E Is For EPIRB | Nancy Drew Investigates {A To Z Challenge}

During April, we're participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Every day (except Sundays), we'll be doing an alphabet themed post starting with "A is for Anchor" and ending with "Z is for Zodiac." Each post is an installment of "Nancy Drew Investigates the Case of the Missing Anchor" - so you may want to read the posts from the beginning, in order to follow along with the story (click here for the first post and here for an index of all the posts). At the end of each post, you'll also find some random thoughts on the day's particular topic. So, if Nancy isn't your thing, feel free to skip the story and go straight to the end.   

****

When we last left you, Marvin and Shelley had just taken the girls through a safety briefing aboard The Scarlet Slipper. Bess had gone down below to get some more cookies when the others heard her scream.

****

Shelley poked her head down the companionway way and asked, “Bess, are you okay? What happened?” Bess looked up and stammered, "Um…it just…it just…it just slipped out of my hand and into the sink and then this flashing light went off!” Bess started to sob. “I’m so sorry! I’m already doing things wrong and we haven’t even left the dock.”

Shelley climbed down below, took one look at the sink full of soapy dishwater which Bess was pointing at and shouted out, “Marvin, quick get your cell phone! Our EPIRB got wet and was accidentally set off. We need to call the Coast Guard and let them know that it’s a false alert.”

While Marvin was calling the Coast Guard and Shelley was drying the EPIRB off, Nancy and George came down below to comfort Bess. Nancy passed Bess the plate of chocolate chip cookies. “Why don’t you sit down Bess, have a cookie and tell us what happened.” Bess set on the settee and quickly ate several cookies, while wiping the tears from her face.

George grabbed the plate from Bess and said, “That’s probably enough cookies. No wonder you’re always on a diet. Now, tell us what happened. How did you set the EPIRB off?”

“What’s an EPIRB?” Bess asked, while eyeing the plate of cookies. George sighed, while moving the plate away from Bess. “The thing you dropped in the water, silly. It’s an emergency position-indicating radio beacon. It transmits a signal if you’re in distress and need to be rescued. Shelley and Marvin told us all about it during the safety briefing. Weren’t you paying attention?”

“They talked about so many thing that I just couldn’t keep track of everything. And then, those two guys walked by and said hi. I guess I must have gotten a little distracted,” said Bess as her eyes started to well up with tears again.

Nancy sat down next to Bess and put her arm around her shoulder. “It’s okay Bess, accidents happened. But, how did you end up dropping the EPIRB in the sink?”

Bess wiped her eyes and said, “Well, as I was coming down the companionway, I saw it lying on the chart table. I thought I would bring it up to ask Marvin and Shelley what it was. I had it in my hand when I went into the galley to get the cookies. Then I stumbled and the EPIRB fell out of my hand and into the sink. Was it the water in the sink that set it off?”

“Yes, being immersed in water is what caused it to go off,” said Nancy. “It’s what would happen if the boat started to sink. The EPIRB would go off and let the Coast Guard know that we were in trouble.”

“Oh my goodness Nancy! What are the chances that this boat will sink while we’re racing in the Grande Isle Regatta this weekend?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. Here, why don’t you have another cookie.”

Marvin poked his head down the companionway and said, “It’s all okay. I’ve alerted the authorities that it was a false alarm.” Bess breathed a sign of relief. “Oh, that’s good. I’m so sorry about this Marvin.”
“It’s okay dear. It was just an accident,” said Marvin. “Why don’t you girls come back on up into the cockpit and we’ll finish covering off a few things.”

As they started to make their way up the ladder, they heard a hissing noise and saw a bright light through the port lights. “What the heck is that?!” Marvin exclaimed as he dashed out of the cockpit and onto the deck.

Tune in on Thursday for the next installment of Nancy Drew Investigates – F is for Flares.

****

The box our EPIRB came in has details of the Survivor Club, which you can join if you use your EPIRB in a life-saving emergency. Doesn't really sound like a club I want to be part of. There's also a reassuring picture of a helicopter rescuing folks off of a sinking ship. I hope I never have to experience anything like this.

Poor Bess. If I set off our EPIRB accidentally, there wouldn’t be enough cookies in the world to make me feel better. A couple of things went wrong here. First of all, Bess picked up a piece of equipment she knew nothing about. That’s a no-no. Don’t touch stuff on boats if you don’t know what they are or how they work. Also, don’t flush a ton of toilet paper down a marine toilet. Let’s hope Bess doesn’t make that mistake. {Hmm...maybe T should be for toilet?}

Second, Bess shouldn't have been carrying it around while daydreaming about chocolate chip cookies and the two guys who said hi to her earlier. Lastly, the EPIRB shouldn’t have been left out on the chart table. It should have been tucked into a compartment in the ditch bag or secured in a bracket where it is readily accessible. Bess probably shouldn’t have eaten too many cookies either.

An EPIRB is an important piece of safety equipment. When Scott and I made up our list of things we needed to get for our new boat, an EPIRB was one of the top priorities. We purchased an ACR Global Fix Pro from Defender last year. It cost a pretty penny (over $400 on sale), but they threw in a free ditch bag to ease the pain a bit. We’re really hoping this is one of those things we “wasted” our money on and never have to use.

If we do have to use it, the EPIRB sends out an emergency message with your unique identifying number to magical satellites in the sky. The satellites then send an emergency message, along with your details to a Rescue Coordination Center, who then coordinates with the nearest Search & Rescue operation. If all goes well, Search & Rescue hones in on your homing signal and saves the day. (If you want to know more, check this out on the ACR site. If you want to know more about EPIRBs, you can find more information on the Coast Guard site.)

What about you - have you ever done something accidentally that went horribly wrong, like poor Bess with the EPIRB?
 
Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - we'd love for you to pop by and say hi!