This yellow thing is Annasley’s EPIRB – her Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon – aka the big red button for when things go wrong!
Annasley has a multitude of ways to communicate onboard. VHF radio, a couple of satellite phones, a BGAN terminal (internet), even one of her tracker units allows her to send messages. So in case of an emergency there are plenty of options – however when an emergency does happen, often things are pretty chaotic, and that’s where the EPIRB comes in.
All she needs to do is lift the red cap and press the button – this will then send a radio signal on a dedicated emergency bandwidth of 406MHz to a specialist network of around 65 satellites called COSPAS-SARSAT. This will in turn alert the coastguard who will contact Annasley’s emergency contacts and initiate a rescue. Normally the coastguard will instruct the nearest vessel to Annasley’s boat to go and support. As the rescue vessel gets closer to the received satellite position, a secondary radio signal on 121.5 MHz will be picked up that will act as a homing beacon to help them find the boat.
Annasley also has a smaller version of this on her harness at all times, this is a PLB – Personal Locator Beacon. This works in exactly the same way, but the rescue effort is directed to Annasley specifically, rather than her boat – this is important in case she was separated from the vessel. She shouldn’t ever find herself in this position, as she is clipped onto the boat at all times (even when swimming), but this is an important ‘belt and braces’ safety approach.
