No guy on this forum would match the one I ran into yesterday on the Chesapeake! I hope. But, at the end of the story, you'll read why your cell phone can come in very handy.

My wife and I were sea-trialing our boat yesterday, still trying to resolve the cooling issue you've read about. On Ch 16 there came a loud & clear request for a radio check to which I responded. The other guy (to be known as the OG) thanked me and then casually mentioned he had run out of gas and would I send someone out to help him. However, he had no idea where he was and could only vaguely describe his surroundings. In response to my question, he said he had no chart, "I don't have anything", he said

Time to turn him over to the pros - I gave him Towboat US's 800 number and instructions on how to reach them on Ch 16 (which the CG was monitoring, it turns out). TWenty-five minutes later, when I was back at the dock, the radio crackled with the same guy repeating the same dillema except that by now his cell phone had died while he was talking with Boat US (Towboat). They couldn't read his transmission so I relayed. As the conversation progressed, we tried to pin down his location by asking where he had started from..when..where he visited..and where he was headed. He had gone for lunch to a restaurant in the shadow of the huge Chesapeake Bay Bridge (can you imagine what he had for lunch)..turned south and was supposed to head in at the sight of the Thomas Point Light which is the size of a house on pilings in the middle of the bay. Unmistakable on this clear day. Had no concept of his location except that he was in 34' of water and saw a couple of silver domes. That's when Towboat US & I decided we would turn the OG over to the CG 'cause we were helpless (I am briefing this down a lot including the sometimes long radio silences where one could suspect he had fallen asleep or passed out). Perhaps, CG could triangulate his radio calls.

Towboat called me later on my cellphone to report that CG had located him. How: playing back the radio xmns, they got his cell number..called the carrier which gave them the location of his last transmission. He thought he was near or wanted to be near the Severn or South Rivers. He was actually in North Beach, about 10 to 15 miles of his intended mark which explains why I heard him so well (about 3 miles away) and Towboat (In Annapolis) could barely make him out. I plan tomorrow to call Towboat to learn how it all turned out. Starving, we had to head home knowing the weather was good...and that the higher force was protecting the OG.

I think the domes were either the Navy's big radar antennas near Chesapeake Beach or the tennis courts at Herrington Harbor South marina off Herring Bay. So, carry that cell phone, charged and you, too may be rescuable after inhaling too much "lunch".

I think I still have my Loran in the garage. Kept it as "backup". Worthless now since the govt decided no one would use Loran any more and started dismantling the system (after upgrading it).

A couple of other takeaways from the lost boater incident:

GOOD NEWS: You can be found with that cell phone.

BAD NEWS: You can be found with that cell phone. Our "freedom" to move without Big Brother looking on has vanished, never to return. Get used to it, I tell myself as I mutter to myself over privacy loss. I am not by any means one of the our-government-is-socialist-evil-group. However, this area, privacy, sends a little shiver up my back as I wave hello and smile to the street camera. Most of all right now, though, I need to get off the soap box, hoist my flag out front for the holiday and wish all here well. Be safe

JR,
i used those camera's to keep my kids in line, I always told them, they would be on film and get caught doing things they shouldn't be doing, so use better judgement and do the right thing not the wrong things.
Also I don't blame the government for those camera's and tracking devices, it all stems from those who hate our society and way of life.

Stan

Imagine if people like this flew airplanes??
I guess that's one way to weed out the lack of common sense. People would be dropping like flies.

There is no excuse for not having any type of navigation equipment.

-K

Norm, you are wrong. The salesman always points out which end of the boat is the bow and which is the stern.

Doug,

Yup I forgot about that. But how quickly they forget

Norm,

Big s Live On

Years ago we were on the Bahama Bank east of Memory Rock, with no land in sight, sailing along at a decent clip. A sizable powerboat appeared on the horizon and dashed over to us. Pulling alongside, the skipper yelled out "Where the h*ll is West End?".

Since I was navigator, I went below and advanced our line of position from our last Loran A fix. I wrote down the position on a piece of paper, and handed it up to our skipper, who yelled the numbers across.

The guy yelled back, "Don't give me that latitude s**t, which way?" I heard him, so I cranked the plotter around to West End, and wrote the course down on a piece of paper, and handed it up to our skipper, who yelled the number across.

The guy yelled back, "Point". So, our skipper stood over the compass and held is arm out on the bearing.

Without a word, the guy turned to the heading, advanced his throttles, and left us in a cloud of diesel smoke.