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Mayday off coast of Mexico-rescued from catamaran
A very long time ago I spent a tour of duty in the USCG, aviation unit,
as a radio man. We would fly searches looking for boats. It is incrediby difficult to see anything down on the water. As I reacall we would change watch standers every 15 minutes. But even so, as a watch stander you tire quickely and you mind wanders. You find yourself daydreaming and not paying attention. Or when you do see something it is a 300 foot freighter and you realize that you would have never picked up on a 30 foot sailboat. Radar? Forget it. It may work, it may not. A small boat does not present much of a target, especially when you have any kind of chop. A VHF is great so they can DF in on it. An EPIRB is great, but they don't always work. And the Coast Guard is NOT in the salvage business. I rember once we found a guy that fell off a freighter during the night watch. Everyone at the base was astounded. Hopefully things have improved in the ensuing decades but I doubt it. I recently read of a couple of kids swept out to sea in a small sailboat who were given up for dead and then, by chance, found by a fisherman. And that was an easy search. The CG had multiple airbourn resources out, and boats, and there were young lives at stake. So is it difficult to find a 32' boat 50 miles offshore? Damn straight! Howard wrote: wrote: I'm waiting to hear if Eclipse is still going to be upright when she's recovered. Hasn't it already been about a week or more ? Is it difficult to find a 32' boat about 50 miles offshore ? Perhaps we should have a service using satellite cameras and computer programs to find lost boats (and people) in the ocean. |
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