Safety Equipment Poll

[maverick]

Bloody interesting topic really, thank you for the many and varied replies.

[Brute]

As far as epirbs and plb`s go . I`m surprised no one has mentioned a spot tracker . More compact ,can wear it on your arm or pfd . Your partner and friends can see exactly where you are in real time , so if you change your mind and fish in another location some one will know . And still has the emergency button . Can also send sms`s via satellite . But does come with an annual registration fee .

[maverick]

As far as epirbs and plb`s go . I`m surprised no one has mentioned a spot tracker . More compact ,can wear it on your arm or pfd . Your partner and friends can see exactly where you are in real time , so if you change your mind and fish in another location some one will know . And still has the emergency button . Can also send sms`s via satellite . But does come with an annual registration fee .

Water proof?

Price?

Sounds like a good idea.

[Brute]

Yer waterproof , I don`t own one but have seen one in action when the emergency button was pushed and they sent a helicopter .
http://au.findmespot.com/en/

This link is more appropriate http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventure ... y=kayakers

[shane]

There are numerous smartphone apps that will track your location, allow family to monitor where you are and have emergency contact buttons that will send a message to niminated contacts. There are several of them that are also free.

[maverick]

There are numerous smartphone apps that will track your location, allow family to monitor where you are and have emergency contact buttons that will send a message to niminated contacts. There are several of them that are also free.

[Jacko]

As far as epirbs and plb`s go . I`m surprised no one has mentioned a spot tracker . More compact ,can wear it on your arm or pfd . Your partner and friends can see exactly where you are in real time , so if you change your mind and fish in another location some one will know . And still has the emergency button . Can also send sms`s via satellite . But does come with an annual registration fee .

Water proof?

Price?

Sounds like a good idea.

East Coast Kayak Sandringham (No affiliation) have them on on line shop.
$179.95 reduced from $199.
http://www.kayakshopaustralia.com.au/spot-gen3/

[tonystott]

Sadlt, annual fees of more than $175 take it out of the game for me.

[Haynsie]

I don't think registration or licensing would solve anything.

Look at push-bikes - far more of them about than kayaks and far more deaths, but no licensing or rego...

I doubt it'd even be a money-spinner for the government, as administering and enforcement would be like herding cats.

Mike.

X2.

I'm all for promotion of safety, but I'm not that keen on a registration or licence. However someone suggested to me that sitting a licence (like a boat) might help ensure people were aware of safety requirements, so I can see the benefit in it.

I just don't love the idea of yet another part of my life being regulated.

[maverick]

So for anyone who may be interested, the Transport Safety Victoria, Kayak Safety Roundtable went ahead today, maybe 28 people in total there with reps from the Ministers Office, Coroners Office, Police, TSV and their counterparts from NSW, QLD, Tas, BIA and reps from Training, Retail and Industry Groups. Then me & Rhino.

Kudos to Rhino, one his youtubes opened the show.

A bit of a talk fest with some self interest in self promotion obvious ( I don't think it was me for a change ) and I think apart from the Rays Outdoor Area Manager, myself and Rhino we were the only actual kayak fisherman.

They focused on 10 recent deaths, 7 of which died from not wearing life jackets, and 3 from possible hypothermia (including the 2 in the powered yaks at Sandringham 4 years ago). Of the 10, only 2 were fishing related (the 2 from above). So preventing 7 of the deaths was easy, wear life jackets. A lot of focus was put back on the big retailers to perhaps train staff better, but that doesn;t overcome the online and second hand purchases.

VYAK was certainly promoted for its focus on safety and being a great resource. So expect some online visitors seeing what is done on here and how we conduct ourselves.

There was some discussion about voluntary kayak registration and even having name & phone number tags on yaks. It wasn't about revenue raising (being voluntary gives that away) but more about getting a grasp on how many people actual kayak, their experience levels and what they do & why.

Comparisons were drawn between the Qld rules and no life jackets and Vic, but pretty quickly everyone agreed that the biggest killer in Vic is hypothermia, which isn't such an issue in warmer water up north.

It wasn't until the end of the meeting that I suggested we should also look forward, not just historically and look at what the new issues are, given the growth in sport, identifying the offshore fishing expansion and night/morning lighting risks. I did have a good chat with the TSV Boss about PLB's offshore instead of EPIRB's later on.

Thanks again for everyone who participated in responding to the poll, as the results of the poll were passed on and I think it was a very positive impression that we could pass on the feedback the way that we did.