Sinking Boat = big problem

[CT-Rich]

It looked to me that the hatch cover was open and awash. Once the boat rolled it would not flood more. Loading floatation bags fore and aft might have helped some. I could hear you getting winded trying to deal with everything going south. I bought a Nautilus LifeLine last spring in case I ever find myself in a situation similar to this. Relying on a cell phone to work under these conditions was probably one of your biggest mistakes. You were lucky enough to get out of it on your own, but once the phone was dead it is no longer a choice.

Glad it all worked out okay.

 

[lowwall]

It looked like you had the hatch cover open/missing. once you removed the tank, you might have been able to lift the kayak, dump the water out and at least keep the empty boat afloat and then swim it toward shore? Is that what you did after the video discontinued? What happened to the hatch?

That was my thought. Get the gear secured and then add air into the hatch by blowing bubbles into it (boat inverted) to displace enough water to float it. Flip it, reload gear and start towing/pushing.

And don't go out again without verifying all hatches present and fully secured.

 

[Marie13]

Get a little dry bag for your phone

 

[greeniguana]

Glad you made it! The only thing that would have made it more exciting would have been a 12 foot tiger shark circling you! .

Speaking of....

 

[CT-Rich]

Get a little dry bag for your phone

Wrong tool for this job, with a sharp coastline and awash in seawater, you have no guarantee you would get a signal. He wants something designed for sea water that will transmit his location. Even if he got a cell signal and called 911, they would no approximately where he was at the time of the call. He could travel miles before a dispatched boat or plane finds him. It could get dark, or choppy before he was found.

A GPS device, once activated will transmit your location for hours and be picked up by anyone in the area. The one time you need it, you want to make sure it works...

 

[lowwall]

Agree, except for the terminology. A phone is a GPS device. A PLB is the appropriate call for rescue device here.

 

[arew+4]

At least a water proof handheld marine VHF.

 

[CT-Rich]

Phones have a GPS, often they are relying on cell towers for determining location.

 

[Scraps]

Don't overlook the advantages of a VHF radio.

If you activate your PLB, the signal will go to the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system, then to NOAA then on to the nearest rescue coordination center, which then has to decide what to do about it.

When it arrives at the rescue coordination center, it arrives as an "uncorrelated mayday," which is usually not enough information to prompt an immediate launch because false, inadvertent, and otherwise stray signals do come in.

If you registered your PLB, they'll call whatever numbers you provided when you registered it and get as much information as possible to figure out what's going on. If the contact person you provided also has your float plan for the day and your signal came from where you said you were going to be, your case can get elevated from the "alert" phase to the "distress" phase quickly.

If, however, you haven't registered your PLB, they won't have anything to go on other than your position. They won't know your name, type of vessel, nature of distress or anything else. Don't expect a helicopter to appear overhead until some sort of correlating information comes in--like an overdue report from someone back home (You do tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back, don't you?)

If you call 911 or the Coast Guard from a cell phone, you'll be able to communicate who you are and the nature of your distress, but the position information may not be precise or immediately accessible.

On the other hand, if you call the Coast Guard on channel 16 from a VHF radio in a coastal zone, their digital select calling will immediately pinpoint your location, and they can play back and enhance the audio of your radio call to make sense of whatever you're yelling into the radio. That's your best bet for an immediate launch of rescue assets who know who you are and where you are.

 

[lowwall]

All US cell phones sold since the start of 2004 have built-in GPS capabilities which are automatically enabled when you place a 911 call.

The telco provider will relay your location to the 911 dispatcher with the highest accuracy they can deliver. They will use GPS if the phone can get a GPS location. Cell tower triangulation and a database of WiFi routers are used to fine tune or as fallbacks to the GPS info.

E911 location finding has gotten substantially better over the last decade due to FCC requirements. The current accuracy standard is 50 meters.

But it's still not a suitable replacement for a PLB if you are in the water. The call will be received by a local dispatcher who may not have the ability to receive the location info and might be in a different jurisdiction which can result in delays in getting the right people dispatched. Plus cell phones and water tend to not get along.