Personal Locator Beacon

I splashed out on an EPIRB. PLB to be precise, a Personal Locator Beacon, the McMurdo Fast-find Plus.

There was some discussion about whether it would work if you were bobbing around in the water. I e-mailed McMurdo who replied, "Yes, it is absolutely OK to get the unit wet, it's designed with that expectation in mind!" So that's good.

I considered trying to blag a freebie and write a review. But then, you can't realy "test" an Epirb.

Set it off to see what happens and before long a man in a helicopter will be shouting in your face as he hands you a bill for several thousand pounds.

Something which has to work in rough seas must be simple, so it was a surprise to find a thirty one page manual. Fortunately, most of it is about registration. But it does matter how and where you hold the device once activated.

The instruction "keep the PLB out of the water" did not initially inspire confidence. They mean, try to fix it to your BA rather than have it floating free.

Why a PLB? Mainly because we're off next month to Arctic Norway. If the worst happened, then sudden immersion would not improve my limited Norwegian, so I can't rely on the VHF. PLB would be a last-resort, but it'll be good to know it's there.