EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT
A. Equipment Required On All Voyages
1. PFD's or Personal Flotation Device (Life Jacket): minimum, one per person on board.
2. Safety Harnesses: minimum, one per person on board.
3. Foul Weather Gear: minimum, one per person on board. Designed to keep you dry and warm, providing protection from driving rain and seaspray, and waves breaking onto the deck during storms at sea; prevents extreme loss of body heat and hypothermia (low body temperature).
4. Pumps, Bailers, and Buckets: Designed to remove water from the holds. The Gusher Pumps on board can pump 36-48 gallons per minute. A pump may become clogged with debris, such as pieces of line, left in the holds. When the pump is clogged, you need to take it apart and remove the debris. When the seal of the pump becomes worn or corroded by saltwater and the pump is no longer air tight, the suction action is weakened or lost. To repair the pump, the seal must be replaced.
5. VHF Radio: Designed for low-energy requirement and short-range communication. VHF Radios are used to communicate between the canoe and escort boat. The two vessels monitor the same channel for calling to each other; the communication may take place on a different channel once contact is established. Channel 16 is the international distress frequency and is monitored by the Coast Guard. One channel is dedicated to weather information and reports. Høküleça carries both a mounted VHF Radio in the radio box (up to 25 watts, range 5-25 miles) and hand-held VHF Radios (up to 6 watts, range: 3-5 miles). The range is determined mainly by the height of the antenna (the radio operates between "line of sight" stations) and wattage-the higher the antennae and greater the wattage, the greater the range of the radio. The hand-helds run on rechargeable batteries.
6. Cellular Phone: Used to communicate with telephones on shore. Communication depends on the shore-based antenna system set up by the cellular phone company. When the canoe moves out of range of the antenna system, communication is no longer possible.
7. Emergency Signals: Flares and Strong Flashlights-Used at night to attract ships or planes or indicate position. Orange Smoke-Used in the daytime. Signal Mirror: Daytime use. Whistle and/or Power Horn: To Produce Sound Signal.
8. Fire Extinguishers (See Section on Fires for Types of Fires and Extinguishers)
9. First Aid Kit
10. Anchors and Anchor Line; Towing Bridle and Towing Line; Docking Lines
11. Paddles (For Eala and other Small Sailing Canoes)
12. Tool Box
13. Lights for Sailing or Anchoring between Sunset and Sunrise: When Sailing at Night-Red to Port; Green to Starboard; White Stern Light. When Anchored at Night: All Around Night Light Visible to 2 Miles.
B. Equipment Required On Open Ocean Voyages
1. Single SideBand Radio: For Long Distance Communication at Sea. Mounted in the radio box during long voyages. Special training is needed to operate this radio.
2. GPS (Global Positioning System) Unit: Provides accurate worldwide position fixes (latitude and longitude), 24 hours a day. A GPS unit receives signals from high-altitude satellites operated by the U.S. Air Force and can give you your location to an accuracy within 100 meters 95% of the time. Used in emergencies when you need to give your location to the escort boat or a search vessel.
3. EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon): a transmitter that sends out an emergency signal to rescue services. EPIRB use is limited to Mayday-type situations when your vessel is in danger of sinking, or you have a medical emergency and all other measures of rescue have been exhausted. EPIRBs transmit on internationally recognized distress frequnecies listened to by aircraft, satellites, land stations, and rescue vessels. The signal from the newest class of EPIRBs called "406" (they transmit on the 406 MHz frequency) has an embedded code with your vessel's ID#; the signal allows a satellite to calculate your position to about a two-mile radius. A Category I EPIRB floats free and turns on automatically when it enters the water; a Category II EPIRB is manually deployed and turned on.
4. Radar Reflector: Designed to be "seen" by the radar of the escort boat or a search vessel that may be looking for the canoe. Works best when mounted high (on the mast) and unobstructed. In general, a vessel "will not be visible from more than 4-5 miles, and will be lost in the sea clutter when closer than 2-3 miles." Thus, the radar on a searching vessel has a very small window of time or distance during which it can dectect the reflector.
5. Man Overboard Pole, with a flotation device, two strobe lights, and a safety line attached to it.
6. Storm Sails - Modern type tri-sails of varying sizes are carried on board to deal with different storm conditions. The severity of the storm will determine the size sail to be used.
7. Sea Anchors - Used to help prevent lee drift when sails are down. May be deployed off the stern to help reduce speed.
8. Damage Control Kit - Included with the tools should be material to repair damage to the hulls. Wood plugs, rubber patches, and even the sails can be used to plug a hole in the hull.