It ain't the weight of the safety gear, grub, grog, and other kit (and Kittens...four legged) that endanger Luna....but the AUM of the lady friend that might get me. I have to "tag" her to keep Whalers from wanting to hurl harpoons.
To think I did not go into the floatation gear....ten foot RIB and outboard, Six Man Liferaft, inflatable life jackets with lifting harnesses, and old fashioned life jackets....MOB pole and horse collar with retrieving line.....pre-rigged hoisting line for the main boom, etc.
Heck....I even carry flares, whistle, mirror, smoke signals in the dinghy along with a patch kit, anchor, and air pump. One never knows what might happen on the two hundred meter transit to the dinghy dock!
The truth is my First Mates have not exceeded 120 pounds or stood taller than 5'2"......similar weight restrictions as some Bell 206/407 EMS operators I might add! The interview process has been quite revealing in arriving at finding excellent "crew".
Alas....the Commodore has final approval authority.....the ladies meet his muster or it is over. Thus far he has been an excellent judge of crew!
All that safety kit is expensive, costs money to maintain, but if one life is saved as a result of having it when needed.....that is money well spent. I like the idea of being able to mash a couple of buttons and knowing help is alerted, that if required I can abandon ship knowing I have the means to survive, signal my location, and communicate with SAR units....and all that works both well offshore and inside the barrier islands where it might be twenty miles or more to the nearest land.