SOS Recovery Ladder
noun - A SOS Recovery Ladder is equipment that allows escort crew members to get disabled, injured, ill, fatigued, or hypothermic open water swimmers back onto the escort boat.
Advantages
The SOS Recovery Ladder has multiple advantages:
- it is easy and quick to deploy in minutes as it unfolds instantly.
- it can be operated by a single individual.
- it can be rolled out and ready for use in less than a minute.
- it is multi-functional in that another open water swimmer or able bodied support crew can use the ladder and the disabled, injured, ill, fatigued, or hypothermic swimmer can be horizontally lifted out of the water.
- its horizontal posture is important for swimmers experiencing hypothermia or injury.
- it can be secured to a cleat, gunwale, stanchion base, padeye or other available strong points on the escort boat.
- it can hold a body with great security and stability.
- it includes a highly visible, heavy duty neon yellow polyester mesh bag.
- it has well-spaced rungs providing stable foot and hand hold.
- it is soft mesh that will not further injure or hurt the swimmer when there are ocean swells or surf that causes the boat to roll, unlike typical boarding ladders.
- it is easily transportable and can be carried from boat to boat.
Open Water Swimming Application
Jacqueline McClelland and Pádraig Mallon of infinity Channel Swimming has used the SOS Recovery Ladder during 35 km North Channel solo and relay crossings between Northern Island and Scotland since 2021.
SOS
S is a Morse code distress signal ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (SOS), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" are transmitted as an unbroken sequence of three dots / three dashes / three dots, with no spaces between the letters. In International Morse Code three dots form the letter "S" and three dashes make the letter "O", so "S O S" became a common way to remember the order of the dots and dashes. IWB, VZE, 3B, and V7 form equivalent sequences, but traditionally SOS is the easiest to remember.
SOS, when it was first agreed upon by the International Radio Telegraphic Convention in 1906, was merely a distinctive Morse code sequence and was initially not an abbreviation. Later a backronym was created for it in popular usage, and SOS became associated with mnemonic phrases such as "Save Our Souls" and "Save Our Ship". Moreover, due to its high-profile use in emergencies, the phrase "SOS" has entered general usage to informally indicate a crisis or the need for action.
SOS originated in German government maritime radio regulations adopted effective 1 April 1905. It became a worldwide standard when it was included in the service regulations of the first International Radiotelegraph Convention signed on 3 November 1906, which became effective on 1 July 1908. In modern terminology, SOS is a Morse "procedural signal" or "prosign", used as a start-of-message mark for transmissions requesting assistance when loss of life or catastrophic loss of property is imminent. Other prefixes are used for mechanical breakdowns, requests for medical assistance, and a relayed distress signal originally sent by another station. SOS remained the maritime radio distress signal until 1999, when it was replaced by the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.
SOS is still recognized as a standard distress signal that may be used with any signaling method. It has been used as a visual distress signal, consisting of three short/three long/three short flashes of light, such as from a survival mirror. In some cases the individual letters "S O S" have been spelled out, for example, stamped in a snowbank or formed out of logs on a beach. "S O S" being readable upside down as well as right side up (as an ambigram) is an advantage for visual recognition.
