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EPIRB Rescue Search Patterns: Part 3

Adam Bolonsky — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:13:00 +0000

Above: the Coast Guard’s airborne search patterns as their soon-to-be 40-hour search for the fishing vessel Lady Luck spreads out along the southern Maine coast of New England (US, near Boston). Note the tighter grid the Coast Guard ran northeast of the EPIRB’s initial location, the looser grid they ran to northeast. The Coast Guard left the Lady Luck’s EPIRB in the water the hopes that its drift

EPIRB Search and Rescue Patterns: Part 2

Adam Bolonsky — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:09:00 +0000

Above: the that-morning patterns run by Coast Guard and Navy aircraft in their search for survivors of a Massachusetts commercial fishing boat whose EPIRB activated offshore in the dead of a New England winter. Note that the Coast Guard’s dirft model sent them on a pattern that extends far southeast and east/northeast of where the EPIRB was initially spotted by an overflying Coast Guard jet.

EPIRB Rescue Search Patterns: Part 1

Adam Bolonsky — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:07:00 +0000

Above: Coastal New England (US). The first in a series of images illustrating the efforts Coast Guard units expend on search-and-rescue operations activated by EPIRBs, or emergency position indicating radio beacons.

Search Amazon.com for personal locater beacons

In order to develop a search plan, we take the crew’s last known position, wind, wave and current sea states, and develop a

EPIRB Rescue Search Patterns: Part 1

Adam Bolonsky — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:22:00 +0000

Search Amazon.com for personal locater beacons

In order to develop a search plan, we take the crew’s last known position, wind, wave and current sea states, and develop a

Google Earth: Monomoy Island, Cape Cod

Adam Bolonsky — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:55:00 +0000

To enlarge the image above, double-click on it.

Monomoy Island off Chatham, Massachusetts (Cape Cod) is a worthy destination for anyone with a kayak or tin skiff or trailerable powerboat. The area is filled with challenges: shifting channels, wandering sandbars, frequent fogs and prevailing southwesterly winds that kick up lively chop during

Personal Locater Beacons (PLBs)

Adam Bolonsky — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:57:00 +0000

Above: the bottom face plate of the MicroFix personal locater beacon and the unit’s lanyard. Personal locater beacons are an excellent alternative to bulkier and more expensive EPIRBs.

The advantage of the Microfix is that in addition to your registered distress signal the unit relays your gps coordinates to search and rescue resources.

I recently received a demo model of the MicroFix, a

EPIRB Rescue Search Patterns: Part 1

Adam Bolonsky — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:21:00 +0000

Search Amazon.com for personal locater beacons

In order to develop a search plan, we take the crew’s last known position, wind, wave and current sea states, and develop a

Using Google Earth to Create Maps/ Part 1

Adam Bolonsky — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:46:00 +0000

Here’s the first of a several-part demo on how to use Google Earth to create detailed maps to share with friends and fellow adventurers.

Note that a map is not a nautical chart.

To view nautical charts made with Google Earth, try destinsharks.com, written by Virgil Zetterlind. outfit. Virgil’s been busy taking ten thousand lines of computer code to engineer Google Earth to compile all of NOAA’s

Read the Spring 2010 Issue of Wavelength Magazine Here

Adam Bolonsky — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:19:00 +0000

Use the handy yudu link and window below to read the current issue of WaveLength Magazine, published four times a year in British Columbia.

Though the magazine has a decided Canadian slant, primarily around paddling destinations, there’s plenty in there for readers worldwide: kayak reviews, skills, features on kayaking notables.

The viewer below is a little tricky to use on this site, but

No Float Plan, No VHF Radio, no Working Cell Phone: How to Make Life Difficult for the Coast Guard

Adam Bolonsky — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:37:00 +0000

Coast Guard crews rescue 4 near Cape May, N.J.

CAPE MAY, N.J. – The Coast Guard rescued four boaters after the 22-foot fishing boat they were aboard ran out of gas 70 miles east of Cape May, Sunday.

The Coast Guard received a call at approximately 1:05 p.m. from the spouse of one of the people aboard stating her husband was to be home at 3.p.m. Saturday and he had not yet returned. His truck