It would depend on the waters you are sailing. If you are more than 200 NM from shore, you cannot count on anyone to get to you in less than 48 hours. Can you survive more than two days in the waters you are sailing in? If yes, ok. If not - doesn't do anything for you.
Have you decided on the system best for you?
In the recent sinking of The Raindancer 1500nm from land they were rescued within 24hr, and the MOB AIS played a part in the final phase. But you are correct you cant count on anything. I recently listened one night for over a half an hour as a USCG helo searched for a small fishing boat that had lost power just outside Dauphin Is in the Gulf of Mexico. The mariner was communicating with the CG via cell phone who were relaying to the helo. They had his coordinates, and he was flashing lights from the boat…. They saw his first flare at the beginning. Still it took over 30 min after that. They missed his second flare. It got to the point where the helo would ask the shore station to ask the boat if they were flying towards them or away… then they would turn. They eventually found him and directed a boat to tow him. But it was a lesson in how difficult it is to find objects at sea.
I went with the Ocean Signal MOB1. It's a combination of where I'll be sailing, and budget.
When I first saw this device, I was impressed, however, it does not have DSC calling back to the mothership. For a solo sailor or if the whole crew is in the life raft off shore it would work. but it does not trigger the distress alarm on the VHF which is loud enough to wake the dead.
I’ve always appreciated a close “shake-down” leg readying for my longer distance destinations.
Yes! I have two things to fix, so I'll work on those in the morning. Since I got here I've just been chillin', trying to relax; and just finished eating dinner. Kinda beat. I think the emotional part takes a lot out of one. Still 1:40 'til sunset, though.
Do not forget the great help that a solo sailor can get from the simple hove-to. On my recent 13-day solo cruise, I hove-to over a dozen times. Why you may ask?
So you can leave the helm to go to the mast to hoist; heave-to sustains the boat relative to the wind; say 45 deg so you can ease the mainsheet to luff the mainsail while hosting. Mimics heading the boat directly into the wind. Then return to cockpit, tack the jib, trim the mainsail and away!
I don’t doubt it would work that way. I guess I’ve never seen a need to do that myself. But whatever works for ya!
I was going to respond with the exact same thing that KG said but he beat me to it. When sailing solo, I make extensive use of the stability with no need to tend to anything to make all sorts of jobs easier.
Well, given your self-imposed "prime directive," together with the atypical circumstances you have described, I can see where using hove-to in the scenario you outlined makes sense. But I took your advice of using a hove-to position to raise the main as generic advice for single handers, and frankly I don't see the need for that. In fact, I'd say that in almost any real-world case it's just extra hassle.