NEW SCUBA DIVING SAFETY COMM DEVICE

[lifelinedaniel]

We have developed a new product to the surfing world. A safety communication device for surfers that mounts on their surf board. If you ever get taken by a rip tide too far out, smash into rocks now you can radio the nearest boat, surfer or even send a distress signal out. Does anyone think this is something surfers will care enough about to purchase?

[jaffa1949]

Hmmmmmmmm, yeah right! Good in principle probably a good scuba device but surfing some impracticalities for the usage you suggest !
How big is the device? On the surfboard....great another thing to trip over or impact on your head, a lot of injuries don't happen because a board is mostly clean surfaces
HELP I' m caught a rip......... Press the button or whatever you do a lot of beaches surfers surf at are a long way from any life saving services, basically if you cannot rescue yourself you shouldn't be surfing at that spot.
OOH I've been smashed on the rocks, can you imagine trying to get a boat in the break zone to perform the rescue, multiple casualties. Oh and how do you set it off after you've been smashed you're hurt and your board is broken, is the device even still on the bit of the board attached to your leg rope?

Might have a place among the tow in crew, but most have a support team of jet skis and tenders outside the surf break.
They are even more allergic to impactive lumps on their boards, will your device survive a Peahi or Mavericks style wipeout?
How is it different from a normal dive EPIRB or PLB?
Is it just a radio box like a Go Pro camera, how does it pick emergency frequencies.
Do any of your crew surf? It might be a good idea but lots more than what you are posting need to be considered?
Test drive required by the your inhouse crew at Jaws, Pipeline, Teahupou an Mavericks

[dtc]

For my sins I recently was looking at statistics of deaths from drowning (in Australia), and while I dont have them in front of me I can't recall any deaths from drowning while surfing in the recent past. And, anecdotally, the deaths that do occur come from big wipeouts/holdowns/being injured after hitting the ocean floor - a situation unlikely to be improved by such a device. The biggest danger is probably from losing your board and having difficulty swimming in; if the device in on the board then its not much use!

That said

- I surf in fairly populated areas with established life saving procedures that are generally understood by most people; if they see someone in difficulty a mobile phone is all that is needed; the device may be of more use in more remote regions

- surfers are notoriously conservative when it comes to equipment beyond a wetsuit and board. No one wears helmets, no one wears any kind of bouyancy device (except for some - and only some - big wave sufers), people still use sharp fins despite all the injuries they cause. People dont even wear hats when surfing in the middle of summer, even though out of the water they will have hats and sunnies and the whole sun protection kit. Its a hard market!