A sea kayak’s real risk isn’t distance: it’s a capsize you can’t recover from, with wind or current taking you away from the coast. VesselSOS gives you a trip plan someone actually watches: a live link ashore, and an SOS screen with your position in words, a MAYDAY text and a one-tap 112 call.
An offshore wind or a crossing between the islands that was easy in the morning can be hard work by afternoon. If you go over and can’t get back in, the person who raises the alarm will be the one ashore. With a live link they see your dot stop or drift in open water and know it’s time, instead of finding out at dusk that you never came back.
A plan left with someone ashore fails the moment plans change. The live link is the plan: your actual position, course and battery, in any browser, no app for the watcher. Set a return time too: if you’re late and don’t answer the app’s “Are you OK?”, your Emergency and Live contacts get an automatic SMS with the link. It never alerts a rescue service; they decide whether to call 112. More on the tracking page.
From a swamped cockpit you won’t use a VHF you don’t carry. The SOS screen opens on your coordinates, spelled out so you can read them to the 112 operator, and the ready-made text to your people (one tap to open, then Send) gets through on coverage too weak for data. GPS itself needs no signal at all.
Skills first: a buoyancy aid you actually wear, a re-entry you’ve practised, and judgement about the forecast. VesselSOS is an aid, not a rescue service: in immediate danger, call 112, or use VHF channel 16 if you carry a radio.
Your position, the MAYDAY text and craft details are on the phone fully offline. Calls and SMS need a network; SMS gets through where data has already died. Positions recorded without signal are sent when coverage returns.
Yes — each kayaker shares their own link, and the shore contact sees the whole group side by side in browser tabs.
Tracking runs only during a trip. At the default 30-second interval we estimate about 4% battery an hour; choose 1 or 5 minutes for long days, and below 20% it drops to every 5 minutes on its own. The watcher sees your battery level.