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Saturday, June 07, 2008
Lost Divers Found Alive
This is the most amazing news I've seen in a while.
Five divers missing since Thursday were found alive on an Indonesian island - in good condition.
This story could have went a different way entirely - it seems truly amazing that these lucky souls were safe.
Full story at CNN.
Five divers missing since Thursday were found alive on an Indonesian island - in good condition.
This story could have went a different way entirely - it seems truly amazing that these lucky souls were safe.
Full story at CNN.
Labels: Rescued
Monday, May 12, 2008
Florida Boating Rescues
All nine people who were thrown into Tampa Bay after their boat hit a wave this weekend were rescued. The group included an infant and a child.
The article on MyFox Tampa Bay states, "No one was wearing life jackets..."
This last statement is disturbing since the boaters had an infant and a child on board. I don't mean to get preachy here, but it is INSANE to think that these folks were bopping around on Mother's Day without life jackets on their kids!
In other rescue news from the weekend, three men - age 21 to 22 - were rescued after their 22 foot fishing boat capsized off of St. Augustine, Florida. The Coast Guard's swift action led to a rescue within 60 minutes of the time the distress call was made. Not sure if these three guys were wearing life jackets, but they were smart enough to stay with their overturned boat. But they were not smart enough to stay home in the first place... The Coast Guard had a vessel that was already powered up "as a precaution because of heavy seas and winds as high as 28 mph."
Listen everybody, if you're going to go fishing, check the marine weather forecast first. And if you're going out in a "small craft" it's a good idea to listen for something called "small craft advisories". There's a pretty good chance one was issued if there were heavy seas and winds near 30 mph!
So, let's re-cap what we learned today:
1. Wear life jackets
2. If you've got kids on board, make them wear life jackets
3. Check the weather
The article on MyFox Tampa Bay states, "No one was wearing life jackets..."
This last statement is disturbing since the boaters had an infant and a child on board. I don't mean to get preachy here, but it is INSANE to think that these folks were bopping around on Mother's Day without life jackets on their kids!In other rescue news from the weekend, three men - age 21 to 22 - were rescued after their 22 foot fishing boat capsized off of St. Augustine, Florida. The Coast Guard's swift action led to a rescue within 60 minutes of the time the distress call was made. Not sure if these three guys were wearing life jackets, but they were smart enough to stay with their overturned boat. But they were not smart enough to stay home in the first place... The Coast Guard had a vessel that was already powered up "as a precaution because of heavy seas and winds as high as 28 mph."
Listen everybody, if you're going to go fishing, check the marine weather forecast first. And if you're going out in a "small craft" it's a good idea to listen for something called "small craft advisories". There's a pretty good chance one was issued if there were heavy seas and winds near 30 mph!
So, let's re-cap what we learned today:
1. Wear life jackets
2. If you've got kids on board, make them wear life jackets
3. Check the weather
Labels: Rescued
Monday, April 21, 2008
Love a good rescue story
It's always great to hear about would-be tragedies that end with the boaters being rescued.
This was the case in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, several miles off the coast of Clearwater Beach, Florida, as reported on Tampa Bay's 10 (see full story).
The men were traveling at 35 mph when their boat hit a wave and knocked them both out of the boat. If you're a new boater, you may not realize it, but 35 is FAST when you are on the water.
While I love to see the happy endings like this, I also like to take these opportunities to remind folks about boating safety: If you boat, there's never a bad time to wear a life jacket.
This was the case in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, several miles off the coast of Clearwater Beach, Florida, as reported on Tampa Bay's 10 (see full story).
The men were traveling at 35 mph when their boat hit a wave and knocked them both out of the boat. If you're a new boater, you may not realize it, but 35 is FAST when you are on the water.
While I love to see the happy endings like this, I also like to take these opportunities to remind folks about boating safety: If you boat, there's never a bad time to wear a life jacket.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Just Like Titanic, Happier Ending
Over 100 people including passengers and crew were rescued overnight after their cruise ship apparently hit an iceberg in the Antarctic and started sinking.The people had all escaped to lifeboats, and waited while a Norwegian passenger boat in the area arrived to pick them up.
The ship, listing in the first photo (Chile Air Force/AP Photo), may end up sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Luckily all lives were saved. Kudos to the brave crew for keeping cool during the accident. As of this posting, I have not found any reports that state how long the evacuees were in the lifeboats, but it looks like it was not much longer than a couple of hours. That would be a couple of hours too long for my liking, especially if you imagine yourself drifting in one of the lifeboats (as pictured below / AP photo) in that brutal cold.
Various news items about the incident:
CBC News
ABC
AP/ Google News
Labels: Rescued
Monday, October 29, 2007
6 Year Old Rescued
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
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
Labels: Rescued