The Safety Sausage Story

On July 22, 1984, a search and rescue exercise was organized by the Dunedin Marine Search and Rescue Advisory Committee. It was planned for two divers to be reported missing, and after a successful air search they were to be dropped a life raft and subsequently picked up by the Navy Patrol vessel "Moa". One of the divers was meant to have the bends and was then to be transferred to the hospital by helicopter and ambulance.

The exercise started with the divers setting out from Papanui Inlet about 8:30 a.m. in an avon inflatable. A half hour out, they slipped into the water and awaited rescue. Another half hour later they were beginning to get concerned that the search aircraft had not arrived. At 10:00 a.m., one hour after leaving the inflatable, the divers noticed a plane searching well away from their site. By 11:00 a.m. the divers could see a plane and a helicopter searching for them as well as the Moa steaming about several kilometers away. During the next half hour both the plane and helicopter flew directly over the divers on at least one occasion; yet each failed to see them. Finally, about 11:30 a.m. a fishing boat spotted the divers and radioed the plane who flew directly over them an dropped a life raft. The Moa then arrived and took the divers aboard. One was suffering from hypothermia.

The divers were in the water for two and a half hours, during which time they had covered a distance of eight kilometers. The most important lesson learned from this exercise was the difficulty in spotting divers from the air. Both the pilots and their observers were experienced. They saw seals, dolphins, and sea birds, but failed to see the divers despite the yellow catch-bag that was waved, yellow tanks, and yellow BCD's.

The lesson was a strong one for Bob Begg, one of the two divers, who owns a sporting goods store in Dunedin. He realized that divers need a simple, waterproof, eye-catching signaling device. It should be compact, inexpensive, and reusable. So he designed the Safety Sausage, a bright red, plastic inflatable tube that stands 10 feet out of the water. It can also be laid flat on the water to signal aircraft. It's inflatable by regulator, or orally. After each use, it can be rolled up to fit into a BCD pocket. If the Japanese family who perished in Palau several years ago had had a Safety Sausage, they would probably be alive today.

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