Fifty miles off the Baja Peninsula, a crew of five people aboard a 40-foot sailboat happened upon a pod of humpback whales and were jolted by an impact with one of the giant mammals. The steering rudder became completely dislodged and tremendous amounts of water began pouring into the disabled vessel.
The crew was sure they were well prepared for emergencies because they had pre-packed an ACR Electronics' RapidDitch™ Bag with safety and survival gear and the boat had an ACR SATELLITE2 406™ EPIRB mounted in a bracket inside the cabin.
Traditional means of communicating their plight proved unsuccessful. They had placed Mayday calls on the VHF radio in Spanish and English but there were no answers. They were out of cell phone range.
Eventually they realized they couldn't stem the flow of seawater. Captain Eugenie Russell grabbed the EPIRB and brought it on deck and assigned a crew member the important task of protecting the EPIRB, eventually transferring it to the life raft. Some minutes later when it was clear that abandonment was imminent, Captain Russell activated the satellite-detectable emergency distress signal.
With the deck going underwater, the crew went into the water and held onto the raft. They scurried into the covered life raft, bailed out cold seawater for over an hour, took stock of their emergency stores, read the raft survival instructions and then floated in windy, high seas awaiting rescue.
Around 2 p.m., they heard a USCG Jayhawk helicopter in the distance. The helicopter crew hoisted all five sailors safely aboard for transport to San Diego. USCG Petty Officer 3rd Class Henry Dunphy described the rescue as "pretty incredible" because of how isolated the racers were and how flawlessly the technology worked. "The first sign of trouble came to us from the EPIRB signal. As soon as we got the signal, we launched right away. The EPIRB brought us right to them. Then survivors set off flares and we went straight to the raft. Everyone who owns a boat should have an EPIRB," Dunphy said.
Demak reiterated the importance of the EPIRB in his rescue. "Without question, having the EPIRB and knowing how to use it saved our lives. Everybody needs to understand how to register the EPIRB with accurate and up-to-date information. Our actions and our level headedness helped, as well as being prepared with the right equipment," he said.
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