Special thanks to our (retired) Coast Guard friend, Jeff Gunn for this article! Jeff forwarded it to us, with this note - What a good article about putting some
type of owner/operator information in small unregistered boats, kayaks and
canoes. I know the problem of someone locating a small vessel with no one
onboard , and the nagging uncertainty that someone is in trouble just
waiting to be located and rescued. I worked way too many of these cases! Coast Guard targets needless sea searches
Contact data attached to an empty small craft would help determine if a paddler is in distress.
By DAVID HENCH, Staff Writer
April 10, 2009
 Staff Photo
Searches for missing boaters can easily cost $30,000 in the first hour alone, says Coast Guard Lt. Brian Hollis.
Casual observers might assume that a canoe, kayak or dinghy floating
empty on coastal water had just innocently drifted away from shore. And
they probably would be right.
But when the Coast Guard learns of an unattended boat adrift, it assumes the paddler has gone overboard and launches a search.
"What
we end up doing if the boat is in fresh condition and doesn't look like
it's faded or anything, we run an urgent marine information broadcast
and launch assets on it," the Coast Guard term for starting a search,
said Lt. Brian Hollis, recreational boating safety liaison for Coast
Guard Sector Northern New England.
As paddlers gear up for the
boating season, the Coast Guard is urging the owners of small craft to
use stickers or some other technique to identify whom the boat belongs
to and how to reach that person. The initiative is being added to
Operation Paddle Smart, an educational program that teaches paddlers
about safety.
The Coast Guard will be distributing safety
packs and teaching solo and assisted water-rescue techniques at its
annual open house April 25 at 259 High St. in South Portland. The packs
will include stickers with a place to record identifying information.
That
way, when the Coast Guard discovers a canoe or kayak adrift, it can
first try to check with the listed owner to determine whether the boat
had been occupied.
Hollis recalls about 10 incidents last year
when the Coast Guard discovered an unmanned canoe or kayak along the
Maine coast and had to begin a search.
"In cases like that, we
search and look. Usually days later, when somebody realizes they're
missing a boat, they'll start looking for it and get in touch with us,"
he said.
In some cases, the owner was never found, but nobody was reported missing.
A
search is expensive and potentially dangerous - it draws boats and even
aircraft to locations where they are out of position if a true
emergency develops.
Since there's no telling when and where a presumed paddler might have fallen out, searches cover a wide area.
"From
the time we get a call on one of these and we get people started doing
search planning, and launching boats and aircraft, it is very easily
conceivable in the first hour of the search, we could burn $30,000,"
Hollis said.
The most common culprit for setting a canoe or
kayak adrift is the tide. People will pull their craft onto an
unfamiliar beach and won't realize how high the water will rise, Hollis
said.
Serial numbers on a boat might direct the Coast Guard to
a store or manufacturer, but tracking the owner that way can be
time-consuming and uncertain.
Paddlers and marina owners support the Coast Guard effort.
"It
would be a great idea if some printing company made up a label that
could be stuck on a boat. It would be good even if (an owner) did it
with pen," said Sandy Martin, owner of Lincoln Canoes and Kayaks in
Freeport. "Otherwise, it's kind of a mystery. Did someone fall out of
this boat or did somebody get off on shore?"
Joanna Sprague of
Portland Yacht Services said the company provides identifying stickers
for customers to put on the small boats they use to reach moorings.
Then, if the Coast Guard does find one, it can contact the marina and
the staff can try to contact the owner.
"Otherwise, these guys are hunting around thinking someone has fallen overboard," she said.
Portland Yacht Services owner Phineas Sprague encourages owners to keep identifying information with each life jacket.
"Sometimes
the boats will sink on the mooring, and the life jacket will get free.
When you find a life jacket, that's even scarier than finding a
dinghy," he said.
Hollis, an avid paddler, said sea kayaking
is kind of like hiking on the ocean, and its popularity and
affordability have resulted in more empty kayaks being discovered at
sea.
"It's really taken off in the northeast in the last several years. A lot more people are getting into the sport," he said.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
dhench@pressherald.com
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