Practical Sailor's gear and boat reviews take the guesswork out of your buying decisions.

Volume 27
Number 13
July 1, 2001

Personal Rescue Lights: Less Than Brilliant

In two on-the-water tests, ACR slightly outshone the rest of a dim constellation. These lights can make all the difference in a quick pick-up, but forget the requirements and claims — you’re unlikely to see them beyond a half-mile in most sea conditions.

In test No. 1 we attached the lights to a Type
II PFD and held them just above the water,
facing the spotters offshore, in the attitude
they’d be in if they were attached to some-
one upright in the water. Spotters reported
whether they were visible at 1, 1.5, and 2
nautical miles.

If there’s a lesson to be learned about personal rescue lights —the kind you have strapped or pinned to your PFD for when you fall overboard—it’s this: Only fall overboard on a dark, clear, calm night with no ambient light near the surface of the water. And stay close to the boat.

Truly there’s an almost infinite variety of conditions in which we might have to search for someone who’s fallen overboard. In any kind of chop (starting at less than a foot), your ability to see any light almost at the surface of the water is diminished greatly. Add inclement weather, lights along a shoreline, flashing navigation lights, your…

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