Rescue At Sea - Shore Contact's Perspect
Account of Shore Contact's experience
when DolphinGal sends 911.
By Deena
I woke Monday morning knowing DolphinGal had camped along the Sanibel bridge. I
fired up the computer to check her progress. Since I live in North Fort Myers, I
was thinking of where along Fort Myers Beach or further south I might drive to and
wave to her and other WaterTribers from a pier or shore and perhaps take more pictures.
As I enjoyed my coffee and plotted her progress, I realized she was staying offshore
and waving from a pier or beach would not be doable.
At 9:07:41 my phone chirps and I check to find a strange text message. It says:
URGENT
From 2 of 2: Longitude -99999 GPS location
date/time: 03/07/2011 09:07:41 EST
I had never encountered anything like that. It didn't say findmespot or DolphinGal.
While I was looking at the message a second one arrives. It said:
URGENT
From 1 of 2:
noreply@findmespot.com (message from DolphinGal SPOT Personal Tracker)
Dolphin Gal Latitude -99999
I was puzzled to say the least and wondered if her Spot had failed. The word URGENT
troubled me but at that moment I did not understand it as a 911 header. I realized
that a moment later when my phone rang and a nice young man in Dallas informed me
that he was with SPOT and following up on a 911 message. He had tried calling DolphinGal,
but it had gone straight to voicemail. He then called me as the second contact number
listed with SPOT for her. He asked a few questions since he had no idea where she
was. He told me that if he had received coordinates his mandatory action would require
contacting Coast Guard.
The weather was good, but I was puzzled so I took his number and told him I would
call back with her last coordinates from about ten minutes prior to the 911 message.
A few minutes later while I was on the computer, he called to say he had now received
a lat/lon and was calling the Coast Guard. I made sure he would give them my phone
number.
Moments later Petty Officer Webb rang me up and started asking questions. She was
nice, yet all business. I gave her DolphinGal's description, the type and description
of the vessel and other facts such as she was solo. In response to question I was
asked, and with Chief's words ringing in my memory, I told officer Webb that DolphinGal
was traveling down the coast on a distance trip, but avoided going into any details.
While we were talking she had the Fort Myers Beach CG on another line and they were
scrambling. I was calm but concerned. Officer Webb terminated the call and confirmed
that I could call back in a while for further information.
I know the boats the CG station has and I know the area, having sailed off Ft. Myers
Beach for over 30 years. I knew it would not take more than 30 minutes to reach
her and possibly as quick as 15. Nothing to do but wait. Meanwhile the Spot tracker
was sending out GPS coordinates as text messages to my phone every ten minutes.
I call the CG after about 30 minutes. Petty Officer Minutella has taken over. I
guess Webb went off shift. She tells me she is in contact with the rescue boat and
they have “hands on” DolphinGal and she is well. I find it hard to describe how
wonderful that sounded. Yay!!! doesn't quite cover it. We end the call and Officer
Minutella tells me the CG vessel is heading to shore.
A bit later from the CG station I learned that DolphinGal was on her way to a hospital
for a check-up and possible hypothermia. Petty Officer Minutella allayed any concern
and says it doesn't mean anything is wrong but that it’s standard procedure when
the CG pulls someone out of the water and they’ve been in it more than x-amount
of time and/or the water temp is less than some number.
Next I remembered (somehow) that part of being a shore contact person was to inform
race management of pertinent happenings. I made the call to Pelican and relayed
all that I could.
DolphinGal can tell the rest of the story. I just want to emphasize one thing -
I now understand what URGENT means at the top of a SPOT text message. It only happens
when the 911 button has been pushed. SPOT continued to broadcast lat/long at ten
minute intervals until it was shut off.
I hope this recounting of the events from the shore contact end might help someone
in the future.
Note from DolphinGal: I had my SPOT page set up to send Help and OK messages directly
to Deena’s phone.
Copyright ©2011 Deena
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