Before we left Richards Bay,
South Africa, for our trip around to
Cape Town, I went through our Off Shore
Passage Check List. One of the tasks on the list is to test the
EPIRB, which is probably the easier task on the list. You flip the switch to the 'Test' position, the display shows that everything is OK and you're done. This time was no different except about an hour after I had done the test, the marina manager at Zululand Yacht Club yelled at me that she had just gotten a call from the Richards Bay Port Control that our
EPIRB had gone off.
I looked at the EPIRB and it looked normal. Nothing indicating that it was transmitting an
emergency signal. I called Port Control and told them that we were not having an
emergency. Then I jumped on the
internet to see which agency would be handling the signal. I found the
phone number to South Africa's Mission Control and when I called them, they said they hadn't received the signal. Since we had bought our EPIRB in the
USA, I then called their Mission Control. The woman I spoke with said she had received the signal and would log it as an unintentional alert.
I went to ACR's website and filled out a contact form, explaining what had happened. All too often, when I fill out one of those forms, I never hear back. This time was different. About five minutes after sending the form in, I got a
phone call from someone with ACR in
Florida. Remember, I'm in
South Africa. It was 0530 in
Florida. The man who called asked a few questions and said that he had never heard of this problem before. He said he was going to have the EPIRB replaced for us. He did not ask when we bought the unit or if it was still under warranty. Almost immediately, I received some forms from him via
email, which I filled out and returned. A week later, I received a brand new EPIRB, which is no small fete to get something sent into South Afirica without using an agent.
I suppose I should mention that I am not an employee of ACR
Electronics nor are any of my
family or friends.
Fair winds and calm seas.