| Drake |
11-26-2012 01:00 PM |
But seriously, people over think it too much. It really depends on what the problem is. Are you in trouble? Or are you calling on behalf of someone else?
If you or someone in trouble, first thing you do is call the emergency number
Emergency Phone: ( 619) 295-3121 ( San Diego)
If you were smart, you left a float plan behind. You give them the contact number of the person with your float plan first, that way if you lose reception, phone gets wet or battery dies, they can find out most of what they need to know.
Second off, if theres 20 kayaks out there, and 15 of them are the exact same make model and color, chances are in the event of an emergency there will be a ton of other kayaks huddled around. We're no stupid. When we see clusters like that it's an obvious sign something is wrong. If you're by yourself an no one is around, thats self explanatory. Also, it's not hard to identify your kayak even with the same ones out there. Hopefully most of us carry these long poles with big flat panels on the ends, otherwise known as "great signaling devises"
Also, GPS coords are great and all, but not really crucial. If you call and say "I'm on my kayak, I launched from LJ shores and I'm in front of the condo" we'll get there. As long as you're not hiding in the cave, we'll get to you pretty quick. We have both water and air support. In heavy fog, finding you will be really tricky and that when GPS will come in handy, but we have special equipment to help us. Also, carry a firefly. Even in daylight, the flash from a firefly can bounce around in fog making it much easier to locate someone. A noise device whether is be a whistle or a horn is also a must have.
If you use a radio, put out your mayday, Mariners law should hopefully make sure any boat in the area will come to your rescue.
Hope this helps.
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