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".

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Joel Albert, Potomac MD
"Charlie B" - 32' FBS
docked Deale, MD

The only thing that makes that story so funny is the fact that they found him and got him to shore without incident. I remember many a such story from my days in the USCG, back before cell phones and GPS's. As a matter of fact the day I was leaving my base in Ashtabula, Oh for the last time. the Electricians were showing up to install the latest and greatest navigation equipment........Loran C:d/ . With all the electronic equip. out there and the things cell phones are capable of it is hard to fathom how people end up lost nowadays. Thanks for being kind enough to stick with the others and relaying for them Joel.

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If at first you don,t succeed, Find out if there is a prize for last place!

Let's hope that dope of a "boater" learned a few things:

1. Buy a good set of charts for your area

2. Learn how to read them, and

3. Take a Boating Safety course (since he obviously needs one!)

Jeff

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"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert , in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.”

~ Milton Friedman

I love it hope he got a ticket for being a D A my nabor at the marina were just talking yesterday that if we had to pass an I q test to buy a boat most would not get a dink I told her I am good at fakeing it but alot of commen cence gose a long way

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HP Sunset Bay lake Erie NY boat name Sunrise 32' f/b fisherman"It would be a labor of love, if I loved to labor" cpt Brent

 Karl,
They’re out there, I bet if boaters would tune in to a aviation radio frequency we’d hear about the same thing. Just a couple of weeks ago some dad took his kid to work & the kid was giving out take off & landing instructions. Now we’re talking about 100's of lives. Luckily there wasn’t a incident out of that one. Then what about the plane that missed the airport by several hundred miles dah !!! Stan probably has a horror story or two to relate seeing he works at a airport how about it Pitts. Stan. Back to boating any yeahoo can throw some cash on the desk get a set of keys & they’re on their way not knowing the bow from the stern & even worst not knowing how to read a chart or compass or the meaning of buoys.

Norm,

Bigs Live On

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Keep your hooks wet & your Butts dry also make sure your whistle stays wet

And left and right!

In our monthly USCG Aux meeting last night, one of the guys told of some morons that left their anchorage near NYC and headed south--without a chart on board or a GPS! Got lost around Cape May and had to call the CG for help. When asked where they were, they described some buildings on shore as a reference. But, believe it or not, they were still in motion at the time so the "buildings" on shore kept changing and the Coast Guard couldn't find them--doh! Eventually some intelligent boater, hearing this insanity, intervened and led them to "safety". Yikes!

Jeff

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"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert , in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.”

~ Milton Friedman

http://boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/chart101.htm

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1985 Marinette 29 Sedan Flybridge
"Vesper"
**Twin 318CIDs
**Raw water system
**Freshwater always