Thursday, December 22, 2016

Where am I

Another Step towards greater Safety

Ok, so we haven't taken Eximius on any long trips - YET! but that is our plan, and when we do, it will most likely be just Peggy & I aboard, that's shorthanded sailing. So we take boat safety pretty seriously.

Where are we?

We know where we are, heck, we have a Main GPS with Radar, a Handheld GPS (battery powered), and at least 2 cell phones onboard each with GPS and a tablet running Navionics, as well as always carrying paper charts on board.

You know where we are!

Ok, close friends and family know where we are. We carry a SPOT locator on board and typically it's on and tracking whenever we are on the boat away from the dock, even when at Anchor or rafted up with a buddy boat. So our BFFs can check the web to see where the boat is (and has been for the past week)  and we send out 'We're OK' emails from SPOT with the link to the website several times during trips.

But Where am I?

More importantly, if I'm not on the boat and should be, where the heck am I?

Peggy gave me an early Christmas gift this year, an ACR ResQLink+ Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) - very cool! Here's a link to the ACR site for this PLB



Of course, it's not just a case of Buy it and Use it, everything has to get registered nowadays, so here's the process so far today:
  • Register the device with ACR for Warranty 
  • Easy, create a new account at www.acrartex.com
  • Complete the online registration - All done  
  • Register the device with NOAA so that they know who they are looking for (hope it never comes to that, but it's great insurance)
  • Setup an account at beaconregistration.noaa.gov and confirm
  • Complete the online registration - our boat is already documented so that was easy, but it's just as easy if the boat is not documented.
  • Verify the account and get the completed registration form as a PDF via email immediately. All Done.
 
  • Submit the Rebate form for the $50 rebate (WooooHooo!)
  • Print out the form from www.acrartex.com
  • Mail it with the WestMarine receipt, Noaa Registration, Proof of Purchase and the completed rebate form. 
  • All done - but I'll wait till the rebate check arrives within 3 months before celebrating.


 Me thinks that the best use for this safety device is that it will be worn by any crew that is out of the cockpit. Perhaps I'll make a baggy for it with quick attachment to our PFDs. Another project for my sewing skills. 👍

See you on the water.

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