Two Capsized American Rowers Saved by an ACR Electronics EPIRB
3rd February 2006
Two capsized American rowers in turbulent ocean seas are saved by an ACR Electronics EPIRB rented through the BoatU.S. EPIRB Rental Program.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL– JANUARY 23, 2006 Two trans-Atlantic rowboat racers, who capsized and clung to their 24-foot craft for over half a day in storm-tossed seas, were rescued after they activated their ACR Electronics SATELLITE 406™ EPIRB that they secured through the BoatU.S. Foundation EPIRB Rental Program.
The Coast Guard (CG) responded to a 406 MHz EPIRB signal received on January 15 from the capsized rowboat, American Fire, located 1,300 miles east of Puerto Rico. After identifying the distressed vessel, a full-scale search and rescue operation was launched involving a CG C-130 airplane and 10 hours of flight time. Once the Coast Guard determined the boaters’ location, they requested the assistance of the closest vessel, a tall ship 120 miles away.
The two young women, Emily Kohl and Sarah Kessans, one of 26 teams in the 2005 Atlantic Rowing Race from the Canary Island to Antigua, had already spent 47 days at sea. At 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, a large rogue wave slammed into them so violently that it snapped off their life raft and overturned their boat. Once they saw that it would not self-right, they deployed their EPIRB and scrambled on top of the hull, which was to become their perch for 16 cold, miserable hours.
When the weak survivors detected the CG rescue plane in the distance, they turned on their life jacket strobe lights and held their EPIRB high in an attempt to make themselves visible. After a few passes, the plane dropped an orange flare, which lit the way for the Stavros S. Niarchos of the Tall Ships Youth Trust to locate them and bring them onboard. The tall ship continued on its route south and will deliver the women to Barbados on January 30.
The sailors credited the beacon for saving their lives. “The EPIRB was the primary reason we were saved. If we had not managed to hold onto that priceless piece of equipment, we would not have had any chance of being saved,” Kessans said. “When we deployed it 16 hours prior to our rescue, we knew that it was our only hope, having our other communications equipment either fail due to water (immersion) or low battery power.”
Teammate Kohl also extolled the beacon’s performance. “The ACR 406 EPIRB, lent to us by the BoatU.S.Foundation, did its job perfectly. The USCG was able to pick up the signal and set the search and rescue mission into action. We plan on finishing what we started two years from now in the next race, and our first piece of equipment will be the ACR EPIRB… though we hope that we will not have the need to use it in the future,” Kohl said.
The Coast Guard pilot, Major Ben Maitre, who flew the C-130 based at USCG Air Station Clearwater, said it was a challenging rescue that involved almost 3,000 miles of flight. “Having the beacon and activating it was the single most important thing they did to aid themselves. They were in the middle of nowhere, and because of the distance from land, we had a limited amount of time available to be on scene searching. Within 45 minutes we located them,” Major Maitre said. “This was a one shot deal. If we hadn¹t found them, it would have been another 10 hours before another airplane could arrive to search for them. The EPIRB gave them a much better chance of rescue.”
David Carter, manager of the BoatU.S. EPIRB Rental Program, credits the EPIRB partnership with ACR Electronics, Inc. for saving lives. “When the BoatU.S. Foundation started the nation’s first-ever Rental EPIRB program in 1995, under a pilot program sponsored by USCG, we knew we had to have a proven, high-quality rescue beacon,” Carter said. “ACR recognized our program¹s life-saving potential and partnered with us to provide the original units at cost. To date, we have saved nearly three dozen lives and continue to rely exclusively on ACR EPIRBs.”
A PLB/P-EPIRB/P-ELT is a satellite-signaling device of last resort, for use when all other means of self-rescue have been exhausted and where the situation is deemed to be grave and imminent, and the loss of life, limb, eyesight or valuable property will occur without assistance. All beacons must be registered following purchase, simply go online to www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov.
ACR Electronics, Inc. (www.acrelectronics.com), a Cobham plc Company, designs and manufactures a complete line of safety and survival products including EPIRBs, P-ELTs/P-EPIRBS/PLBs, Bridge-based Information Systems, SARTS and safety accessories. The quality systems of this facility have been registered by UL to the ISO 9001:2000 Series Standards. Recognized as the world leader in safety and survival technologies, ACR has provided safety equipment to the aviation and marine industries as well as to the military since 1956.
For more information on the race, go to www.woodvale-events.com. To follow the rowers’ journey and to view video of the rescue, go to www.weblogpage.com/americanfire12. For images of the ACR EPIRB, contact John Bell at 954-970-3394 or e-mail at preseitz@bellsouth.net.