Why so hard to find Kevin Escoffier? SAFETY GEAR QUESTION! Pls read before reply

[Franziska]

Hi,

following the Vendee Globe, I did follow the marvelous rescue of Kevin Escoffier by Jean Le Cam. Well done!!!!

I do absolutely understand that it is very hard for a lone sailor under the local conditions with lots of high waves and wind to spot and find a fellow yachts man in a life raft.
Had Escoffier not managed to get in the raft he would have had no chance I guess.

Assuming that the IMOCA 60 are equipped with the latest whizz bang tech I am surprised though that it took several hours to find him again after initial contact.

I would have thought a combination of a satellite PLB, and a personal AIS beacon would have made this easier. Not sure if Escoffier had either one, but, I would highly suspect so.
Is tge low height of an AIS beacon in a raft or with a floating person a limiting factor in high waves (VHF line of sight issue)?

Apparently Jean found him at last because he spotted a light reflection on a wave at night.

That speaks for a personal kit to include a satellite PLB with GPS, a personal AIS beacon and a laser strobe, perhaps also a pouch of sea dye.

So any ideas why the technology let him not be found faster?
What safety gear do you have on you when standing watch in less than benign conditions?
What equipment worked for you, what did not?

Any other thoughts and ideas related?

Share your thoughts, thanks,

Franziska

[fxykty]

Very big waves - AIS/VHF doesn’t work very well with the transmitter antenna at water level when it’s that rough.

EPIRB sends GPS location via satellite, but the delay inherent with shore station to rescuer comms doesn’t yield a very precise location, especially when visibility is literally measured in metres and the rescuer is very busy managing their boat.

Daylight is different as visibility when both at top of respective swells is better, but both dye in the water and smoke will disperse too quickly in those conditions to be useful.

Laser flares are amazing and as long as aimed can be seen day and night. We have several for the boat and for on watch crew. In addition to PMOB AIS transmitters. EPIRBs for the boat and the grab bag.

Don’t fall overboard, just don’t. In the case of sinking, especially that fast, whew. I expect most cruisers would be helpless and treading water in non-survival gear, due to non-hydrostatic life raft mounting. If sailing in cold waters, who has survival suits on board and for those who do, how long does it take to put it on?

[Mr B]

Epirb to satellite, Then down to receiving station,
Then phone calls to nominated persons to verify Epirb signals,
Then phone calls to get the cavalry mobilised,
Then how long for cavalry to get airborne,
Then get planes to nominated area listed on the Epirb,

That might take quite a few hours, Especially in a remote part of a very large empty ocean,
Huge waves, You cant see a life raft unless your almost on them,
Do they wear survival suits when racing a boat onboard,

He was extremely lucky to be found in such conditions,

[requiem]

My understanding is that in addition to a 406 MHz beacon he also had some form of AIS device. (Based on a mention that Le Cam had at one point lost both visual and AIS contact.) Apparently he also had "some other means" of signalling as well, such as flares.

The beacons have the potential to provide a location precise to 100 m, but the accuracy may range from that to a few miles. Additionally there can be lag time while that information is collected, confirmed and relayed, as well as time for rescuers to arrive on scene. Thus, drift must be accounted for and simulations used to help guide the search efforts.

Yachtworld did tests of AIS devices some time back and reported a 3.5 mile average range, presumably in flat water. In this case the 5 m waves would have likely reduced that.

I have a strobe attached to my PFD, and consider that mandatory for anything other than a day sail. I also (finally) added an MOB1 to my kit. I'm also a fan of having a VHF on me, but usually put my "fancy" VHF (GPS, DSC, etc.) in the ditch bag as it's rather large to comfortably carry on me. Also in the ditch bag is a flare gun along with handhelds.

[akshiena]

Franziska,


The devices available to Kevin when he went overboard were...EPIRB, associated with the vessel registration, a PLB, a personal identification device that uses the same network as an Eprirb, but not linked to the vessel, and finally an AIS personal beacon, which is not satellite based, but only operates with the AIS vhf spectrum.


I think Kevin in his wisdom kept the power usage of the AIS device to a minimum, as he knew he only had maybe 24 hrs of battery life, and would use the device when rescue was apparent.


The most amazing thing, as an experienced mariner, Jean Le Cam understood the simple visual alert of a MOB strobe. Nothing fancy, just a simple light to guide him to the liferaft.


Just the best outcome from an old man of the sea

[ccannan]

I have found it difficult to locate a strobe source especially if there is any fog, or sea spray. Too me strobes are like fog horns. I know I hear something, but is very difficult to determine the direction it is coming from.

[Midnight Son]

Originally Posted by ccannan

I have found it difficult to locate a strobe source especially if there is any fog, or sea spray. Too me strobes are like fog horns. I know I hear something, but is very difficult to determine the direction it is coming from.

+1 BC Coast taught me that one.

[zstine]

My understanding is that the EPIRB was lost when the boat sank and only transmitted position for a few minutes. Le Cam was able to get on-scene within 2 hours and initially located the life raft, but with large seas, lost sight as he tried to lower sail and start the engine... and then is got dark. Kevin did not have a handheld VHF and I don't believe AIS beacon as I don't recall it being mentioned in the several interviews I watched. Race control was using drift calculations provided by oil rig companies to direct the search area. Several other boats were diverted and searched into the night.



Another position was obtained during the night, I presume this was from a PLB that Kevin had in his pocket under the immersion suit. He had to manually activate it and apparently did not do this immediately. Le Cam was directed toward that location, though they were not sure it was actually Kevin and not a floating beacon that was adrift. luckily, It was Kevin and Le Cam was able to locate the raft using the new position data, drift calcs and visual distress lights on the raft. Le Cam picked up Kevin I believe around 1am local time.


In my opinion, contrary to the OP, I'm amazed at how easily Le Cam found Kevin... he's alone, found him twice in 1/2 a day, with large seas, once at night and with limited position data. Kevin had very little time to abandon ship and didn't have VHF or any other communications that I'm aware of other than a PLB.
BTW, Kevin was inside the raft trying to nap when he heard sails luffing and looked outside to see Le Cam "on top of him". the light Le Cam saw was that of the life raft, not one Kevin was using.

[skipmac]

Sailing with friends years ago they were towing the dinghy. Painter snapped just after sunset with six people hanging in the cockpit. All except the guy at the wheel immediately jumped up to spot it for retrieval but never saw it again. That was in 15 kt winds 4-5' seas and a large 11' dinghy. Imagine 5 meter seas and 30 kt winds at night.

For a singlehander an EPIRB type PLB is indicated since abandon ship or MOB will leave no one on board to respond and, depending on location, there may not be any other boats in VHF/AIS range.

My strategy for crewed sailing is to carry AIS based PLBs like the Ocean Signal RescueMe PLB with an onboard AIS transceiver. The AIS solution allows local, immediate response to MOB situations where, as noted, the EPIRB can take a long time for data to get back and forth.

The ideal of course is to carry both and I supplement with a waterproof, handheld VHF.

[MikeDofFreo]

In 1979, while sailing a 55 foot schooner, I had a rendezvous with an Australian frigate. It was on a day when we thought that conditions had abated. However, when we were in the troughs of the swell, we could not see each other. KE was very lucky. Of course, he should be given credit for being sufficiently prepared to be able to abandon with as much speed and efficiency as he did. Lots of planning for the unthinkable paid off by creating luck.

[waterman46]

Actually it is remarkable that he was found so quickly, at night, big seas. His EPIRB, very good response by the race organizers and ability to immediately contact several racers in the immediate vicinity, and of course those sailors who came to his aid, is what saved his life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF-pWys3Uew

In the video it is said that his boat nosedived into a wave and "folded". Implies a massive structural failure. Not too surprising when you see how fast these boats move. It's a shame the boat is not accessible for a failure analysis to prevent similar incidents.

[Franziska]

Yep, I saw that video and I agree it would be interesting to learn why it folded. I do still think it might be to excessive rigging loads.

Regarding the speed of finding, well.

To me it was more sobering to see that it took actually quite some time to "refind" him.
The initial finding surely took some time due to LeCam needing to sail to him.
I'd thought an AIS beacon would have made the refinding much faster, but apparently it didn't (due to the wave issues mentioned by many probably).

A light reflection at night helped primarily to have success at least.

So to me the whole story makes me:

Do not go over board
Diligently clip in in bad weather
Add an AIS beacon to the personal gear
Possibly add a VHF as well
Make sure my crew gets quickly up to scratch as to how to handle the boat in bad weather.

Anything else?

Originally Posted by waterman46

Actually it is remarkable that he was found so quickly, at night, big seas. His EPIRB, very good response by the race organizers and ability to immediately contact several racers in the immediate vicinity, and of course those sailors who came to his aid, is what saved his life.

In the video it is said that his boat nosedived into a wave and "folded". Implies a massive structural failure. Not too surprising when you see how fast these boats move. It's a shame the boat is not accessible for a failure analysis to prevent similar incidents.