I sail and Kayak alone a fair bit. I carry a VHF radio on the water. I carry my Smartphone in an Aquapac as a backup but although there usually seems to be signal in the waters I tend to play in I have no faith I could dial 999 from the smartphone in the water due to the crapness of the touchscreen when wet.

The sole scenario I want to cater for is dialling 999 from the water if I were separated from whatever craft and was physically in the water.

I’m thinking that an simple mobile phone in an aquapac would be a handy backup. Physical buttons would be far easier to use from the water than touch or voice control.

So I’m very tempted to buy a Nokia 3310 on ebay and a PAYG Sim and keep it in an Aquapac. (£12)

Alternatively I could buy a simple waterproof phone, but I suspect I’d end up keeping in an aquapac anyway and it would be a cheap unbranded job and the last thing I want is bad signal on a phone that’s exclusively for 999 calls from the back end of beyond.

An epirb/plb is way over budget (…and a mobile/VHF can both be tested by calling them. I’m not sure a PLB would give me the same confidence.) I don’t do flares. I’m usually clipped to the boat.

Questions:

1) Can I dial 999 without a sim at all or is £5 worth of PAYG essential?
2) Anyone recommend a cheap waterproof mobile?
3) Anyone recommend a compact hypercheap phone with big physical buttons and a low power B+W LCD screen that they know from first hand use works well?

TIA.

Waterproof phone – if your in a wet environment and the adrenaline is going then good luck fumbling the aquapac open one handed and getting a call out without getting the phone wet.

You can pick the older waterproof phones up for peanuts now, lanyard one to your BA with enough tail to get the thing to your ear and keep it on. The jcb one was ok with neoprene gloves on. Set speed dials for the important numbers.

No need for a payg top up for emergency calls but you do need a SIM card in there. My EE one just needs me to use it once in 6 months I think. There’s plenty of £20 Samsungs on eBay if you don’t want an unbranded one.

Waterproof case on lanyard and iPhone works fine for us when we are out without safety cover. Flat phone works well tucked under buoyancy aid, trapeze harness and rash vest. We looked at VHF but impractical on the boat we sail. Our situation may be different insofar as a) we’re out as a pair and b) if one of us falls off the boat (49er) the boat falls over too c) we are never out for extended periods (but do get quite a distance away from help).

Reminded me of this…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wz_0xjGwM4&feature=youtu.be[/video]

In all the water sports situations I have been in I’ve never carried a mobile phone. Whilst I understand your situation and agree to some extent your reasons for it, I think you’re over thinking the basics.

The only safety gear I carry is a whistle, a damn good one.

I’ve been in situations that could be described as “extreme” but I know what to do and how to get out of the situation should I need too. I’ve never used the whistle yet, but I will continue to carry it just in case.

Back to your situation, I agree that trying to press anything with both cold/none working fingers or the lack of ability to the think straight is tricky. The bigger the better, whatever phone you choose.

I’d seek out MattOutandabout off here for his years as an instructor/outward bound expert, for should he be so inclined to give his expert advice on your choice decisions..

Just sayin..

My old work phone was a Samsung gt b2710. Very basic phone with buttons and also very waterproof. A quick google shows they are about £20-30 on eBay these days.

It also had a handy plastic loop / lanyard attachment.

@nickdavies You make a very good point and that JCB sitephone takes a lanyard and generally fits the bill perfectly. Except that £40 cost – I was hoping for closer to £10 for something that will almost certainly never be used.

I agree that trying to press anything with both cold/none working fingers or the lack of ability to the think straight is tricky.

As will making myself heard, but I’ll have the rest of my life to do it. 😀

In all the water sports situations I have been in I’ve never carried a mobile phone. Whilst I understand your situation and agree to some extent your reasons for it, I think you’re over thinking the basics.

The only safety gear I carry is a whistle, a damn good one.

I’ve been in situations that could be described as “extreme” but I know what to do and how to get out of the situation should I need too. I’ve never used the whistle yet, but I will continue to carry it just in case.

Back to your situation, I agree that trying to press anything with both cold/none working fingers or the lack of ability to the think straight is tricky. The bigger the better, whatever phone you choose.

I’d seek out MattOutandabout off here for his years as an instructor/outward bound expert, for should he be so inclined to give his expert advice on your choice decisions..

Just sayin..

I used to think the same, until we got caught out by a 35 kt (recorded) squall (this blew up from a F3-4, but in hindsight we now know northerlies at Stokes Bay do this sort of thing). We were very kindly escorted back in by a passing cruiser who also stood by whilst we waited out the worst of the weather upside down and dropped the (now holed) main. Thankfully no other damage that we noticed at the time*, so we made it back in, across an ebbing tide under jib. Coast guard had been called (by someone on shore), and whilst there was no formal report filed, it was firmly recommended to us that we carry some form of comms for reaching shore. I would feel a bit silly for ignoring their advice should we end up doing this again. I did find it mildly entertaining that the CG were sat watching events unfold in the comfort of their landrover, eating their sandwiches. Guess they figured we had it sussed.

The next step on from the self recovery would have been calling the club, politely asking for some assistance so as not to bother GAFIR/HMCG, so there is something here about making sure you get the right attention from the right people.

*We actually ended up losing the mast, which had cracked above top spreaders

My old work phone was a Samsung gt b2710. Very basic phone with buttons and also very waterproof. A quick google shows they are about £20-30 on eBay these days.
It also had a handy plastic loop / lanyard attachment.

Many thanks for that. GPS in a Rugged phone I don’t GAF about is quite useful to me which makes paying a bit more than a tenner way better value to me. I’ll bid on a couple of used gt b2710s.

what about a SPOT?

That Contender video took me back 40 years or so. We’d been racing and we’re putting the boats away when one of the tail-enderskin made it to the slipway. A father and son sailing a Flying Dutchman. A big (20 foot long dinghy for the uninitiated). It was fairly breezy, and the dad left the young lad holding the boat while he went for the trolley. The boat was blown off the slipway and the lad let go of the forestay. Otherwise it would have dragged him into the Thames.

Kevin and I swam after the boat and sailed it back to shore.

The dad was grateful and suggested we took it for a proper blast. Trapeze belt on and away we went.

That boat was fantastic, fast smooth and a pleasure to sail. I owned a Contender many years later and it was only recently I found out that the Contender was a scaled down FD.

Back on topic I will take an old Motorola flip phone when out on the bike. It’s small and easy to tuck in a pocket. A Giffgaff PAYG sim is free and only needs a text or call every 6 months to keep it active and the credit alive.

GPS in a Rugged phone

A bit of research suggests the GPS isn’t going to give me an easily exported GPX track that I can import to Spotify/Google maps etc. Can someone confirm this? Mind you at £25 is still does everything I need for sod all cash, a winner.

@footflaps Thanks will investigate Spot now.

@footflaps many thanks for that excellent suggestion have now read up on Spot. A McMurdo Fastfind PLB is £175 with no subscription so if my budget was a lot higher I’d go for that. As it is £25 for an old Building Site mobile is feeling like a very cost effective backup.

Comments here are worth a read:
http://14erskiers.com/franksblog/2010/06/spot-gps-messengers-worth-it-or-worthless/

If you think you need a safety communications device it should be one suitable for the job and not a mobile phone. Waterproof VHF or better still by a PLB and take that biking too.

If you read the OP, he also has a VHF. When I go kayaking on the sea I also carry a VHF and a mobile phone – and also flares (I have a whistle, but when I’m half a mile or more offshore I doubt it would help much). There are situations where a mobile might work better – I seem to get phone coverage when I’m not sure anybody would hear me on the VHF. Cheapy old Nokia in a waterproof bag here – you can use the phone while it’s still in the case, so no more more difficult for cold wet fingers than a waterproof phone. TBH given I’ve killed a supposedly waterproof watch in the conditions I kayak in (often have waves breaking over me), then I’m not sure I’d trust a waterproof phone without a case anyway.

Regarding a SIM, last time I checked Asda mobile SIMs are free and come with a minimal amount of credit, so if it’s just for emergency use simply call it every 6 months to keep it active.

“he also has a VHF”

Yup, and FWIW the only time I’ve ever called a real life mayday (I found three people in the water) there was carrier on 16 and I had to use the mobile.

Statistically irrelevant but it was a little lesson for me in comms snobbery.

I keep my phone (Experia z3 compact) in an Aquapack whilst kayaking and I find the touch screen works no problem.

That’s interesting, any idea what the difference is? Mine’s fine when it’s reasonably dry but as soon as a film of water collects it’s useless. I suspect I would eventually get a call out but it makes me uneasy.

Overnight Ive realised an additional requirement, must charge with a Micro USB cable which counts the 3310 out.

All mobiles should have the ability to make a 999 call if there is charge in the battery. I don’t think they even need a sim in and should route via any available network.

Or you could just take a whistle…

Just get a micro USB to Nokia jack adapter for a couple of pounds?

Unfortunately that’s not true – you need a SIM in order to make a 999 call as otherwise they are blocked.

I’m not sure anybody has yet explained how a whistle would help when half a mile offshore – or even much closer in when there’s lots of noise from breaking waves as there likely would be if I needed rescue.

Unfortunately that’s not true – you need a SIM in order to make a 999 call as otherwise they are blocked

So it is. Used to be the case but now blocked due to too many untraceable calls.

I’m not sure anybody has yet explained how a whistle would help when half a mile offshore – or even much closer in when there’s lots of noise from breaking waves as there likely would be if I needed rescue.

Flipper will hear it and come and save you…

I’m not sure anybody has yet explained how a whistle would help

You climb on it and paddle it ashore.

Get the right one and blow, surprisingly effective.

Get the right one and blow, surprisingly effective.

It certainly would be surprising if it was effective!

A whistle couldn’t be trusted to tell the SO I was going to be late home, let alone something important like communicating my position and the need for assistance.

What situations are you imagining where a whistle will be effective, bikebouy? Do they include being a couple of hundred metres offshore in a F5 blowing onto cliffs with the nearest people well over a mile away? Just to pick a random example of the time I was most expecting to need to use my VHF.

^^^ in that scenario calling the police won’t help much as you’ll be on the rocks and likely long drowned before the police call the RNLI and they turn up

Flares are pretty much useless for signalling an emergency, the chances of being seen are close to zero.

In this day and age PLB

FWIW like many here I have done lots of inshore and offshore sailing, we have our safety kit (vhf, plb, epirb) but a mobile phone is a backup and we’d never rely on it. Some places (eg Beaulieu River) have no signal anyway. Have done all the RYA safety at sea training. Been towed in by RNLI after being dismasted during 2007 Fastnet.

OP buy a “seniors” mobile with buttons and put it in a ziplock bag. Dial 999 and shout through the pastic or into the bag with the ziplock partially opened. A good lifejacket and a drysuit will help keep you alive in the 30+ minutes any rescue will take to turn up.

What have the police got to do with it? Dial 999 and ask for the coastguard. Shouldn’t take much longer to connect than going through the protocol on ch16. It might have been tight, but only a couple of miles from the lifeboat station.

Anyway, we’re all carrying VHF, the phone is a backup, but a much better backup than a whistle – I seem to get signal pretty much everywhere I go just offshore.

Ok, so you think pushing buttons with fingers that are too cold to work would work better?

Off to go, go play in the Sea. Clearly you are far better at anything the RNLI has to offer.

I’m oot, you want more than I can offer.

Dial 999 and ask for the coastguard.

Indeed, and you might be lucky with the VHF and raise a Fishing boat or somesuch already out and about in range.

Thanks everyone for all the comment in this thread, it’s been really useful.

A bit OT for the OP, but flares have been mentioned. After taking my flares to the kind Coastguard for disposal (between 10 and 25 years old) I have decided not to buy any more pyrotechnics, and with the aid of a cash present from my mum I’ve bought a Greatland Laser flare; visible range 3 miles in day and 30 at night, works for 5 hrs. So my plan is VHF or PLB to ask for help, and laser flare so that I can be found (assuming I’m still alive to point it). Combined with continuing to learn about how not to need help.

I would second a PLB also does your hand-held VHF have a DSC button?

http://www.force4.co.uk/department/electronics/vhf/handheld-vhf-radios/standard-horizon-hx870e-floating-class-d-dsc-handheld-vhf-wi.html

Don’t discount PLB’s they save people’s lives every year at sea and a very effective. I don’t think I have heard of one not working if it has been to hand.

Could save time letting people know where you are.

A mobile phone should always be a backup to VHF then PLB.

I’ve long since ditched all my flares, flares are mental.

I was buying an easy to use mobile for my elderly (87) father today. A possible contender for a phone in a bag as well. Big buttons and has a big one touch emergency button on the back which can be set with the number of your choice.

£20. Tesco have 3 PAYG plans – one called lite I think where the credit either doesn’t expire or just needs a call every few months.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-mobile-doro-phoneeasy-508-black/327-6592.prd?source=others

You wouldn’t have heard of the PLBs that didn’t work, would you? 😀

Seriously, I’m well sold on the benefits of PLBs I’m just not willing to pay for one.

Handheld isn’t DSC. (See comment on PLBs)

You wouldn’t have heard of the PLBs that didn’t work, would you?

I think I would.
And you can get a hand-held class D DSC VHF.

http://www.force4.co.uk/department/electronics/vhf/handheld-vhf-radios/standard-horizon-hx870e-floating-class-d-dsc-handheld-vhf-wi.html

Hmmm, this thread about maybe buying a 3310 and a plastic bag. Whilst a combined £380 worth of new gear is undoubtedly superior, it’s not really what I was discussing.

I use my iPhone in an “Overboard’ large phone pouch. I regularly take photos, video and make (slightly muffled) calls whilst it’s still in the bag.

If you’re wearing gloves you can use Siri to make calls too.

Works for me…

I’ve got a waterproof case similar to this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LBK7OSY/ref=zg_bs_9375358011_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QEB6KGJA77P9KVJ3NQQQ

Pretty cheap and more secure than just a ziplock bag.