B&G and Jon Buoy pull off industry first

Genuine industry firsts don't come around often in marine safety. In Southampton, B&G and rescue equipment specialist Ocean Safety may have earned the label with the Jon Buoy Smart Release, the first Ocean Safety product ever wired directly into a boat's navigation system.

The idea traces back to last year's Metstrade show in Amsterdam, where Ocean Safety previewed the Mk 6 Smart Release alongside a new short-term abandonment solution, the Jon Buoy EVAC. What was a trade-show concept then is now shipping hardware, paired specifically with B&G's chartplotter range.

Press the MOB button on a B&G unit and the system does the rest. It logs the casualty's position, steers the boat back toward them, and simultaneously fires the Jon Buoy Mk 6 Recovery Module into the water, no second button, no fumbling for a separate release. "The confidence this gives skippers and crews is remarkable," said Ocean Safety sales director Mark Acaster. "This is a true industry first." It's a fairly blunt claim for a sales director to put his name to, which is partly why it's worth taking at face value here.

The specs back up the ambition. It's a single-use device that runs off a boat's existing 12V or 24V network, talks over NMEA 2000, and ships with a 10m cable that stretches to 50m with extension sets. Two-year warranty, illuminated switch panel, serviced alongside the Recovery Module itself. None of it is glamorous, but it's the sort of engineering that matters when someone's actually in the water.

Ocean Safety's own site still lists the Smart Release as "coming soon" for trade accounts, so it's not yet confirmed for New Zealand. The wider Jon Buoy range already is, and B&G's gear reaches Kiwi boats through Navico Group's local network, but this particular unit hasn't landed here yet.

Go Boating NZ covered the rescueME PLB3 directly last month, Ocean Signal's AIS-equipped man overboard beacon picked up a King's Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category, with the company's chief technical officer Simon Nolan collecting it at St James's Palace.

Recommended viewing

B&G's own release video, "Connected Charts, Instant Rescue," is on the company's YouTube channel. Find out more about the B&G and Ocean Safety partnership.