Five crew members had to abandon a sinking tug off the Oregon coast a week ago. Four were rescued by Coast Guard helicopter. The fifth did not make it ... he was found 30 hours later, dead from the effects of hypothermia, some 18 miles north of the location where the tug sank. The others were rescued fairly quickly, owing to the diligence and skill of the Coasties, and their night vision headsets. The missing crew member was wearing a survival suit, just like the rescued ones, but ... the CG believes his strobe was not functioning. They report it was easy with night vision gear to see the strobes attached to a life ring and the vessel's EPIRB despite high winds and 30 foot seas. Article is here (paste it back together or it won't work): http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_stand ard.xsl?/base/news/1041598828282230.xml -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I turned my d cell powered strobe on shortly after buying it. I came back 24 hours later and it was still blinking brightly. It had slowed considerably to maybe one flash every four seconds. It was nice to know it would still work. Jim et al ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Kruger" <kdruger_at_pacifier.com> CG believes his strobe was not functioning. They report it was easy with night vision > gear to see the strobes attached to a life ring and the vessel's EPIRB > despite high winds and 30 foot seas. > > Dave Kruger > Astoria, OR > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
[Moderator's Note: Content unaltered. Excessive quoting (i.e. headers/footers/sig lines/extraneous text from previous posts, etc.) have been removed. Please edit quoted material in addition to removing header/trailers when replying to posts.] This reminds me...I've been teased recently by some of my backpacking friends about buying my GPS, as if I have become a materialistic gearhead. But I figure that any safety gear is an investment. I'm going out today to buy a strobe and some flares. I paddled the Mississippi River yesterday (here in Baton Rouge) for the first time. I went with our friend Larry, who's about to circumnavigate the Gulf. Today I'm going to venture out there alone, but just around the BR harbour and close to shore. The river is irresistable. Marsanne >headsets. The missing crew member was > wearing a survival suit, just like the rescued ones, but ... the CG believes > his strobe was not functioning. They report it was easy with night vision > gear to see the strobes attached to a life ring and the vessel's EPIRB > despite high winds and 30 foot seas. > > Article is here (paste it back together or it won't work): > http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_stand > ard.xsl?/base/news/1041598828282230.xml *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Confession time: I haven't carried my strobe in over a year. Don't knwo why, just figured I'd paddle and plan as though I'd never need it (but have also been carrying a VHF)... After reading that article, I found myself last night cleaning it and replacing the batteries and re-attaching it to the PFD. Anyone else actually check their strobe?! :) Shawn > The missing crew member was wearing a survival suit, just like the rescued ones, but ... the CG believes his strobe was not functioning. They report it was easy with night vision gear to see the strobes attached to a life ring and the vessel's EPIRB despite high winds and 30 foot seas. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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