Category: Featured Post

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Plotting A Course For Disaster?

NOAA satellites aid in the rescue of 207 people in 2011

January 23, 2012

In 2011, NOAA satellites were critical in the rescues of 207 people from life-threatening situations throughout the United States and its surrounding waters. The satellites picked up distress signals from emergency beacons carried by downed pilots, shipwrecked boaters and stranded hikers, and relayed the information about their location to first responders on the ground.

NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are part of the international Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking System, called COSPAS-SARSAT. This system uses a network of satellites to quickly detect and locate distress signals from emergency beacons onboard aircraft and boats, and from smaller, handheld personal locator beacons called PLBs.

Of the 207 saves last year, 122 people were rescued from the water, 14 from aviation incidents, and 71 in land situations where they used their PLBs. Other rescue highlights from the year include:

  • Alaska had the most people rescued on land last year with 39, followed by Florida with 11, and California with 8.
  • NOAA SARSAT played a critical role in the rescue of a group of student hikers from a grizzly bear attack in Alaska by directing first responders to the scene.
  • In the pitch of night, two people were rescued from a life raft after their boat sank 140 miles off the coast of Marco Island, Fla.
  • An elderly hiker was rescued 74 miles south of Colorado Springs, Colo., during a heavy snowstorm.

“With each rescue, this system performs the way it was intended — as a real, life-saving network,” said Chris O’Connors, program manager for NOAA SARSAT.

When a NOAA satellite finds the location of a distress signal, the information is relayed to the SARSAT Mission Control Center based at NOAA’s Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md. From there, the information is quickly sent to a Rescue Coordination Center, operated by either the U.S. Air Force for land rescues or the U.S. Coast Guard for water rescues.

Since 1982, COSPAS-SARSAT has been credited with supporting more than 30,000 rescues worldwide, including more than 6,700 in the United States and its surrounding waters.

By law, owners of emergency beacons are required to register them with NOAA at:  http://www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov. That registration information often helps provide better and faster assistance to people in distress. It may also provide information about the location of the emergency, how many people need assistance, what type of help may be needed and other ways to contact the owner. At the end of 2011 NOAA’s registration database contained over 329,000 registrations.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.

 

Our view from the helm: Have the advances in technology made boating safer or have we become too reliant on technology and thus we are more willing to take chances because we know that no matter how bad we screw up all we have to do is flip a switch and we'll be rescued?

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Hey Spain, Give Me Back My Boat!

3 years after US accident, boat washes up in Spain

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard

A boat that was lost at sea off the coast of Massachusetts in 2008 washed up on the coast of Spain more than three years later.

By Becky Bratu, msnbc.com

NEW YORK — As he swam toward the coast of Nantucket, Mass. in August 2008, Scott Douglas, 58, watched his yellow fishing boat disappear, carried away by the swelling surf. He thought it would be the last time he'd ever see the Queen Bee.

But yesterday, more than three years after Douglas and his brother-in-law were tossed off the boat by a wave, the U.S. Coast Guard called to say the vessel had washed up on the Spanish coast. It was rusty and covered in barnacles, but intact.

“It looks entirely different,” Douglas said upon seeing the photos. “That's amazing.”

Douglas remembers the water was restless on the day he set out to sea, and the fish weren't biting. He tried to keep the boat stationary, bracing himself as huge rollers crashed into it.

“At all times, it's a very sketchy area,” Douglas told msnbc.com. “You wouldn't want to be dumped in the ocean there.”

But that's exactly what happened when a rogue wave knocked Douglas and his brother-in-law, Rich St. Pierre, off the boat and into a sink-or-swim fight for survival.

Douglas remembers thinking the water was not too cold. “The only way I was going to survive was just to get started, not tread water,” he said.

But swimming didn't come as easy to St. Pierre, 68, who had gone through open heart surgery a year earlier. However, a survival kit containing an inflatable device had been knocked off the boat and floated to St. Pierre's side. It was a miracle, Douglas said, noting that the kit was the only item from the boat in the water with them. 

 Scott Douglas, 58, watched his yellow fishing boat disappear in 2008, carried away by the swelling surf. He thought it would be the last time he'd ever see the Queen Bee.

Douglas swam for about an hour and made it to shore on Smith's Point, a beach off the coast of Nantucket. Dripping wet and exhausted, he walked up to a cabin and asked to use the phone to alert the Coast Guard. Not long after, he saw St. Pierre walking on dry land.

“At the end of the day, it just wasn't our time,” Douglas said. 

While that marked the end of their ordeal, the Queen Bee's journey didn't end there. 

Lt. Joe Klinker, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, said the most likely scenario is that the boat somehow got across the continental shelf and into the Gulf Stream.

“From there it may drift north off the coast of northern Canada and then east with the North Atlantic currents,” Klinker told msnbc.com.

He said it's rare, but not unheard of for an object off the coastline of the United States to drift across the Atlantic to Europe. But a boat? “I've never heard of anything like this,” Klinker said.

It's not uncommon, he said, for the Coast Guard to locate derelict ships from Florida off the coast of Virginia, or vessels from Virginia off the coast of Massachusetts, but never in Europe. 

The ability to withstand the hardships of the Atlantic has a lot to do with the make of the boat, Klinker said. The Queen Bee is a 26-foot center console fishing boat made by Regulator. 

“It probably could have floated for another three years,” Klinker said.

The Spanish Coast Guard alerted their U.S. counterpart Tuesday. Based on salvage law, the boat now belongs to Spain.

Douglas, who is now retired and lives in New Jersey, said he doesn't want the boat back. But with four grandchildren, he has thought about turning Queen Bee's story into a children's book.   

“It's interesting to see what life takes and gives,” he said.

Our view from the helm is this: How is it possible that this boat which is owned by a U.S. citizen now belongs to Spain just because it washed up on their coast but the treasure found by Odyssey Marine from the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes doesn't belong to the salvage company and has to be returned to Spain? 

Does Spain get everything regardless?

How about this. Spain gets to keep the boat and Odyssey gets to keep the treasure from the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. That's quite a deal seeing as how Spain didn't have to exert any energy or spend any money in either case.

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The China Sin-Drome

Marquis Yachts partners with Chinese company

January 24, 2012 

HOPKINS, Minn. – Marquis Yachts reported today that it has formed an exclusive partnership with one of China’s largest state-owned companies, Poly Technologies Inc., for the sales and distribution rights for Marquis Yachts throughout China. The new joint venture will be called the Poly Marquis Yacht Co. Ltd. (Poly Marquis Company).

Irwin L. Jacobs, chairman of Marquis’ parent company J&D Acquisitions, called the day of the partnership one of the most important and exciting he’s experienced in 35 years in the recreational boating industry.

“Our new partnership with Poly is clearly the most significant business event throughout our yachting company’s history,” he said in a statement. “It is anticipated that over the next few years, China’s recreational yachting and boating market is emerging to become one of the largest recreational yachting markets in the world, and with our new Poly Marquis JV partnership, we’re very confident that the Poly Marquis Company will become one of China’s largest and most important sellers of Marquis Yachts in the world.”

Over the next 30 to 45 days, Jacobs said the Poly Marquis Company is opening a fully staffed distribution sales and service center at the new Serenity Marina and Yacht Club in Sanya, China. The Poly Marquis Yachting Center will maintain a completely stocked inventory of all new Marquis Yachts ranging in size from 42 feet to 72 feet.

“The new Sanya Marquis Yacht Center will have China’s most completely staffed service department with qualified in-house technicians to professionally service, manage and maintain Marquis customers’ needs throughout all of China,” Jacobs said.

“We believe that the recreational boating and yachting industry market in China will become one of the world’s largest and most important retail markets in a relatively short period of time,” Poly Chairman Jiang Lianxiang said in a statement. “Poly has spent a great deal of time and effort in researching the world for a potential yacht manufacturing company to partner with Poly who we believe builds the highest quality yachts along with the most modern styling and forward-looking designs to meet the tastes and needs of the discerning Chinese consumers of today and in the future. After studying the yachting industry for over one year, Poly concluded that Marquis Yachts clearly excelled beyond all other yacht manufacturers on which we have done research in building the finest and most beautiful yachts in world.”

Poly is one of China’s largest state-owned companies and is mainly engaged in defense-related equipment, R&D and trade, real estate development, culture and arts business, as well mineral resources investment and development. It is the exclusive distributor and retailer throughout China for Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes Benz automobiles as well as many other products.

“Poly Company has a very large, loyal and unique customer base that numbers in the tens of thousands of individuals who have purchased many of our high-end automobiles, jewelry, real-estate, and auction items that Poly sells and distributes throughout China, many of whom we believe will become customers of Marquis Yachts,” Jiang stated. “Poly is committed to doing everything possible in supporting our newly formed JV partnership with Marquis into becoming China’s largest and most successful yachting company.”

Our view from the helm: If there's one market you don't want to screw over it would be the Chinese and Poly Technologies Inc. is a state run company. Tread carefully Big Ir!

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The 1st Ridiculous Boating Injury Lawsuit of 2012 Has Arrived!

Woman sues boat operator, renter
Deondra Scott was seriously injured by a propeller at Lake Norman event in June.
By Gary L. Wright
[email protected]
By Gary L. Wright The Charlotte Observer
Posted: Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012
   A Charlotte woman who lost one of her arms and her breasts after being struck by a boat propeller on Lake Norman last June has sued the boat operator.
   Deondra Scott – who also is suing the boat manufacturer and the person who rented out the boat – claims she was struck twice by a propeller after she'd jumped into the water at the Lake Bash on Lake Norman.
   Scott alleges that Dennis F. Allen, the boat's operator, had never operated a motorboat before the accident and did not have the skill to handle a motorboat in a public area, especially during one of the most crowded events on Lake Norman.
    Scott, 25, claims that she was injured while Allen was maneuvering the motorboat in an attempt to tie it to another boat and participate in the Lake Bash. Allen had rented the motorboat to go to the Lake Bash with a group of friends, including Scott, according to the lawsuit.
   The lawsuit alleges that a few of Allen's passengers, including Scott, had jumped into the water while Allen was trying to tie up the boat.
   The lawsuit alleges that Allen, because of his inexperience, lack of training and inability to see people in the water, failed to turn off the engine and continued to try to tie up with another boat.
   “As (Scott) was swimming towards the ladder attached to the stern of the boat so that she could board the swim platform, Ms. Jennifer Pagliaro (a passenger in the boat), along with other people in the area, screamed at defendant Allen to cut (immediately turn off) the engine,” the lawsuit says.
   Allen “panicked” and “slammed” the throttle into a reverse gear, striking Scott with the boat's propeller, the lawsuit alleges. Scott claims Allen then put the boat into a forward gear, causing the propeller to strike her again.
   Scott alleges in the lawsuit that she suffered severe injuries, including lacerations to her right arm and breasts. The arm and breasts have been amputated, she says. She claims she also suffered serious lacerations to both legs, a punctured lung and a severed sternum.
   Scott alleges that as a result of Allen's “reckless and negligent actions,” she has suffered damages – “medical bills, lost wages, permanent injury, scarring, loss of limb, loss of other essential body parts, pain and suffering in excess of ten thousand dollars.” She says she also has “suffered extreme emotional and psychological problems.”
   Allen, 30, was charged with operating a boat in a reckless manner. The misdemeanor charge is pending.
   Scott also has sued David D. Orzolek and Chaparral Boats Inc. Orzolek rented the motorboat to Allen and Chaparral Boats designed, manufactured and marketed the boat, according to the lawsuit.
   The lawsuit alleges that Orzolek was aware or should have been aware that Allen had never operated a motorboat and knew or should have known the danger Allen posed to the public.
   Orzolek “erroneously entrusted, poorly supervised and inadequately trained defendant Allen, subjecting (Scott) to great risk,” the lawsuit alleges.
   Scott claims that Chaparral Boats sold the motorboat to the public despite its unsafe design for a 14-passenger boat.    She claims that seven passengers are necessarily seated behind the operator, potentially obstructing his or her vision.
The boat's swim platform and ladder, the lawsuit alleges, are only a few feet from the boat's propeller.
   Allen and Orzolek could not be reached for comment Monday.
Bob Ellis, a customer service specialist with Chaparral Boats in Nashville, Ga., said the company's lawyers are investigating the incident. “We were not aware this had occurred until we got the lawsuit,” Ellis said.            

Staff researchers Marion Paynter and Maria David contributed

Our view from the helm is this:  Dennis F. Allen who was driving the boat and Deondra Scott who was struck by the boat both share responsibility for this accident. Mr. Allen for failing to properly control his passengers and Ms. Scott for jumping out of the boat and then swimming back to it while the motor was still running. It is not the fault of Chaparral Boats or the business that rented the boat to Mr. Allen.

Case closed!

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Florida By Water is recognized for outstanding tourism marketing in Florida

Florida By Water is pleased to announce that we have been awarded the Flagler Award for “Best in Show” (under $100K category) from VISIT FLORIDA. The Award was presented during the 44th Annual Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism, held September 25-27 at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Florida.


Named for Henry Flagler, the Flagler Awards were established in 2000 to recognize outstanding tourism marketing in Florida. Annually, the Flagler Awards honor many of the countless individuals and organizations that help maintain and improve Florida’s position as one of the world’s most popular travel destinations. The awards are open to all individuals, private businesses and not-for-profit organizations offering a product or service that promotes tourism to or within the state of Florida.