Why doesn't every cruise ship have a overboard detection system?

Re:Why doesn't every cruise ship have a overboard detection ... by AYBABTME on Wednesday May 31, 2023 @01:47PM (#36141269)

You can buy devices that trigger an MOB signal over AIS when the wearer falls overboard. I have one for each member of my family when cruising on our boat. They deploy automatically when wet/the PFD inflates, and the specific message they emit triggers alarms on AIS receivers and marine radios:

https://www.acrartex.com/products/automatic-identification-s...

There's also cheaper devices based on Bluetooth. When the wearer falls off the signal range, the bluetooth base & the wearer's bluetooth beacon start beeping and flashing lights.

This is stuff that has good solutions for. However when you fall overboard, even if your location is known... recovering you is quite the challenge. It's a challenge on yachts which have much lower freeboard. Imagine in a giant cruise ship with hundreds of feet high boards, and momentum that requires 20min to stop the ship.

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Re:Why doesn't every cruise ship have a overboard detection ... by dghlsakjg on Wednesday May 31, 2023 @03:41PM (#36143137)

Boats above a certain size don't recover the victim themselves, they launch a rescue boat for that. Much easier than recovery on a pleasure craft.

I used to captain a tall ship, and that's the way that every one of us did it. It's way too hard and slow to maneuver even a 100 ft. boat to a MOB. We could heave to and have the rescue boat in the water in under 120 seconds.

If you go over without a life-jacket and a light, like most cruise ship passengers, your chances of recovery are almost nil. It's kind of a miracle that they find anyone at all. I wonder if the statistics cited also include MOB events at the dock, where if you survive the fall, your chances are pretty high.

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