On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 05:49:51 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

The real issue was weight. I could have bought a ready made MOB pole, with
a light even, but a lifetime of doing stability calculations told me that
the ones I saw in stores and catalogues were going to blow pretty much flat
in the water in heavy weather. I wanted to get the light high and the
center of gravity as low as possible.

As you may know, the traditional solution on offshore racing sail
boats, where a MOB with STROBE is mandatory equipment, is to use a
floating auto-activated STROBE attached to the pole with a short
length of line. The STROBE is usually hung from the stern pulpit
directly behind the helmsman, and a quick chuck overboard activates
the light and pulls the MOB into the water along with it. These
things are ready made for the purpose, reliable, visible and have
withstood the test of time. Unless you just like to tinker I'd go
with the proven solution.

http://www.landfallnavigation.com/sfwl1.html