Re: [Paddlewise] SPOT anxiety

On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 1:26 PM, Bob Myers <qajaqbob_at_gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Oh please yourself.  You responded to my comment to Alex about how the
> device isn't going to be useless with its 911 feature by saying it
> would force the Coast Guard to ignore any overdue people at all?
> That's an overblown reaction.  That's not going to happen, and I think
> you even know that if you calm down about it.


First of all, someone who disagrees with you is not the same as someone who
is personally attacking you. If you could manage to eliminate comments about
"calm down", "don't panic", "too cheap", "overblown" and "take
responsibility for yourself" then it's likely that your position will be
taken with more credibility; certainly by me. Your original post on this
thread bordered on insulting by accusing me of "panicking" over this issue.
This post is even worse and is the type of response that can easily catapult
a discussion into a flame war; something I'm sure no one - especially the
moderator - wants.

Secondly, my concern is that a for-pay service can threaten a system which
has been working pretty well for decades. And Doug's comments about his
telephone conversations with SAR in Canada indicate that this concern is not
imaginary. SAR agencies are concerned about the increase in people who
misunderstand how SPOT works. I am too. Why you think this is an "overblown
reaction" is a mystery to me. If SPOT is used by hikers, and climbers as
well as paddlers then local police, fire and rescue agencies will have to
deal with potential SPOT contactees unnecessarily concerned about their
friends and relatives. This is certainly the time to discuss the issue.


> Even if that's so, which I strongly doubt, why are you so offended at
> paying $100/year or buying an EPIRB when going into a situation like
> that?  Sorry, but that's really cheap insurance.   Take some
> responsibility for yourself - $100/year is not much money when you
> consider the cost of search and rescue which someone has to pay for.


Ignoring for the moment why we would have to pay a private company for what
a simple cell phone call can do now, the cost of SAR is exactly why the SAR
organizations are having top-level discussions about SPOT. It's not reducing
unnecessary searches but, at least according to reports, seems to be
actually increasing them. I'm not "offended at paying $100/year" but I am
somewhat offended at your insistence that this is a non-issue and that we
should cheerfully pay for this "cheap insurance".


> Properly used, you can use SPOT to let your family know you're ok even
> when you are delayed, and so they don't have to send out search and
> rescue when you're late.


Yes... well the term "properly used" seems to be part of this problem. But a
telephone call, properly used, can do the same thing without a $100 a year
charge.

>
> No, I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who are too cheap to pay
> up.  Sure, there are other reasons SPOT can fail, and I can understand
> issues there, but your "free alternatives" comment does bug me.


Whew! That's pretty hefty rhetoric. People who don't buy SPOT and pay their
$100 to $150 a year are "too cheap to pay up"? SPOT may be a great fit for
some people but not a good fit at all for others. Why should everyone have
to pay?

The "free alternatives" are, right now, the USCG approved and recommended
"float plan" and have worked pretty well for me and many of my friends for
30 years. Any system can fail but none of us have caused unnecessary
searches and our families have managed to not panic. If you want to spend
$100 a year ($150 for the tracking option with Google Maps) that's fine with
me but please don't tell me that I'm not taking responsibility for myself if
I don't spring for a commercial service that doesn't do any more than what a
technically savvy GPS and Internet user can't already do now and that also
has the potential to overload existing SAR organizations.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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