By 1983, the EPIRB systems available to recreational sailors transmitted on 121.5 MHz and 243 MHz — frequencies monitored by aircraft and some coast guard stations. The more capable 406 MHz satellite-linked EPIRBs that now provide near-instantaneous position reporting to rescue coordination centers were not widely available for recreational use until the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The Hazana’s EPIRB was non-functional after the capsize. It may have been damaged by impact during the pitchpoling, or by water intrusion, or it may have been lost over the side during the event. The specific cause is not documented in the sources consulted for this article.
The significance of this failure is hard to overstate. If the Hazana’s EPIRB had functioned after the capsize — even the 121.5 MHz variety available in 1983 — there was at least a theoretical possibility that the signal would have been picked up by an overflying aircraft and relayed to rescue authorities. The U.S. Coast Guard would then have had a position and a vessel in distress, and a search and rescue operation might have begun within days of the capsize rather than never at all.
Instead, nothing happened. No search was conducted. No one was looking for the Hazana, because no one knew it was in trouble. Its departure from Papeete had been recorded, and its failure to arrive in San Diego would eventually become known, but in October and early November 1983, the vessel was simply overdue — an event that is not, by itself, treated as an emergency by maritime authorities, because yachts are routinely delayed by weather, equipment problems, or changed plans.