep them till the new ones expire and so on. This way your still legal (have the required amount of unexpired flares) and your carrying twice as many incase of emergency.

Walter MacVane