I wanted to share an email from a friend of mine who may have helped
save someone's life at sea, due to his monitoring VHF Channel 16. My
friend is Mike Clark on Fidelio and his action deserves credit for
performing like a hero in my book. You may see them in Cape
Canaveral or elsewhere going south.
I believe there may be a requirement that you monitor Channel 16
while sailing. When some friends were leaving Charleston for Florida
the week after New Years they discussed staying on Channel 69. I
suggested also monitoring 16 as well, just in case some traffic might
be trying to reach them. He did not know how to set the radio to scan
two channels. (Most radios will do this) I figured out how to set
his to monitor that channel too as he was warming up the engine to
leave. I am glad I did. Here's what he told me in his own words:
---------
The following is strange but true.
We left St Augustine at 6 am in the dark and fog. The forecast was
for winds 10-15 kt out of the NW and seas 2-3 ft. The rumb line
course to Cape Canaveral inlet was a heading of 151degrees. After
going about 7 miles off shore we decided to set the sails and shut
down the engine. By now the wind was from our bow so we bore off on
a heading of 125 degrees. The wind piped up to 15-20 kt and we were
really moving along at 7+ kts. I was really enjoying the sail after
so much motoring and we were really making good progress. All went
well for about 3 hours and we ended up much further off shore than
originally planed. However, DeAnn and Danna (on Quequige) both
became seasick and as the wind was continuing to increase Danna
suggested we turn around and go back to St. Augustine. We were
communicating with Quequige on Ch 69 on the VHF and monitoring Ch16
at the same time (Ed had shown DeAnn how to do this on our radio
while we were in Charleston). We decided to reef in the sails and
come about when we received a very faint distress call on Channel
16. The call was to the Coast Guard but they were out so far they
could not be received. The person on the radio was on a trawler and
young and inexperienced. It turned out he was on the bridge and
heard there dog who was in the cabin with his father and the fathers
girlfriend start yapping. He went down stairs and both the father
and girlfriend were unconscious and then the dog went unconscious.
The girlfriend started convulsions bit her toung and was bleeding
from the mouth and both father and girl friend were having difficulty
breathing. The boy smelled an exhaust leak into the cabin. He shut
down the engines and was trying to get some medical assistance. We
were the only boat who could here them so we turned again and relayed
their call into the Coast Guard. The Guard could hear us and we
could hear the boat in distress. I told the boy to keep the engine
turned off and try and drag the people and dog out into fresh air.
He was able to give me his GPS coordinates and we headed for his
position. In the mean time we relayed all the information requested
by the Guard to them and Seatow who immediately headed out. To make
a long story short, Seatow arrived first and got the father and
girlfriend onboard and immediately headed back to St. Augustine for
medical assistance. Quequige had seen us turn around and did not
know what was going on as they were on Channel 69, later they
switched to 16 and were there to assist as well.
What was unusual about all of this is that if the winds were as
forecast we would not have gone far enough off shore to hear their
distress call. If Danna had not wanted to turn around and De wanted
to bring in the sails we would not have heard the faint call on our
radio. If Ed had not shown De in Charleston how to monitor 2 radio
frequencies at the same time we would not have received the call and
had we not relayed the call into the Coast Guard there would not have
been any medical assistance. Even had the people on the trawler not
had a dog to make the noise which alerted the boy, the problem would
not have been detected in time.
We are back in St. Augustine and will depart again tomorrow morning
for Cape Canaveral.
------ ###### -------
I guess we should all make sure we keep Ch 16 on and the volume up in
the future. It can make a difference.
Ed Kelly (& Sue Kelly)
currently lying Charleston, SC
USSV Angel Louise - a Catalac catamaran
Our Skype Phone (202) 657-6357
Email: EdKelly ("at" symbol) netins.net
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