Life Light shine brightly at Seawork
UK based marine safety firm, Life Light Solutions were back at Seawork this year demonstrating some of their life saving equipment, including the Sea Leaf, the personal survival aid conceived from large oriental lily pads, which is a more compact alternative to bulky and heavy life rafts.
The company were back at the show bigger and better having acquired safety and pollution control specialists, Sea Scorpion early this year.
The Sea Leaf comes in 1.5m and 3m wide versions, which can take from 2 to 6 people respectively and folds down to the size of a rugby ball weighing less than 5kg, allowing easy stowage, especially in heavy weather. It inflates in just 4 seconds. The Sea Leaf doesn’t replace lifejackets but keeps you out of the water, the company say that survival rate is increased by 6-7 days if stranded at sea because the risk of hypothermia is greatly reduced.
On impact with water, the unique Co2 system immediately inflates the platform over an area of 12 sq feet. The low freeboard of 4 inches allows anyone in the water to crawl onto the platform using the foot and handholds and await rescue.
They are also illuminated using an innovative lighting system giving visibility of up to 5 miles. The US Coastguard has also tested the lighting as being visible in foggy and smoky conditions. The deluxe version carries the Famous Sea Marshall MOB location beacon alerting ships and aircraft to pinpoint the exact location of the Sea Leaf from many miles away. Sea Leaf is currently used by the Florida coastguard.
But the Sea Leaf also has a commercial interest as well as a military one. They will also appeal to any vessel owner who wants a more compact alternative to a life raft and smaller vessels who simply don’t have a lot of space for stowage. Not only that but they can also be used from the land as shore based llife saving aids thrown from breakwaters and jetties or used as life preservation devices dropped from aircraft and helicopters.
