MRT’s General Manager Goes Overboard

• When in position Andrew Brown (General Manager of MRT ltd.) went overboard wearing a lifejacket fitted with a Sea Marshall® PLB on test/training frequency 121.65MHz. The beacon activated within 5 seconds and the alarm on the SARfinder® locator on the RIB immediately triggered, the SARfinder® straight away showed the direction of the MOB in the water and approx range (near/far)
  
  
• The RIB was then moved away to a position approximately 1.25 -1.5 miles South West.
  
  
• The Crew of the boat were instructed by the chief officer on board to use only the information given by the SARfinder® locator unit to track back to the MOB.
  
  
• The SARfinder clearly displayed the direction of the ‘SOS’ signal coming from the Alerting Unit worn by Mr. Brown. The officer steering the boat followed the direction shown and used the signal strength indicator to slow down when in close proximity, the RIB was brought alongside the MOB to within approx. 30 yards at which point the SARfinder® display indicated the target had moved alongside to a position approximately 90° to starboard. The SARfinder display immediately registered this change of position from ahead to 90° (relative to ships head) to the side allowing the crew to steer around the target and come along side to physically recover Mr. Brown.

It was noted by all the participants on the RIB that despite the clear skies the person in the water only became visible to the naked eye when they came within approx. 40 yards