FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – FEBRUARY 20, 2009 – Sailboat captain Kirk Ezell
and crewmate, Dana Ramsden, had just celebrated Christmas Eve with a hot
meal when things began to fall apart aboard the 52-foot sailboat, Blue
Chip, they were transporting. They were 200 miles south of Jamaica enroute to delivering the boat to Montego Bay when, for no apparent
reason, water began rising in the cabin. Soon it was up to their ankles.
After trying to determine the source of the leak and trying to keep the
craft afloat, Ezell, 67, an experienced sailor, knew it was time to call
for help. At 2 a.m., he sent out a distress plea over the VHF, released
flares and activated an ACR Electronics’ GlobalFix™ 406 EPIRB. (The
sideband radio was not operational.)
The crew made ready for departing the stricken vessel by inflating the
six-man life raft and pre-loading it with everything they needed:
survival gear, records, cash, personnel property and the EPIRB. They
were about to jump into it when Ezell observed, “The raft had
disintegrated in five minutes. The glue came undone, the canopy came
detached, the floor broke free and the floats separated in parts. All
that was loaded went adrift or sank. The beacon floated away. We had no
survival raft.”
All they could do was wait for six hours on a sinking boat trying to
find a way to survive and holding onto to the hope that someone heard
their SOS. In the distance they saw an airplane and used the handheld
VHF radio to make voice contact with a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) C-130,
based in Clearwater, Fla. After hearing of their situation, the aircraft
dropped a life raft and the crewmates abandoned ship.
The USCG diverted the merchant freighter, Fuji Bay, which picked up the
two sailors and continued on its planned route to the U.S. They were
delivered to Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve.
Even though they had nothing but the shirts on their back, the survivors
were relieved the rescue went so smoothly. “I give a lot of credit to
the EPIRB – a lot – and to the Coast Guard for what they did when they
got there. If everything hadn’t fallen into place, we wouldn’t be here
today. The EPIRB is what started it [the rescue] all off. The beacon
separated from the boat and kept on ticking,” Ezell said by phone from
his home in Cartagena, Colombia, S.A.
Elizabeth Werner, USCG SAR Controller, District 7, was on duty during
the rescue operation. She credited the EPIRB with helping save the
sailors' lives. "Without the use of the EPIRB, we would never have known
they were in trouble in the remote location they were in," Werner said.
She also said the survivors followed correct procedure by placing the
EPIRB in the life raft before abandoning ship. "If you have to leave a
boat, we recommend you take the EPIRB with you in the raft or tethered
in the water."
Chris Wahler, ACR Director of Marketing, commended Ezell on the proper
use of the beacon. "EPIRBs are often called upon when other equipment
fails. The GlobalFix™ 406 EPIRB that was carried by Captain Kirk Ezell,
with its internal GPS, was able to provide LAT/LON coordinates to the
USCG, which made short work of getting to the beacon. Even though the
EPIRB had floated away, the Coast Guard was able to get within close
range of the survivors."
An EPIRB is a satellite-signaling device of last resort. EPIRBs are only
used when all other means of self-rescue have been exhausted and where
the situation is deemed to be grave and imminent. All beacons must be
registered following purchase.
ACR Electronics, Inc., www.acrelectronics.com, a Cobham plc company,
designs and manufactures a complete line of safety and survival products
including EPIRBs, PLBs, AIS, SARTs, Strobe Lights, Life Jacket Lights,
Search Lights and safety accessories. The quality systems of this
facility have been registered by UL to the ISO 9001:2000 Series
Standards. Recognized as the world leader in safety and survival
technologies, ACR has provided safety equipment to the aviation and
marine industries as well as to the military since 1956. The company is
headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and employs 200 at its
manufacturing facility.
Note to editor: High-resolution images are available upon request.
Contact John Bell at 954-970-3394.
Contact: John Bell
prseitz@bellsouth.net
954-970-3394