Category: System Overview

On 4 February, an Oregon, USA hiker became disoriented and set off his personal locator beacon.

He continued to walk after pressing the beacon because he wasn’t sure the signal had been sent.

Deputies were able to determine that he had walked approximately 20 miles from his vehicle.

The Sheriff’s Office would like to remind citizens with a personal locator beacon who find themselves in distress and activate the SOS button to stay put until help arrives.

Read more here:
http://kcby.com/outdoors/eugene-hiker-lost-in-douglas-county-found-safe-after-walking-20-miles-from-vehicle 

Please click to access the Summary of FMCC activity – December 2017.

Their cabin cruiser sinking fast, the men managed to grab and set off their unregistered EPIRB and waited for rescuers.

A rescue helicopter and fixed wing jet were deployed to the area.

Even with the helicopter hovering over where the men were, it took a long time for the volunteer rescue team to see them.

It was ‘lucky’ for the men that the straps holding the inflatable life boat to the roof broke away before the cruiser sunk.

Read more here:
https://www.margaretrivermail.com.au/story/5176974/men-rescued-lucky-to-be-alive/ 

The vessel was on its return journey after completing the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

“The crew were instructed to activate their EPIRB and that was probably the one thing that saved them.”

“We take our hat off to those rescue guys for a marvelous effort.”

It was one of the toughest rescues that the paramedics had ever performed, with the life raft drifting and pushed by winds at odd angles.

Read more here:
http://www.examiner.com.au/story/5166803/six-people-winched-from-yacht-off-flinders-island-north-east-tasmania/ 

and view more here:
https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/38597688/six-people-rescued-after-yacht-sinks-in-bass-strait/ 

The hunter fell on his knife, and had to use strategies learned over years of wilderness training while he waited for rescuers.

He put on a tourniquet, went to a spot with better visibility, immersed his lower half in water to try to slow the bleeding and his breathing, and before rescuers arrived, prepared a goodbye text to his wife.

“Personally, I think the most important thing to have is a beacon – accidents do happen. You’re not invincible.”

See interview and read more here:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/100459498/kawhia-hunter-sends-farewell-text-to-his-wife-after-stabbing-himself-in-the-bush 

Please click to access the Summary of FMCC activity – November 2017.

The solo yachter was attempting to circumnavigate the “wrong” way around the world non-stop.

The boat was a sister ship of a world record maker, long, lightweight and skinny by today’s standards.

Read more here:
http://www.sail-world.com/news/200293/French-solo-sailor-capsizes-in-Cape-Horn-storm  

Follow-up here:
http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2017-12-15#.Wk0xut-nF-E  

View rescue footage here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlmWsd0dEQk 

Please find the link here to the ITMCC Service Area – Monthly Activity Report – November 2017

For your holiday gift-giving, “how about thinking bigger picture and consider getting your loved one a gift that could save his or her life?”

A reader of this blog shared stories of people going out unprepared for emergencies that inspired him to raise awareness about beacons.

Family and friends might consider adding a beacon, “a relatively inexpensive tool for the emergency bag”, along with peace of mind, to their loved ones’ gift bags this year.

“For a true emergency, a PLB is what I’d want strapped on my belt.”

Read more here:
http://www.somdnews.com/recorder/sports/outdoors/a-gift-that-could-save-a-life/article_b50a432b-4bbd-5d03-a88d-7dcd4573f43e.html 

Abandoning their catamaran was the last thing on the Leopard crew’s mind three minutes before encountering their crisis en route to St. Maarten.

“The boat got literally picked up,” and their story highlights the four critical components to a successful search-and-rescue operation, namely the ability to alert, locate, track and rescue a stricken vessel or mariner.

The U.S. Coast Guard arrived within hours of being alerted by their EPIRB.

While the crew enjoyed a textbook-¬perfect rescue, this would not have been possible without the International Cospas-Sarsat Programme, which began in 1979 as a collaborative effort by the United States, France and the former Soviet Union to provide a satellite monitoring and emergency-signal relay service that’s free of charge to all mariners.

Read more here:
https://www.cruisingworld.com/improving-odds-with-satellite-beacons