Commercial Benefits of using OceanLED Lighting
Recovery
• Illuminates the underwater work and navigation area.
• Allows you to see objects, individuals and at the very least, shadows, underwater.
• No glare off the surface as lights are underwater.
• Allows the crew and surrounding parties to better maintain their night vision.
• Allows the surface crew to monitor personnel and equipment in the water.
• Allows you to assess the situation ahead of time for underwater debris, obstructions or other hazards.
• Reduce potential for loss and damage of equipment.
• Expands the work area by illuminating a large area; handheld flashlights illuminate a limited area.
• Free's your hands from holding a flashlight, allowing you to work more efficiently.
• Identifies the work area from a distance alerting other mariners; does not 'blind' other mariners as you do not need to use spot lights.
• Amphibians lights used underwater on a power umbilical provide a much brighter and wider light than from a regular underwater flashlight or spot.
• Allows you to do recoveries at night; to stabilize the situation in order to come back during daylight hours; to undertake the recovery before pending weather or changing conditions when there is less recreational boat traffic.
• Allows for job assessment and monitoring from above water, monitoring of progress of recovery and status of equipment.
• Draw less power; potentially allows you to turn off the engines and run the lights off the battery, thus reducing fuel consumption to replace the use of flashlights, thus consuming fewer batteries and reducing waste.
Rescue
In addition to the benefits listed above:
• Identifies rescue vessels from a distance without the need for a spotlight; allows rescue coordinator to know location of all vessels engaged in search and rescue activities; allows for less spotlight use, thus not 'blinding' other mariners.
• Allows you to search underwater from above water enabling more individuals to engage in rescue activities at the same time.
Marine Assistance Industry – Day-to-Day benefits
In addition to the benefits listed above:
• Illuminates the recovery scene and the tow.
• Identifies the marine assistance vessels from a distance allowing the vessel in need to more easily direct the assistance vessel to the scene
• Underwater maintenance and inspection of own vessels.
• Allows you to assess the situation, the conditions, when arriving on scene – channel location, position of rocks, stumps and underwater debris, depth of water.
• In a protected marine environment, allows you to asses the area and plan to minimize damage. |
 
Article by the Miami Herald Posted on Sunday, 05.24.09 (original article here...)
Shedding more light on aiding search-and-rescue missions
OceanLED's deck and underwater lights have proved to be much brighter than typical halogen systems.
The torrential rains last Monday might have dampened the demonstration of a new boating product, but OceanLED got the point across about the value of its lighting systems for
search-and-rescue operations.
The company's publicists invited boating media to watch SeaTow crews and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue divers raise a sunken, 24-foot deck boat from Biscayne Bay at Scotty's Landing in Coconut Grove. The point of the staged event was to demonstrate the effectiveness of OceanLED's deck and underwater lights in locating and salvaging a sunken vessel at night.
ADVERSE CONDITIONS
Lightning cancelled the diving part of the demo, but the two SeaTow boats lit up the rainy night and murky waters using OceanLED's amphibious and pro series lights.
Boating writers and company officials watched from the relatively dry patio at Scotty's Landing.
''Real world conditions -- that's for sure," said Scott McClary, owner of the SeaTow franchise on Key Biscayne. "They ought to get hazard pay for being out there."
Observers noticed a big difference in brightness between the SeaTow boats' existing halogen deck lights and the bulbless LED illumination they had installed for Monday's demo. The halogens appeared like flashlights compared to the LEDs.
"I could actually see everything and I wasn't blinded," confirmed SeaTow captain Erik Schute, who was driving one of the boats. "[Boaters] will be able to see us miles away.
"On a nighttime rescue, we could see each other two miles away." Schute said the underwater lights also were much brighter than dive lights.
"You could see a lot better than when I put the flashlight in the water," he said.
OceanLED was founded in 2004 by the English father-and-son team of Nigel and Lee Savage who were looking for a simple underwater light that needed no bulb. The Savages liked LEDs because of their low power draw, low heat generation and long operational life.
According to the company's military and commercial sales manager, captain Ky Smith, the first buyers of OceanLEDs were the owners of superyachts who wanted to display their grand vessels at night. Smith said the yachts' captains appreciated the ease and simplicity of the thru-hull and flush-mounted installations.
FISHERMEN'S DELIGHT
OceanLED soon caught on with recreational and commercial fishermen, who used the lights to attract bait and gamefish and light up their decks for night fishing. The company sponsored Kitt Toomey's successful Coral Gables-based Get Lit tournament fishing team, which won last month's World Sailfish Championship in Key West.
Other applications include bully netting for lobster and wingnetting for shrimp in Biscayne Bay.
These days, OceanLED is trying to break into the search-and-rescue and marine salvage markets. They are in talks with SeaTow and other local first-responders; hence, Monday's media event.
McClary was convinced.
''Man, I am impressed,'' he said. "The most dramatic display was the difference between the halogen and the LED. My biggest thing, because we're first-responders, is safety. If it can assist us to see somebody, or be seen by somebody, we're all for it. I have eight boats and I'm going to get it on all of them."
For more information about OceanLED lighting systems, visit oceanled.com or call the Fort Lauderdale office at 954-523-2250.
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