Hacker News Reader

Comment by rngname22 | Hacker News Reader

I have a Rapid Raft 2. 3lbs so portable enough for a cargo bicycle escape or to throw in car, or put in a hiking backpack if you know in advance you are going to need it without it being the end of the world in terms of weight, but yeah not the ideal boat and hand paddles are the best you can do for controlled movement. And sort of an awkward weight bc it's not really light enough for EDC but also sort of a shitty as it gets for an emergency craft.

Super easy to inflate though.

View on HN

Yeah... I'm very worried you'd get blown out to sea. Paddling in high winds like that isn't really going to work and with winds come swells. You'll be in poor visibility due to smoke and a small craft is hard to see as it is. On top of that, emergency services will be busy. It might be a long time before anybody notices you've been at sea for days and little chance of being found.

Yeah that is very fair. I don't think it's a great solution tbh but it's at least an alternative to drowning if drowning is the other option.

Now I'm wondering if Garmin InReach works at sea....

You can stand in the water for approx 200 meters from shore at waist depth for a big chunk of that Lahaina coast. Lahaina Roads (the water between Maui, Molokai, and Lanai) has LTE coverage cause the space is close enough to the coasts of all 3 islands.

I actually live in NYC, technically on Long Island (Brooklyn).

Garmin InReach has no reason not to work at sea, given it has world-wide coverage via the Iridium sat network:

https://www.iridium.com/network/

Hawaii might be nice because an ELT is going to be heard by every passing airliner (line of sight, which is super far on the ocean). If you’ve got an ELT, PLB, and a flare gun or two, I’d guess someone will get you before you die.

I was there. In Kaanapali village. Was evacuated and currently at an airport waiting to leave the island. While at the village, there was a small sailboat anchored about 100m from the shore, just bobbling from all the wind. It seemed perfectly fine and if someone had been there, they’d be able to just ride it out.

Get a satellite epirb / PLB and toss it in the kit. Not great but you will be found quickly (most likely).

That sounds like a cool raft!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com