The abandon ship bag is not gear you use — it is gear you grab. In a real abandonment scenario, you have approximately one minute from the decision to abandon to the moment your boat is no longer a safe platform. That minute is chaotic, wet, potentially dark, and almost certainly frightening. Your crew is moving, the boat may be heeling, water may be coming in. The bag that goes into the life raft is the bag that was already packed, already at hand, already attached to something that puts it in the right place automatically.
Everything that follows is predicated on that constraint: the bag is packed before departure, stored accessibly, and never raided for convenience items that will not be put back. A grab bag that has had its PLB batteries borrowed or its passport removed is not a grab bag — it is an expensive orange sack.
The Bag Itself
The bag must be bright orange or yellow — maximum visibility in the water and from the air. It must be a dry bag or have a waterproof inner liner that genuinely seals against immersion; not "water resistant," waterproof. A roll-top dry bag in 40–60 liters is the standard configuration. The volume accommodates the full packing list while staying manageable to carry and fit through a companionway.
A short line — 1–2 meters of floating line — should be permanently attached to the bag's handles and terminated in a snap hook or loop. In the raft, this line tethers the bag to the raft's inner webbing. A bag not tethered to the raft can be lost overboard in the first wave that breaks over the canopy — and everything in it goes with it.
The bag lives in the cockpit locker nearest the companionway, or in the companionway itself if there is a suitable bracket. It does not live in the forward cabin, in a quarter berth, or under the chart table. Those locations cost precious seconds in an emergency and may be inaccessible if the boat is heeling or flooding.
Communications
406MHz PLB (Personal Locator Beacon): The most important item in the bag. A PLB registered to you or your vessel will, when activated, alert the Cospas-Sarsat satellite network and provide a GPS-accurate position to rescue coordination centers within 45 minutes. Without a PLB, your position is unknown until you are sighted. With one, search and rescue assets know approximately where you are before the first helicopter is airborne. The PLB lives in the bag in its original waterproof housing. Check the battery expiry date annually — most PLBs require battery replacement every 5 years. Register it at beaconregistration.noaa.gov.
Handheld VHF radio — waterproof: A fully submersible handheld VHF (JIS-8 or IPX7 rated minimum) gives you voice communication with nearby vessels and coast guard on Channel 16, and DSC distress calling capability if the radio includes it. In a life raft, you can hear traffic, monitor weather broadcasts, and communicate with rescuers once they are nearby. Charge the battery before every offshore passage. Carry a spare battery pack or a USB charging cable and a small waterproof power bank if the radio supports USB charging.
SART or personal AIS transponder: A SART (Search and Rescue Transponder) or AIS-SART creates a radar or AIS target visible to SAR aircraft and vessels searching for you. Once the rescue asset is in the area, it homes on your signal. A personal AIS device (such as a McMurdo FastFind or similar) also transmits your position as an AIS target visible to any vessel with an AIS receiver within range. This complements the PLB — the PLB gets SAR assets vectored to your area, the SART or AIS gets them to your exact position.
Signaling
Parachute flares (rocket flares): A minimum of three. Parachute flares burn at 300 meters altitude for 40 seconds, visible to 30 miles in good visibility. Fire them when you hear an aircraft or see a vessel on the horizon — one flare establishes that you exist, a second establishes direction if the first was missed. Space them out: do not fire all three at once. They have expiry dates.
Handheld red flares: A minimum of three. Used when a vessel or aircraft is close. Handheld flares are extremely hot and burn through gloves. Hold them over the leeward side of the raft, arm extended, and look away from the flame. They are your close-range homing signal.
Signal mirror: Works in daylight with sun. A heliograph or signal mirror can reflect sunlight visible to aircraft at up to 10 miles. It costs almost nothing, weighs almost nothing, never expires, and requires no batteries. Practice the aiming technique before you go offshore — there is a correct technique involving the two-finger aperture method that dramatically increases effective range.
Waterproof strobe light: For night use. A white flashing strobe on the raft is visible to rescue assets from considerable distance. Many life raft canopies include a strobe light; having a personal one in the bag provides redundancy and can be separated from the raft if needed.
Whistle: Simple and loud. For attracting attention of a nearby vessel or helicopter crew when voice is insufficient.
Navigation
Handheld GPS: A dedicated waterproof handheld GPS provides position information when the VHF radio's built-in GPS has failed or when battery conservation requires the VHF to be off. Knowing your position lets you give precise coordinates over the VHF, helps you track drift, and gives SAR assets the ability to search the correct box. Loaded with charts of the cruising area, a GPS can help you assess whether self-rescue — paddling or sailing the raft toward shore — is a rational option.
Compass: A small liquid-filled compass. If the GPS fails, a compass and a paper chart still give you directional capability.
Paper charts of the immediate area: Printed on waterproof paper, or laminated, or in a waterproof case. Digital charts fail; paper does not. A small-scale chart of the passage area gives you a mental model of where land and shipping lanes are relative to your position. In a survival situation, that information drives rational decision-making about drift, flare use, and self-rescue options.
Sustenance
Water in individual pouches: Not plastic bottles. Bottles corrode, fail in salt water, and don't stack efficiently. Sealed foil water pouches — the type used in liferaft packs — are available commercially, stack flat, have printed expiry dates, and each holds 125ml. Pack enough for a minimum two-day supply at half a liter per person per day. More is better; weight is less of a concern in a raft than in a race bag.
Energy bars: High-calorie, non-perishable, not dependent on water to consume. Emergency food bars (Mayday, Datrex, and similar) are designed specifically for survival situations — they are compact, high-calorie, and have five-year shelf lives. Avoid bars that increase thirst. In a survival situation, water is the limiting resource; food is secondary.
Seasickness medication: The motion of a life raft in ocean swells is extreme — more severe than almost any condition experienced on a monohull. Seasickness in a raft causes dehydration, weakness, and impaired judgment. Meclizine (Bonine), promethazine, or scopolamine patches — whatever works for your crew — belong in a waterproof bag in the grab bag. Administer before symptoms become severe.
Documentation
Passports: All crew passports in a waterproof dry pouch. If you are rescued in international waters or foreign jurisdiction, proving identity matters. Laminated copies are acceptable as a backup if original passports live elsewhere.
Ship's papers: Registration, insurance, and vessel documentation in the same waterproof pouch. Less critical than passports but useful for authorities and insurers in the aftermath.
Cash in small bills and credit cards: Rescue does not end the problem — it begins a new one. Getting back to civilization from whatever remote port you are delivered to requires money. Small denomination bills in the local currency of your cruising area, plus a credit card, in a waterproof envelope.
Emergency contact list: A waterproof card listing your emergency contacts, vessel MMSI, PLB registration number, insurance contacts, and the NOC (Notification of Cruise) information if you filed one. This information is available from the PLB registration in SAR databases, but having it in your hands accelerates communication.
Survival Items
Knife: A blunt-tipped knife for cutting lines and painter cord. Not in addition to the knife in the life raft — that stays with the raft — but as a personal tool in the bag.
Small first aid kit: A waterproof pouch with wound closures, antiseptic, pain medication, any prescription medications your crew requires, and a thermal emergency blanket. The life raft's built-in kit is minimal; the grab bag kit supplements it.
Sunscreen and lip balm: Sunburn in a life raft is a serious medical problem. The reflective surface of the ocean intensifies UV exposure; the inability to shelter worsens it. High-SPF sunscreen for exposed skin, lip balm for lips, and a hat for head protection belong in the bag.
Seasoning sachets: Catching rainwater is possible in many life raft situations. Unflavored rainwater consumed in survival quantities is physiologically fine but psychologically difficult. Salt-free flavor sachets make the water tolerable, which means it gets consumed, which means the crew stays hydrated.
What Not to Pack
The bag must be light enough to grab and carry in one motion. Tools, books, spare parts, and sentimental items have no survival function and add weight. If an item cannot be described in terms of its direct survival value — how it improves your chance of being found, how it keeps you alive until you are found, or how it keeps you functional during the wait — it does not belong in the bag.
Heavy electronics not rated for water immersion are dead weight. Avoid anything that requires AC power. Avoid glass containers. Avoid items that need to be assembled before use.
The Drill
Once a year, run the abandon ship drill. Not a theoretical walkthrough — a physical drill. From the moment you say "abandon ship," start the clock. Put the bag in the life raft. Target: 60 seconds from decision to raft in the water. If it takes 90 seconds, find out why. Is the bag buried in the locker? Is the raft hard to reach? Are crew fumbling with the raft deployment? Every second over 60 is a second of avoidable risk.
The drill also confirms the bag is in its place and fully packed. It is the annual audit. Do it before a season, not during it.