Rob Great post! Sasge advice.

I have been in SAR and incident command for over 25 years. I have held the position "crisis manager" and my graduate work is on decision making under the influence of a crisis perception. I'd like to take your point a little farther if I may.

I have so often seen folk spend their biggest dollars on their outdoor vehicle, yak, climbing rope, ice axe etc, but then spend short dollars and time planning and paying for their emergency and alerting system. Its a faulty set of priorities if one values their own safety.

The last few weeks I have heard a lot about cell phone use for sea kayaking. Its a good adjunct or back up with lots of in shore and in land successes to its credit. Having said that its got some limits in coverage and as a line of sight mode of transmission,....line of sight is not always assured between the marine environment and the cells posted in the topography on land. Cellphones are not the absolute in rescue alert transmissions in the marine environment. The VHF is.

On in land lakes a cell phone probably makes more sense. 911 is the better bet in these cases then trying to hail a Coast guard station that may not even know your local watering hole exists. However at sea....Case in point I was just out in the Broken Group coverage was spotty and +- often. Meanwhile, VHF was a constant chatter. On the coasts of Maine the dead zones are deadest behind the very sea cliffs we are most interested in cruising past. In an emergency, that dead zone is going to make for a dead end. In the VHF band you still can light up the sky.

At sea, in shore paddling etc. nothing beats a marine VHF. It can be used not only to call in a rescue but also to avoid potential problems. If your going to spend the money its worth buying a programmable. The cost of a radio should be factored into the cost of your boat. The VHF is being monitored by every vessel local to you. and its being monitored by the rescue folks listening on some very big antennas attached to some very big amplifiers. A cell phone isn't looking for an emergency at sea. In fact a cell phone isn't live monitoring a freq. These folks and their equipment are tuned to VHF.

When I teach SAR courses and incident command and crisis management for outdoors folks, I teach folks to look at their gear as a system. Don't rely on any one thing. Build in back ups and redundancy. Plan on losing part of it. I also have them plan for the worst case. I try to foster in them the enjoyment of working out survival plans for various situations. When I run simulations I even play a game called 3 strikes. In most emergencies three failures have occurred before the situation truly becomes a crisis. Just as you enjoy solving boat building problems enjoy the process of crisis prevention and playing what if to prepare for if,..... what if should ever happen.

Crises can be divided int a prodromal phase an emergent phase a Chronic phase and a reconstitution return to non crisis phase. In each phase you need to be psychologically prepared and have the tools to work with.

In an emergency your looking for tools that will help you alert and direct external resources, gather situational awareness. Bring short term emergent phase crisis to a place of not further destroying resources. In the chronic phase of crisis your looking to extend the cognitive narrowing that comes with the perception of crisis, extend your own viability, mitigate existing hazards and damage. In the marine environment your also looking to specifically maintain core temperature. Its not just enough for ET to phone home. He has to be able to last. Keep breathing until help arrives. Back up that radio with a survival system.

First off when you make a first alert to a crisis. The first guys who catch your alert may be folks standing on the beach. You have an EMON (emerging multi organizational network) forming on an adhoc basis to work for you. That is important, but EMONs are the first responders. these folks are responding because they are there not because they are trained. Often they don't succeed. Develop your crisis and alerting system to outlast the first efforts of an EMON. Be viable when the trained units your EMON calls for arrives. Build in staying power to your rescue time.

When I teach safety in a sea kayak I recommend a dump kit in a small bag attached to you always. The size of a small medicine pouch. In mine I carry 60 plus different functions and capabilities. So you make the call...... What happens if you lose your boat and swim to a small shoal? Now your virtually impossible to see. Your a 10 inch circle in the water. Can you live long enough to await the rescue? That is were an integrated system is crucial.

When I am teach outdoor emergency management. I teach people to look at each thing in their gear and find 5 to seven alternate uses. IF it doesn't have 5 other uses it is rarely worth carrying. Don't pack it because its would be just nice in camp...Think about what else it could be used for in an emergency.

One example: In my dump kit I carry A space blanket. It conserves your body heat is a visually alerting. Its a radar reflector, Its a tent a part of a fresh water still. Its a hat and a rain suit. It burn bandage. Its foot protection, its a marginal fire protection, heat reflector, with duct tape its a patch. Its an occlusive seal bandage. And it takes up just 1.5 cubic inches. and an ounce in weight if that.

It has been my experience that individuals who have self rescued, directed or call in their own rescues have not planned on any one device but have used their way through a complexity integrated system. Something they worked out in advance. Having been on both sides of the equation I'll tell ya its good to have sweat the details a head of time. sweating the details is often the difference between self rescuing, 2 failures in the system and 3 failures... going into crisis and requiring a full blown rescue.

The first part of that system is C3I. Command Control Communications and Intelligence. The best C3I money can buy for a marine bound yak is a VHF radio. You can command your forces, call in new ones control them into your position, communicate accurately with them and gather situational awareness.

Frankly flares scare me. Too many people put to much faith in them. Many more people have had their heart broken by a flare unseen then by a flare that brought in help. It doesn't mean don't carry or use them. In the proper situation they are invaluable. But too many people set them off for the boat on the horizon....Flares are in close last chance at night desperation signals. To many people use a flare when they should be keying a mic. Or pouring smoke.

A package of flares gives you 3 shots of 10 seconds. visible to perhaps a reliable couple of hundred yards. A radio can last and reach much farther, it may call in a chopper, but it doesn't mean they can see you when they are with in 100 yards. I have flown 100 feet above an airplane crash and missed it.... Repeatedly. A sea kayak in the waves is a much smaller target. That is smoke and mirrors work. With flares you have 3 chances usually. And its got to be close, a mirror can be used all day. A mirror may have less bang, but statistics are on your side with a mirror and against you with a flare. The number of yakers who carry smoke is small land I can't figure out why. Smoke gives you huge lasting vertical displacement and a larger profile and it lasts longer. Dye markers the same in the horizontal. You can make 10 inches of visible you go to something 30 feet in diameter. These are the intermediate visibility tools. OK so ya made the call the Calvary is coming. They know your out there, but you still have to help them detect you. As for your audio tools... They are the shortest short range alerts. Compression waves don't go far in all but calmest air. Most valuable amongst team members. You can use them to alert a boat to your presence. That's about it. As an alert to emergency device its really not all that worthy. Still its worth it in preventive value.

All in all, its a system of descending options. A system that That can be used in other ways to keep you viable for rescue longer.

Here is a little secret from inside SAR. All we are is a bunch of eye balls walking or flying patterns. We don't save anyone. In 95% of Status one (live) finds. The guy that is lost calls us in and shows us where he or she is. The victim runs the show. If the victim tell us to look 25 miles west of where they really are.... We will follow their lead. If we are looking in the right place its still a big area. A Smokey fire an odd pattern an out of place color. For status one finds its usually the lost one who brings us the final 1/2 mile. If you need a rescue, think of your self as the real
Incidents Commander-forward based. Give yourself the C3I tools you need to direct your own rescue. And give yourself the environmental staying time to do it. In this hobby that means a radio and very often a wet or a dry suit.

Finally the most important phase in a crisis is the prodromal phase. Precrisis. Its the time when you plan for the possibility of an emergency. It may be a gruesome task, but read the accident reports. Remember the successful strategies and learn the lessons of the status 3 finds. (dead) In accident reports look for the 3 failures that led to the situation ending up in crisis. what were the prodromal weaknesses in the plan the system.

Here is an observation that comes from 25 years of looking for the lost. To many people get out there without a plan. Some buy gear they don't know how to use and they get in the worst trouble. The next are The ones that get in the most trouble are the inventors. The guys who decide to go up Mt Washington in February and decide to do it their way. They stop in the local sunny surplus and jury rig and invent a system that will get themselves just far enough to get into trouble. Sure you can do the Mt in light weight hikers and feel thrifty.... But those toes cost good money. I have pulled two different parties off the Mt in two different winters wearing light weight hikers. One was dad with his 10 year old son....in Tennis shoes. They knew better, but .... You can show them the right stuff, but they decide to do it there way...... Something's are worth doing the right way.

Suggestion if your new to kayaking. Budget yourself for a good safety system as part of the cost of a yak. then buy a course or join a club or find a qualified friend that will teach you for free. Practice Wet exits they are easy, but wet entry's don't happen at sea until you have practiced them for real 200 times in a wind swept lake. Read books stay current.

A note about training. One of the biggest ways SAR gets to stay in business is boyfriends or husbands trying to spin up their significant others into there favorite sports. If you really love her. Pay for her course. As guys we want to spin them up faster then we should. Sure we got to be 5.12 climbers in 4 years, but our girl friends are expected to b 5.9 climbers in a few months. Its great to share the joy of the sport, but my suggestion after hauling down a lot of unequally matched couples is.... Let someone else train your S.O. Your probably too invested in her coming up quick and think to much of her capabilities to early. Its not true in every relationship, but from my SAR experience I can't begin to tell you how common it is. Besides these incidents have a nasty way of cooling a relationship considerably.

Last, having said all of this. Accidents happen and sea kayakersd occasionally die. For all of that Don't join in the rescuer mentality. "What an idiot. He should have known. Could have done this better etc......" I have made a good part of my life hauling troubled butts out of crisis situations. I have lost friends to Mts and Oceans and caves and to SAR. I have pulled the parachutes out of the trees of good friends. It is easy to stand on the victims grave and say it will never happen to me. I'm better then that. Instead quietly learn the lessons and pass the wisdom on.

And remember this we live in a largely vicarious society. We are the only society in the world that watches people go fishing on TV...... When an accident happens remember these folks were taking a calculated risk. Something that is often under valued these days. they were off their couch doing. I know a million dumb things my ambulance responded to stories, but for all of that the occasional accident weather it was an act of God or an act of stupidity at least they were out living every day and not dying one day at a time gaining stimulation vicariously in the cathedral of the almighty television

The alternative is often the high adventurer will pass it off in some romantic notion that he or she died doing what they loved most. I'll tell you from having seen people die in out door accidents first hand. Its not true. The real answer is love what your doing but live it to do it again.

long may you run (each of you and everyone)
!RUSS