safety at sea for solo sailors

Barring a miracle, we can assime that Duncan Lougee of the Folkboat "Minke" has drowned at sea. He was participating in last week's Jester Challenge, a solo adventure for boats leaving the south of England and sailing to  Baltimore, Ireland. Sea conditions were light to moderate and fellow competitors were at a loss to explain his disappearance, until Minke was found laying abandoned. We can assume that Duncan, an experienced solo sailor, had fallen overboard. This is of course, extremely sad and distressing for his loved ones and fellow sailors. 

There is a common practice among solo offshore sailors to sail without a life jacket but with a harness. The belief is that the harness will prevent a fall overboard or keep you by the ship so you can climb aboard. Though there is some conjecture as to how straightforward it is to get back on board a moving yacht at sea. 

Life jackets are not worn because if you do enter the sea and watch your boat sailing away, you have no chance of rescue and will drown quicker. This is apparently the best of a bad outcome, but it irked me to hear this repeated among experienced solo offshore sailors.

Today while watching Toma's Ryan sailing an F27 trimaran, solo about the Carribean sea, Gulf of Mexico and Florida coast, I learned of a more effective/safer system that may have saved Duncan's life. The first part is essentially the same; jacklines on deck, & a short leash or two to a harness worn by the sailor. The second part is quite unique (though world acclaimed dinghy sailor Howard Rice is another); wearing an inflatable life vest with pockets securing a handheld VHF radio and an EPIRB. Obviously, after you fall overboard and the harness system fails, you have the potential to set off an emergency response to extract you from the sea. At least you have hope in case of extreme emergency instead of watching the boat keep sailing and awaiting for the sharks to finish you off.