Sailors can now choose from three different MOB alarm-and-locate systems based on relatively inexpensive Bluetooth tags and smartphone apps. In addition to CrewWatcher—last year’s overall Pittman winner, now manufactured and distributed by Weems & Plath—there’s also Sea-Tags from France and OLAS from the U.K. OLAS stands for Overboard Location Alert System and represents a new brand from Exposure Lights, a long-time manufacturer of high-performance LED flashlights for sailing and other challenging environments. Not only that, but OLAS-networked crews can now make use of these handy Float-On flashlights that, like the system’s “conventional” tags, will similarly cause the OLAS app to sound the alarm if the Float-On ever breaks its active Bluetooth connection. The app will then guide the remaining crew back to the MOB’s last known position, where it will likely prove quite useful that the Float-On also serves as a water-activated float-upright strobe. OLAS tags are about $60 and can be fitted to pets or towed tenders, while the Float-On is USB-rechargeable and offers three flashlight illumination levels from 10 to 120 lumens. $140. Exposure Lights, alertandfind.com
Back to 2018 Pittman Innovation Awards
February 2018
