Growing up in Maine, the orange Type II life jacket with a homemade chest harness and safety tether was very different to the modern personal flotation device (PFD) now worn by the author of this review article when boating.
When it comes to safety at sea, modern mariners have two important pieces of satellite-based defense available: 406 EPIRBs and 406 PLBs.
Both are underpinned by Cospas-Sarsat, which was founded decades ago by Canada, France, the United States and the former Soviet Union to provide a free emergency-signal relay service for mariners of all flags.
Today, Cospas-Sarsat involves these founders plus 43 other nations (and two agencies) that share the goal of providing, maintaining and innovating a global distress-signal monitoring system that directs the correct rescuing authority to an unfurling emergency as quickly as possible.
To date, Cospas-Sarsat has saved more than 50,000 lives.
As of this writing, there are nine active GEOSAR satellites and five LEOSAR satellites; once the network is complete, there will be at least 75 MEOSAR satellites aloft.
These satellites are supported by a global network of ground-based assets, including Local Users Terminals (LUTs), Mission Control Centers (MCCs) and local rescue coordination centers.
Read the full article here:
https://www.cruisingworld.com/gear/electronic-life-insurance/