While it was nice to see a happy ending to this story in the Houston Chronicle, there didn't have to be a story at all... The incident could have been avoiced altogether and not be so close to tragic.
Boaters adrift all night long in rough seas and the only communication device onboard is a cell phone!? That's just crazy. I just did a quick search at FirstBoat's electronics store and found several VHF radios for under $100, and some as cheap as $50.
What about GPS? Those things are now a necessity with prices as low as $100 to $200 for a battery operated Garmin, or even less for the Lowrance iFinder.
The boaters in this article had use of their cell phones for some time... Imagine if they were able to give somebody their coordinates from a GPS device? They may not have had to spend all night on a drifting boat in rough seas. Luckily, it turned out alright for them, but isn't it worth a few hundred dollars - when you just spent thousands on a boat - to have some basic battery powered marine electronic equipment on board?
Full story: Coast Guard rescues boaters adrift overnight
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