Some good thoughts and tools. Been talking this out with some of the other guys on the team. So, it would appear that the fixed blade requirement is a holdover from our team's days doing diving work and underwater rescue/recovery. A problem with the majority of the designs we've used in the past is the ability of the knife to self extract from the sheath while in hairy situations. Almost all of us rock the knife on our PFDs. We all stock a number of small automatic punches (Res-Q-Me brand) and usually use those for auto extrications. Retention is even worse on those and so I'm searching to kill two birds with one stone. A cutting tool like the Benchmades had crossed my mind but there goes the glass breaking device and I'm not sure if they have the capacity to cut our rescue rope or throwbag lines as that is one of our likely entanglements. So since we're not as beholden to the fixed blade as we previously thought, a folder like a Kershaw Blur Rescue or Spyderco Assist becomes very attractive. Stainless steels better than our previous 420 variant knives and a carbide glass breaker? I like it. In addition, say we wear them like our previous knives, closed, tethered, and clipped to our PFDs. Should the knife come loose, the blade is still not exposed, posing less hazard to me, my nuts, the boat, and last but not least, the patient. What do y'all think?
