Most rescues occur within 24h. Some don’t. Given the plethora of devices available you need to have a plan that addresses your situation.
It divides on your distance from help and the range of your devices as well as availability of that help. In some countries SAR is staffed by volunteers, or has limited resources. In some situations response times may be quite prolonged.
The coastal US boater is blessed having multiple devices, highly skilled SAR readily available. From talking with others there seems to be a prevailing consensus of order and need.
DSC VHF properly set up.Both ship and portable.
Cell phone(s) with local SAR preprogrammed with local SAR contacts.
Some form of epirb.
Some form of AIS.
Some form of electronic personal locator on each harness/pfd with one for each member of the crew.
Among my friends most also add in a raft not just a dinghy due to speed of deployment and survivability in weather. For coastal single floor and tube may suffice.
Two way communication is better than one way. So VHF/cell is done in conjunction with epirb/AIS. Some current devices including the portable satellite devices let you know the call has been received so are preferred.
Off shore/mid ocean is different. You may not be in VHF range of any help. Same with cellphone but vhf can be helpful for ships. Here a Satphone is helpful. We carried both a Fleet 1 ship based but also a portable. Figured PR and Bermuda could at least direct resources to us.
SSB distress frequencies are no longer monitored like it was in the past. Still some weather routers will have frequencies they monitor so maybe of some help. We did have the regional SAR phone numbers preprogrammed in our satphones.
There’s isn’t the same need for a prolonged time of signal so deploying multiple Epirbs/AIS devices is less of an issue when coastal . But unlike coastal there maybe some time before help comes or is aware of your distress. So unlike coastal prolonging the time you broadcast is a concern. We practiced ships 406 first. At 36h one of the personal devices. 18h later another personal and so forth. We carried at least two portable VhFs always fully charged. Also some form of iridium device. Only one VHF is left on.
If a ship is sighted or air craft seen or heard a AIS goes on along with smoke or flare or both. VHF call in addition to the DSC broadcast is made.
We’re now in the phase of replacing devices. I see no reason to not have all your devices not be both AIS/GPS. We continue to practice. All this stuff is fine but worthless if in a stressful time not used or not used to its full benefit.
On passage set up multiple people to follow our breadcrumbs. One of my offspring would call on the Satphone daily and had instructions to call if she wasn’t getting breadcrumbs. Admit we’ve been lax coastal. No longer file plans nor daily contact. Figure between my wife and I family does have a pretty good idea roughly where we are. Do keep our contact details up to date on our devices.
Over the years have gotten calls to assist. Fortunately not SAR but things like spares, tools and advice or relay. Once kept in VHF range of a troubled boat with a jury rigged work around until their land fall. Comm is key. Like with other key things redundancy is good.
