IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

[dingbat]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

The days before cell phones I would be stuck at home doing business on the land line and unable to go anywhere. But now with cell phones I can take work with me wherever I go if needed. I use it as a tool to allow me freedom to move about.

Same here. My livelihood depends on me being available 24/7 if need be. My Blackberry affords me that luxury. No office. No desk. I can't count the number of problems I resolved or conference calls I've "attended" while out on the boat. I fished 18 full days in April and didn?t miss a day at ?the office.?

Oh, the rescue part. I believe I have that covered pretty well. Redundant DSC enabled VHFs with redundant battery systems and an EPIRB.

 

[INJUN]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

VHF all the time. Once on shore, I call those who'd be concerned that I'm back on land.

Sure, I carry a cell phone, turned off.

I never leave site of land for the most part and if I do, I know another captain friend will be nearby in their boat.

JimS123 said it best; see if it floats LOL!

 

[shrew]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

To my knowledge you can't send a txt message to an online forum. But you can if your cell phone has online capabilities. If you can get a stong enough connection to browse the web, you should be able to place a call.

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Or.....maybe common sense is what was actually lacking here. Was the original story verified, or pulled from a post on another site. It almost sounds like a bad practical joke.

 

[drrpm]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

People think that a cell phone is a reliable backup for many backcountry endeavors. They have even used cell phones to call for rescue on Mt Ranier. Sometimes they find out too late that there is no reception or the phone is dead.

Its not a problem for me, I use my cell phone to let my wife know when I'll be home and have some other plan to take care of problems.

 

[richg99]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

No hoax....check www.2coolfishing.com about a month ago. Over 100 messages and untold number of guys trying to help.

My original post was NOT trying to make a case that a cell phone was a substitute for any other method of communication. It was trying to help someone remember a simple device to keep a cell working when it was needed.

In this case, after both the Coast Guard and a Tow boat service were unable to help.. the cell phone WAS needed...by both the lost boater and the rescuers ( who also lost cell power when looking for the guy). He would have spent a long night on reef but for the guys who set out to help him, from three different locations. None of them knew the boater personally.

The power of the internet showed that night.

Rich

 

[bowman316]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

the idea should be to never be in a situation where you will die if you don't get help.
if you only have one engine, stay near shore, and coastal waterways. where you can drift to land.

if going offshore you should have at least 2 main engines. I'm not going to trust my life to 1 eninge. they fail too much for that. And if you lose one enige. turn around right now and go back.

if you are say 5 miles out with no engine, you might be sol.
you really need to be able to save yourself offshore.

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

To my knowledge you can't send a txt message to an online forum. But you can if your cell phone has online capabilities. If you can get a stong enough connection to browse the web, you should be able to place a call.

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Or.....maybe common sense is what was actually lacking here. Was the original story verified, or pulled from a post on another site. It almost sounds like a bad practical joke.

I am in fact posting this from my droid. So yes you can text to an online forum,but I am safe and sound. Do not send a SAR squad after me

 

[cribber]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

Out on the water with no GPS, no radio and depending on a cell phone for communications???

I think they left their most important multi-app piece at home; the one between their ears.

Well put JB!!! What did folks do before all the modern electronic conveniences???

 

[produceguy]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

Oars, anyone

 

[JimS123]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

Well put JB!!! What did folks do before all the modern electronic conveniences???

What we did was use common sense, rely on ourselves, act responsibly and assume responsibility for our own actions.

Today, it is just too easy to go off and act stupid, then call Mommy or some dumb good samaritan to come bail us out. And if that good samaritan scratches our boat or something, we know we can sue the pants off him and take him for everything he's got.

I feel so sorry for those that think they are so important that they need 24/7 contact. When I ran an Engineering Department I trained my engineers to be self reliant so they could handle the problems without needing to be babysat. When I left, I had several in the wings that could take over for me. And a few years later when the company was in dire need of cutting cost, everybody found out that everything ran just fine without any of them!

 

[mphy98]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

In Canada where I fish a cell phone would be as good as an extra backside.
A vhf radio with a 8 foot antenna and I can get help. Like a previous post said I also have the gps on the vhf so in an emergency they know where I am. Vhf... don't leave shore without it.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

No hoax....check www.2coolfishing.com about a month ago. Over 100 messages and untold number of guys trying to help.

My original post was NOT trying to make a case that a cell phone was a substitute for any other method of communication. It was trying to help someone remember a simple device to keep a cell working when it was needed.

In this case, after both the Coast Guard and a Tow boat service were unable to help.. the cell phone WAS needed...by both the lost boater and the rescuers ( who also lost cell power when looking for the guy). He would have spent a long night on reef but for the guys who set out to help him, from three different locations. None of them knew the boater personally.

The power of the internet showed that night.

Rich

Really?
Why not?

 

[produceguy]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

JimS123, well said sir.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

I am in fact posting this from my droid. So yes you can text to an online forum,but I am safe and sound. Do not send a SAR squad after me

you texted your response to the forum? i'm guessing you mean you used the web browser. Which goes back to the point if you have enough signal to browse the web, you can make a call.

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

you texted your response to the forum? i'm guessing you mean you used the web browser. Which goes back to the point if you have enough signal to browse the web, you can make a call.

exactly right..After I posted I re read YOUR post and was too lazy to go edit...

 

[richg99]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

My last post on the topic...

..to answer your question...

"In this case, after both the Coast Guard and a Tow boat service were unable to help.. "

"Really? Why not? "

The Coast guard will not come out unless it is live or death. Grounded on a reef getting bitten by mosquitoes doesn't qualify..nor should it. As the story goes...The CG was called and then a local tow boat service...which was probably based 40 miles away or so, nearer the Gulf of Mexico.

Supposedly the Tow boat service did not have any boats capable of traversing the waters in question. Upper Galveston bay ( Galv. bay is about 525 square miles of water, overall) is extremely shallow and strewn with oyster reefs.

The guys were stranded high and dry on an oyster reef and the tide was going out. The only ones who could, and did, help... were other boaters with true shallow water craft. 100's particpated in the thread...most could not help as they were at work or were too far away. 3 set out to help..

The worst that would have happened to these guys were that they would have sat on the reef all night long....no doubt consumed by mosquitoes...and someone would have come by in the morning and towed them in.



*********************************
an added comment from the Tow boat service was posted last night.......as to their lack of participation...

"Shallow wasn't the case. We have boats that can go anywhere in Galveston Bay. Both of these cases you are referring to,... the stranded boaters chose not to pay for our service.

We have two boats that run in a foot of water and carry 1200ft of rope on each one. Doesn't matter what boat it is you hook a rope to the back and try to pull a grounded boat your going to need more water which is why we carry so much rope."

End of story.
regards, Rich

 

[dingbat]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

I feel so sorry for those that think they are so important that they need 24/7 contact. When I ran an Engineering Department I trained my engineers to be self reliant so they could handle the problems without needing to be babysat. When I left, I had several in the wings that could take over for me. And a few years later when the company was in dire need of cutting cost, everybody found out that everything ran just fine without any of them!

Don't feel sorry for me. I have the absolute best job one could hope for.

Relegating responsibility within a group is one thing. Been there, did that for 20 years. Making a living off your name and reputation is something entirely different. I can?t assign someone to step in and be me.

 

[sasto]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

I can't rely on anything. I've had all h*** brake loose at the same time. EPIRB worked, but didn't need it, couldn't use it.

 

[sasto]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

Making a living off your name and reputation is something entirely different. I can?t assign someone to step in and be me.

Me too.....dingbat

I ran a boat mfg facility, now I have a problem just running myself.

 

[dbkerley]

Re: IF you were stranded...and your phone battery died..

I think it just goes back to a case of stupidity. They didn't know or read the tide tables. They didn't use their common sense to get out while they could and they weren't prepared to go out there to begin with.


I've had engines go down on me before and was pulling myself in casting the anchor line. In another instance, I have had to use the paddle to scull back. Another boater came along and having seen what I was doing offered a tow. Naturally, I took it. However, even if I hadn't used the anchor line or taken the tow there were still many other options I had available such as VHF.


A pair of fins, a long line, and a good PFD can usually get you a long way. I got grounded once on New Year's Day and had to get out and pull the boat off the bar to get back in. The water was only a foot or so and I thought it would be a cake walk. Turned out the bottom was way soft and I was over my knees in frigid muck. We were foolish and too loaded to have tried going out that day.


A buddy asked after one of these events why I didn't call him on my cell. I said "What would you do, stand on the shore drinking beer and cheer me on?


I have also watched other boaters stand by and watch as someone else's craft was swamped and lost while they just went on about their business. We were in the restaurant and couldn't believe the others did nothing.