משואת אות מצוקה EPIRB הצילה חייהם של עשרות שייטים

GME PLB saves 21 sailors in Fastnet race capsizing
Since its inception in 1925, The Royal Ocean Club’s Fastnet yacht Race is an event with a fearsome reputation. Back in 1979 the race contestants were hit with a huge storm resulting in the tragic loss of 15 lives and literally dozens of yachts.
Sailing from Cowes on the Isle of Wight the biennial race takes the fleet 608 miles along the south coast of the UK, across the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock off south west Ireland, before returning around the Scilly Isles to the finish in Plymouth.

Tragedy, was however prevented in the 2011 race by an Australian made GME PLB; The US-registered maxi, Rambler 100, skippered by George David, with a crew of 21, had just passed the Fastnet Rock at around 6.30pm on August 15th when disaster struck. In relatively calm but foggy conditions, around 16 miles from Baltimore, County Cork, Rambler’s keel snapped, causing it to capsize within 15 seconds, throwing the entire crew overboard. With all its communications equipment underwater and inoperative, the crew activated a GME MT410G Personal Locator
Being a GPS equipped PLB; the MT410G’s signal was quickly received by a Geo-stationary COSPAS SARSAT satellite, with its encoded ID and position coordinates relayed to the UK maritime Communications Authority in Falmouth, who in turn tasked the Irish Cost Guard with coordination of the rescue; which involved the Baltimore RNLI lifeboat, the Shannon and Waterford-based rescue helicopters, and Irish Naval vessel the LE Ciara
Rambler’s activated MT410G GPS beacon provided location data to within 100 metres of the stricken vessel allowing the search and rescue team to respond rapidly to the reported position, Radio Direction Finding receivers aboard the deployed SAR resources then guided the rescuers to the upturned maxi within 3 hours.

GME saves Shady Lady crew in Banda Sea

The annual 600 nautical mile Darwin to Ambon race to the capital of the Spice Islands attracts entries from blue water sailors from Australia and the world.

After achieving a highly credible 3rd place in its division of the 2011 race, the Australian registered yacht Shady Lady with a crew of three ran into serious trouble on the return leg to Australia.

Peter Charles, Shady Lady’s skipper takes up the story:

“I went below to make breakfast, saw water under the floor plates and instantly knew something was wrong” Peter explained. “A further inspection revealed an unmanageable ingress of salt water. It was impossible to control, or even locate the leak, due to the level of water and how fast it was rising.”

Fortunately, the crew had planned well and had a “grab bag” with a GME MT400 406 MHz EPIRB on board which were quickly transferred, with other emergency supplies to the yacht’s tender.
Recognising the gravity of their situation, the three immediately activated their MT400 and, given their location, were amazed that an Australian Customs Dash 8 aircraft was on scene in little over three hours.
The plane then provided much welcome comfort overhead whilst the RCC in Canberra coordinated a rescue with the help of the merchant vessel Go Canopus, with the Darwin based Dornier providing further top cover.
After a slightly scary, but very professional transfer to the bigger ship, the crew travelled on board Go Canopus to the Torres Strait where they were transferred from the ship to shore by the local Water Police.
From the MT400’s initial detection to the recovery by the GO CANOPUS the survivors were adrift for seven hours.
Back on Terra Firma, the crew of Shady Lady expressed their heart felt thanks to the RCC staff, Australian Customs and Border Protection and everyone else that played a part in their rescue. They were astounded at the efficiency of their rescue and are most grateful for everyone’s efforts on this occasion.

Norwegian PLB Rescue – Father knows best!

Norwegian economics student Kristen Engevik has an extra special reason to celebrate Father’s day this year,
The outdoor loving 22 year old from Oslo was enjoying an extended summer vacation exploring the Hemnes region of Northern Norway when she decided to climb Oksskolten, literally translated as BullsHead, the tallest peak in the region.
Fortunately Kristen’s father, who was all too aware of his daughter’s passion for adventure and the outdoor life had insisted she carried a Personal Locator Beacon, commonly, referred to as a PLB in her backpack on her wilderness journeys.
Ultimately it was her GME M410G PLB that alerted the Norwegian search and rescue authorities of her plight and directed the rescue helicopter to her position
Kristin had pre-planned the route to follow, however, she chose to take a small detour and that’s when things started to go terribly wrong. She was within sight of the peak when treading on a loose rock she inadvertently triggered a landslide. Unable to move in any direction, precariously perched on a rock ledge with a straight drop of 1000 metres down to the glacier below, Kiristen activated her GME GPS enabled PLB.
The MT410G’s emergency signal and position coordinates were detected by the Norwegian Rescue Coordination Centre, who despatched a rescue helicopter under the command of Remi Olsen to search for the distressed climber and affect a rescue. Within 3 hours the helicopter located Kristen and a crewman was lowered to winch the 22-year-old to safety.
After her ordeal, and back on solid ground, an ever grateful Kristen thanked the Norwegian rescue crew, her wise father and Seatronics in Norway the local distributor of GME products. She further recommended anyone travelling in the mountains or other unknown territory to be prepared for the unexpected and carry a lightweight PLB.