Jay Fitzgerald's speech at TEDx strikes a chord, John Vigor makes a good point, and what the President said (which might come as cold comfort to our OWS friends in Oakland)...
Yesterday, a friend of ours got a call from the US Coast Guard asking about a certain charter boat we know and work with, as, apparently, their EPIRB has gone off...
Now our friend is not listed as the boat's contact in case of emergency and the Coast Guard had called her after searching for the boat on the internet. Since the boat is listed for charter on her website (she's a charter broker like we are) and her website popped up in a search.
Just think about it for a moment... Is your EPIRB properly sorted out and registered with some form of emergency contact info that is current?
This is not the first time this has happened... we have had calls a couple of times from the USCG (who found us by searching the internet) trying to get into contact with boats or find emergency contact info for boats who do not have correct or current contact info so they don't launch a search rescue effort for no good reason (like a accidentally activated EPIRB).
In this case, instead of acting on the EPIRB message the USCG was searching the internet trying to find someone to call to find out if it was actually an emergency situation... Seriously scary from where I sit.
As for the boat in question, we are all waiting to hear more as all we know is that the boat left Grenada Tuesday afternoon towards the USVI and when their EPIRB went off they were off Martinique at 14-25.67N 062-39.40W...
We're hoping for the best...
This just in... Mike, over at Zero to Cruising (always a good read), just emailed to let me know (according to the cruisers net) that the boat in
question did have a malfunctioning EPIRB and all aboard are safe according to this mornings cruiser net. More news has come to us from the actual boat/crew who apparently felt menaced by a power boat and set off their EPIRB...
"During our trip from Grenada to USVI, we were pursued about 90 miles off the coast of Martinique by an unknown power vessel (no markings, no country flag, and would not answer any radio calls). They appeared to our west on the horizon, parallel to our vessel. We tried to hail them on the radio, but they did not respond. Once we started evasive action, they altered course to try and catch us. The sea conditions prevented them from making headway, but they were still able to get within 3/4 mile. Fortunately, there was a wind shift, just enough for us to hold them off and gain ground. Apparently they decided to give up, and made a 90 degree turn directly towards Martinique. It was clear that the pursuit of our vessel was not a coincidence.
We had sent out MayDay calls, and set the EPIRB off when it looked like there was no avoiding them.....not knowing what they could've done to us or the vessel. The only response we received was 7 hours later, the French Coast Guard, who flew over us and communicated via radio where we told them we were OK."
In the meantime, you might want to check and see if the contact info on your EPIRB registration is current and whomever is your contact person is kept apprised of your sailing plans.
Listening to Dave Mason
So it goes...
