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Ocean Signal receives royal recognition for life-saving rescueME PLB3
Ocean Signal, one of the world’s leading producers of marine and outdoors safety devices has been presented with the prestigious 2026 King’s Award for Enterprise at its Margate headquarters in Kent, England.
The Award, which was presented by The Lady Colgrain, His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Kent, on October 22 was in the fiercely-competitive Innovation category and was for the company’s popular rescueME PLB3 AIS Personal Locator Beacon.
The PLB3, which like all Ocean Signal safety devices, is distributed in New Zealand by Lusty & Blundell Ltd, combines satellite-based search and rescue alerting with the local tracking capabilities of an automatic identification system (AIS) man overboard (MOB) device.
Developed to combine multiple emergency alerting and locating technologies in a single, compact unit, the rescueME PLB3 uses miniaturised components, including technologies typically found in advanced mobile devices. It merges Locator Beacon 406MHz and AIS (Automatic Identification System capability while incorporating near-field communication (NFC) to enable interaction with a smartphone.
“Most importantly, behind all the technology is a very simple purpose,” says Mark Milburn, Lusty & Blundell’s managing director. “When somebody finds themselves in genuine difficulty, whether at sea or in a remote location, being found quickly can make all the difference.” In New Zealand, the rescueME PLB3 has proved incredibly popular with a wide range of boat owners (including those fishing inshore, offshore, on lakes and rivers and solo), with coastal and offshore sailors and by those in the outdoor, defence and aviation sectors.
Other popular Ocean Signal devices distributed in New Zealand by Lusty & Blundell include EPIRB3, which includes such advanced, practical, life-saving features as AIS (Automatic Identification System), Return Link Service and Near Field Communication; and the EDF2 electronic digital flare, a sophisticated distress signalling device that greatly enhances the chances of a successful rescue and meets the requirements of Maritime New Zealand’s International Voyage Certificate (IVC).