Forum Member Reported Missing

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

IMHO the Coast guard should not be allowed to respond to a spot signal...if you want the umbrella of Coast Guard protection outside say a 3 mile limit buy an EPIRB inside of that a VHF or cell phone.

I agree, and I own and use a SPOT!

Friends and family, however, know that the SPOT is nothing more than an occasional "Hi! I'm here" message. They would not call an emergency just because they didn't get an OK message for a day or two.

And if I am ever in real need of emergency assistance I will activate my EPIRB first, and then maybe also my SPOT as a backup.

[tami]

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

.BTW, where in the world did you get the idea that you might be assaulted in the Keys?

The very nice rangers we met from the Everglades National Park suggested that we might worry about smuggler activity. I do believe I'd take their words over yours.

BTW I don't appreciate your snide remark about my home. I made none about the Keys, nor about Jersey, which is certainly a place I would never want to go to, speaking of assault.

[GordMay]

Selected Crime Indexes:

Princeton, NJ ➥ Princeton Crime Statistics (NJ) - CityRating.com

Key West, FL ➥ Key West Crime Statistics (FL) - CityRating.com

Biloxi-Gulfport-Pascagoula, Ms➥

[sailorboy1]

"How would this compare cost wise today with buying a sat phone that is used only for emergencies to a dedicated knowledgeable shore contact who could respond to a real cry for help with the big advantage of knowing the details of the problem?"

I started reading this thread at the end and had to back track to find how the "shots" started and that was a waste of time by all involved. But, the above question I thought was really good on the thread and wonder if anyone has an answer to it?

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

"How would this compare cost wise today with buying a sat phone that is used only for emergencies to a dedicated knowledgeable shore contact who could respond to a real cry for help with the big advantage of knowing the details of the problem?"

I started reading this thread at the end and had to back track to find how the "shots" started and that was a waste of time by all involved. But, the above question I thought was really good on the thread and wonder if anyone has an answer to it?

I was wondering the same Don..

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Selected Crime Indexes:

Gulfport then Pascagoula:

➥ Gulfport Crime Statistics (MS) - CityRating.com

➥ Pascagoula Crime Statistics (MS) - CityRating.com

[skipgundlach]

From my log:

Hi, all,

As all the speculation, and, later, confirmation by looking at our SPOT page (Please wait for redirect), has surmised, we are alive and well and anchored off Spanish Cay, where we'll check in tomorrow morning.

As a battery saving measure, after a few minutes of stabilization, we turn off the SPOT, when we're at anchor. Thus, our motion will seem to have stopped, and messages no longer be forthcoming, in a few minutes, after I send this...

Thanks for your concerns. We did anchor the first night in lots of rain and no wind, and as motoring isn't on our agenda, since there was nothing happening, we chose to throw out the hook in the banks.

Also, it's possible, the REALLY stupid instructions on SPOT eluded me on one of my attempts to both send an "OK" message (which goes to 10 people we identify) or to turn it on, one day, failed. I'll not go into the stupidity of the design, but it's an invitation to failure unless you manage to get the sequence down and use it daily. I've done neither :{))

For those on my log list, this was prompted by someone very concerned calling the Miami Sector of the Coast Guard reporting us overdue sometime in the last couple of days. 'Tain't so :{)) However, it made the papers and the radio, I've learned. We're (in)famous again, darn it!

So, since where are doesn't support our Vonage phone I'd appreciate it if someone would call Miami (who left a message on my Vonage voicemail yesterday at 7:11PM, when we'd anchored and turned off the radios - and for that matter, I was on with the Maritime Mobile ham radio net), and reassure them that we are blissfully happy after two days of wing-and-wing travel, anchoring each night, and have arrived at our checkin point. Their number is 305-535-4472...

L8R

Skip and crew

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at Web-Folio -- Your Portfolio on the Web !
Follow us at TheFlyingPigLog : Morgan 461 Hull #2, Flying Pig
and/or Flying Pig Log | Google Groups

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in
its hand
(Richard Bach)

[skipgundlach]

This was posted to a couple of the mailing lists I'm on; references are to posters in various lists:

Hi, All,

We just finished the Sound of Music on our system (digital on hard drive),
and finally got to review the thread on our supposed distress.

As Lydia says, "Who makes this stuff up???"

1: Now that I have an internet connection I was able to download messages
both from BASRA (the Bahamian equivalent) and the Coast Guard. You've seen
my request for a call to the marvelous folks in the Miami Sector (those
folks who provided a lift from the rock we sailed onto (not sleeping - just
storm tossed, with 10-12' seas and over 40 knots and a chartplotter we
thought was integrated to the autopilot; not so - it just kept a line to the
spot we wanted to go, and Lydia didn't know not to go there; our radar was
inop [see my log posting recently about the final resolution of that] and we
wound up on the rocks). BASRA doesn't answer my hail...

2: None of the assertions here or in the various press and airwaves about
our response is correct. We turn our radios off when we're asleep, and
heard nothing (though we easily hear Miami Sector when they broadcast). Had
we, we'd certainly responded - but neither I nor any crew did so, having
heard nothing.

3: We are eternally grateful to the Miami CG folks, and make it a point to
tell each Coastie we see. They light up each time - and the folks who gave
us a ride to Key West were literally thrilled, including requests for
photos, to be able to have done so. Each such excursion is what they live
for.

4: The above having been said, I desperately hope that the reports of
airborne searches are more of the same as #2; as someone pointed out, it's a
terrible waste of resources, if it's true.

5: As Ed pointed out, we have many resources to ask for help if we need it,
and as someone else (forgive me; the thread is so long I'm not going back
for proper credit, if it was on this list - it might have been on the Morgan
list) pointed out, SPOT is notoriously unreliable, both for the reasons I
pointed out in my prior, and in general. It's a lovely tool to let folks
who are interested follow our progress, nothing more. We have an epirb, ham
and SSB radios, and VHF aboard, and know how to raise an alarm if one's
warranted.

6: Ed, and most likely, those who have been here for a long time, know that
we are entirely candid about our adventures (and misadventures). Were we
churchmice, nobody'd see them, nor learn from them. The entirety of that is
in my log (click the link to the yahoo group below), should you care to see
it. The ride in the stainless steel basket aside, if there's someone here
who's put lots of miles under their keel who's not had to wait for a tide to
get off a sandbar, or polished their keel, or had something break underway,
I'd say they were a most fortunate and rare individual. Tania (the 17 year
old who went around the world in a *NIB* boat) can attest to the fact that
stuff breaks, sometime's you're in the wrong place at the right time, and
"stuff" (sanitized) happens. Some folks get off the boat when it does; we
don't/didn't.

7: As others have pointed out, presuming to put out the call for rescue is
pretty presumptuous if you are not one of the people with whom we are in
direct contact. This thread was very amusing until I read that resources
(assets, in Coastie parlance) were dispatched on our behalf, particularly
based on our apparent lack of movement from a SPOT transmitter. I am not
amused.

All that said, I'm very glad for the concern here and elsewhere. The
response - particularly in the Morgan list, but also from all quarters -
when it was learned that we did, in fact, get a ride in a red helicopter,
was unspeakably touching and heartwarming. It forms the aggressive (we
always did, but more so now) posture of paying it forward we display.

So, thanks, all, for your concern. We're fine, and I'll try to be better in
making the SPOT talk to you - but be informed that we'll turn it off when we
anchor :{))

I'm off to my moonlight dip in the clear Bahamian waters, my nightly salt
water shower at anchor, then I'm going to get a great night's sleep :{))

L8R, y'all
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at Web-Folio -- Your Portfolio on the Web !
Follow us at TheFlyingPigLog : Morgan 461 Hull #2, Flying Pig
and/or Flying Pig Log | Google Groups

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in
its hand
(Richard Bach)

[skipgundlach]

Meanwhile, my brother just sent this out to our family. The picture is from our gallery (see link in prior posts); it's in Georgetown, and Lydia's swimming back to the boat from Volleyball beach...

Skip and Lydia made the news when they forgot to log in one of their satellite tracking points and a friend called the Coast Guard. They're fine and were never lost. You can see some of the articles pasted below, and you can even see them on the evening news on TV by going to this link. Love, Paul

Missing boat: Search over for boat, crew missing after leaving Lake Worth -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Fort Myers News-Press

South Florida boaters reported missing have been found safe

news-press.com • September 29, 2009

10:36 A.M. — MIAMI -- The Coast Guard called off its search this morning for three passengers aboard an overdue vessel after they were located safely near the Bahamas.

The Bahamian Air and Sea Rescue Association (BASRA) issued a marine broadcast this morning urging mariners to be on the lookout for the 46-foot sailing vessel Flying Pig. Flying Pig crew members heard the marine broadcast and quickly responded via radio, stating they were anchored off Abaco Island, Bahamas, due to inclement weather.

A concerned friend of Skip Gundlach, the 65-year-old owner of the Flying Pig, contacted search-and-rescue coordinators at the Seventh Coast Guard District command center in Miami around 4:30 p.m. Monday after he stopped receiving location messages from the vessel's satellite messenger service. The SPOT personal tracker is able to report its location to friends and family through Google Maps.

Gundlach and his two passengers departed from Lake Worth, Fla., Sunday, and were en route to Spanish Cay, Bahamas. The satellite messenger had last reported the Flying Pig's position 20 miles north of Grand Bahama Island around 10 a.m. Monday.
____________________________________

WPBF-TV

Boaters Who Left From Lake Worth Found Safe In Bahamas
Coast Guard Calls Off Search

POSTED: 9:39 am EDT September 29, 2009
UPDATED: 10:48 am EDT September 29, 2009

MIAMI -- The U.S. Coast Guard has called off its search for three boaters who left Lake Worth for the Bahamas after they were found safe.

A friend of Skip Gundlach, 65, called the Coast Guard on Monday after he stopped receiving location messages from Gundlach's 46-foot sailboat, the Flying Pig, via the boat's satellite messenger service.

The satellite messenger service is able to report a vessel's location with Google Maps.

Gundlach and his two passengers, who left for Spanish Cay, Bahamas, on Sunday, heard the marine broadcast on their boat's radio and stated they were anchored off Abaco Island, Bahamas, because of inclement weather.

Copyright 2009 by WPBF.com.
____________________________________

Associated Press (Article 1)

Boaters traveling to the Bahamas reported missing

(AP) – 2 days ago

LAKE WORTH, Fla. — Coast Guard officials in South Florida say a boat carrying three people went missing during a trip from Lake Worth to the Bahamas.

According to a news release, a friend of the boat's 65-year-old owner called emergency officials when he stopped getting satellite location messages from the boat, which is called the Flying Pig. The vessel's last message placed the Flying Pig about 20 miles north of Grand Bahama Island.

The boat's owner, Skip Gondlach, left Lake Worth on Florida's eastern coast with his two passengers Sunday. They were headed to Spanish Cay, Bahamas.

Coast Guard crews used a jet to search for the 46-foot vessel Monday.
________________________________________

Associated Press (Article 2)

Coast Guard: Missing boaters located near Bahamas

(AP) – 1 day ago

LAKE WORTH, Fla. — Coast Guard officials in South Florida say three boaters reported missing on a trip from Lake Worth to the Bahamas have been located.

Authorities say the crew aboard the Flying Pig heard a marine broadcast Tuesday that asked other boaters to be on the lookout for their vessel. The crew radioed officials and said they were anchored near Abaco Island, Bahama.

A friend of the boat's owner called emergency officials when he stopped receiving satellite location messages from the Flying Pig. The vessel's last message placed the Flying Pig about 20 miles north of Grand Bahama Island.

The boat's owner, Skip Gundlach, left Lake Worth with his two passengers on Sunday. They were headed to Spanish Cay, Bahamas.
_________________________________________

The Tribune, Nassau, Bahamas

Three missing boaters found

Published On:Wednesday, September 30, 2009

THREE boaters believed to be missing at sea in the Bahamas were found safe and well near Abaco yesterday.

The United States Coast Guard had been searching for the missing men who were on board the overdue Flying Pig.

And the Bahamas Air and Sea Rescue Association (BASRA) issued a marine broadcast yesterday morning urging boaters to lookout for the 46-foot sailing vessel.

However crew members of The Flying Pig heard the broadcast and quickly responded by radio, explaining how they were anchored off Abaco because of bad weather.

A friend of Skip Gundlach, the 65-year-old owner of the Flying Pig, reported the crew missing around 4.30 pm on Monday after he stopped receiving location messages from the vessel's satellite messenger service, according to a news report.

The boaters were on their way to Spanish Cay from Georgia and had briefly stopped in Lake Worth, Florida, on Sunday before they continued their sail to the Bahamas, The Palm Beach Post reported.
_____________________________________

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Search over for sailboat missing after leaving Lake Worth
Crew said bad weather forced them to anchor off Abaco

MIAMI - The U.S. Coast Guard today said a 46-foot sailing vessel and its three passengers listed as missing after they left Lake Worth have been found safely near the Bahamas.

The crew of the boat, the Flying Pig, responded to a broadcast issued this morning by the Bahamian Air and Sea Rescue Association. They said they were anchored off Abaco Island, Bahamas, due to inclement weather, according to the Coast Guard.

Boat owner Skip Gundlach, 65, and his two passengers had left Lake Worth on Sunday and were headed to Spanish Cay, Bahamas, the Coast Guard said.

A friend of Gundlach contacted search-and-rescue coordinators at the District Seven Command Center in Miami after he stopped receiving location messages from the vessel's satellite messenger service.

The satellite messenger last reported the Flying Pig's position 20 miles north of Grand Bahama Island about 10 a.m. Monday.

An HU-25 Falcon jet crew from Coast Guard Air Station Miami started searching for the boat.
___________________________________

Palm Beach Post

Coast Guard calls off search for Flying Pig sailboat; they had anchored off the Bahamas to avoid bad weather

By SONJA ISGER

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Flying Pig and all three aboard have been found safely anchored near the Bahamas, ending a search that began late yesterday when friends of the boat's owner and crew reported them missing.

Coast Guard officials this morning called off their search after hearing from the crew. The crew radioed in after hearing a marine broadcast this morning asking boaters to be on the lookout for the 46-foot sailing vessel The Flying Pig.

he Flying Pig, owned by Skip Gundlach, was on its way to Spanish Cay in the Bahamas, a Coast Guard official said.

The boat began the trip out of Georgia and had stopped in Lake Worth Sunday before continuing to the Bahamas.

Friends were monitoring the boat's position via a 24-hour tracking device and stopped receiving a signal about 10 a.m. Monday.

The boat's last known position was about 20 miles north of Grand Bahama, the Coast Guard official said.

An HU-25 Falcon jet crew from Coast Guard Air Station Miami searched through the evening and again this morning before the crew responded to the call to be on the lookout.
More on palmbeachpost.com

_____________________________

Trading Markets.com

Miami Coast Guard searching for missing sailboat that departed from Lake Worth
Tue. September 29, 2009; Posted: 07:40 AM


MIAMI, Sep 29, 2009 -- The U.S. Coast Guard says crews are searching for the 46-foot sailing vessel, Flying Pig, and its three passengers near Grand Bahama Island.

Skip Gondlach, 65, the boat's owner, and his two passengers left Lake Worth Sunday and were headed to Spanish Cay, Bahamas, according to the Coast Guard.

A concerned friend of Gondlach contacted search-and-rescue coordinators at the District Seven Command Center in Miami after he stopped receiving location messages from the vessel's satellite messenger service. SPOT -- satellite personal tracker, is able to report its location to friends and family through Google Maps.

The satellite messenger last reported the Flying Pig's position 20 miles north of Grand Bahama Island around 10 a.m. Monday.

An HU-25 Falcon jet crew from Coast Guard Air Station Miami has been searching for the missing vessel.

Anyone with information regarding Gondlach's whereabouts is requested to contact Coast Guard District Seven at 305-415-6800



See over 3,000 beautiful photographs at PaulScharffPhotography.com.
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[SkiprJohn]

Glad your safe! I'd certainly get rid of old SPOT. He's certainly way too alert and "cries wolf" too often by what I've been reading.
regards,

[Fishman_Tx]

Good God! The news gets around, don't it?

[Christian Van H]

Just to be clear...the SPOT is a cool toy that allows family to track your movements. Skip obviously knows better then to count on this thing for a true emergency. I have been reading his (wordy) posts for some time now, and he's a way better seaman then that. I would be horrified to hear that a jet was dispatched to find me simply because a friend called the CG to say my "Blip" hadn't moved for 24 hours. Seems to be a great way to get famous quick though...

[Scott730]

Seems a lot went wrong on this crossing, but the SPOT seems to be taking all the blame.
I have used this device for my last 2 trips to the Bahamas, it has been reliable and allowed my family and friends to track our progress without a hiccup. We also carry a PLB for emergencies, and thankfully have never had to use it, but we use the SPOT everyday.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by Scott730

Seems a lot went wrong on this crossing, but the SPOT seems to be taking all the blame.
I have used this device for my last 2 trips to the Bahamas, it has been reliable and allowed my family and friends to track our progress without a hiccup. We also carry a PLB for emergencies, and thankfully have never had to use it, but we use the SPOT everyday.

Heh...

The only thing which went wrong was someone pushing the panic button. As seen by my earlier posts, I, too, was horrified to see that assets were deployed.

Aside from that assets were dispatched, apparently based on our SPOT signal, however, virtually every other reported "fact" wasn't (a fact).

We've become accustomed to notoriety :{)) - due mostly to my long-time presence on the internet. It's heartwarming to know that there are many unknown friends who are interested in not only our adventures but our safety...

Meanwhile, whenever, such as now, when we have good connectivity, I do check to make sure that the stupid SPOT activation moduses are actually working before we head out. Thus, I got my "OK" message a few minutes ago, and am waiting for confirmation of my location signal processing being active, or I'll light it up again (the blinking lights don't communicate reality to me, I've learned, and there's no other way to verify other than to go to the page (or look at my email, for the "OK" message) and see that it's NOW transmitting...

L8R, y'all, from Cooperstown, where my current wifi signal reports 20 signals, all but one open, and from Green Turtle Cay and Spanish Cay, both...

[Scott730]

A couple of things about the "spot", I to add myself to the 10 email addressees to insure I'm getting the emails. Also, if the 2 lights on the unit are not flashing insync, then you are not connected/out of range. turn unit off and reactivate until lights are flashing together. in addition you are either in tracking mode of spot mode, you can't do both together.
I agree that the unit is a Stupid unit, like all other equipment on the boat. We are the intelligent ones that need to make sure the equipment is working to our satisfaction.
This device gives my friends and family a peace of mind when we are away and out of range of normal communications.
Enjoy the Abacos, we certainly do and are looking forward to being there this December.
Smooth sailing

Scott