ACR OLAS Guardian — Any experiences or feedback?

[Jamme]

Hi all,

I was looking at this wireless safety kill switch (particularly for winter solo sailing in areas where cell reception is not an issue) and was wondering if any of you had any experience with it or other similar devices?

https://www.acrartex.com/products/acr-olas-guardian

[Jamme]

Any feedback anyone? Just wanted to know before committing to a purchase. Thanks anyway.

[Snore]

The assumption you have is that you can fall off the boat and survive. Suggest you amend your philosophy; rig a jack line, the use a harness and tether.

[Jamme]

Originally Posted by Snore

The assumption you have is that you can fall off the boat and survive. Suggest you amend your philosophy; rig a jack line, the use a harness and tether.

Thanks. For clarity, life jacket and tethering are my philosophy, and I do not assume I would survive a fall, even if tethered. My hope with this device is that, if an accident happens while motoring, by shutting off the engine as soon as I “meet the brine”, I can accomplish two things:

1. climb back on (if alive...) more easily, as opposed to being dragged at 8 knots until gas runs out or we hit a rock

2. Be as close as possible to the coordinates where I fell (in case I am not conscious etc) and that are automatically being sent to a buddy onshore according to this system.

Given the relatively low cost of the device, I thought it to be a good safety improvement for costal cruising.

I am interested in knowing if anyone has used / tested the device directly.

Thank you.

[hafa]

The idea behind the OLAS is that if there is a MOB, the crew on watch will be quickly alerted, execute the MOB drill and once hove to, be able to determine the MOB's GPS location if the MOB is not in visual contact.



It's just one more tool, and a really inexpensive one at that, to increase the odds of rescue for a MOB.