I think this is a worthy cause so check it out! From 2cool the fishing forum

First Ever Clean Shores Event- please read
This is a repeat from a post I put up on TTMB over 12-hours ago, with less than 75 views and not a single comment. I should have mentioned something about pizza or the weather instead of the enviroment- fishing or like post get more than four times the hits over here.Almost a year ago I rallied for support for the same issue http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=180588 and realized then that much more organization was needed. Well here it is, thanks for checking it out!For years and especially post hurricane IKE I've been looking at the trash and refuse that has collected on the shorelines of our Texas shorelines. I feel like the Indian chief "Iron Eyes Cody" from that 70's era pollution commercial, with tears filling my eyes as I've run parallel to our shorelines. I am sick and tired of seeing it, all of it- five-gallon buckets, aluminum cans, plastic lawn chairs, laundry baskets, plastic bags, styrofoam cups, rope...etc. You get the picture and likely way too clear if you have been on the water in any of the bays here in Texas.I've decided to do something about it by founding Clean Shores, a grass roots organization backed by like minded environmentally conscious anglers of our Lone Star State. Our goal will be to rid the shorelines of refuse through voluntary bi-annual cleanup efforts, scheduled cleaning, seasonal shoreline conditioning and by providing public education for preventative measures.The organization is in it's infancy, a website URL has been reserved (www.cleanshores.org) and the first ever cleanup is planned this month in Port O'Connor on Saturday September 26th. A board of directors have been put into place, steps to incorporate into a 501(c)(3) organization have been made and some funds have already been donated by concerned sportsman.Our plan is to provide written material outlining our mission/cleanup effort and a plastic refuse bag to each boater launching from the chosen boat ramps. Our goal is to load flat bed trailers with the refuse collected by the boaters and dispose of the waste properly.All of the boat ramp owners/managers gave us a big thumbs up, several flat bed trailers have been made available and volunteers to man the boat ramps have been put into place. My boat and at least two others will be concentrating on the Mitchell's Cut and Saluria Bayou shorelines. If you are available on that day your efforts will be greatly appreciated.Additional monetary donations are needed to offset expenses of trash bags, refreshments for participants and the costs associated with disposal of the trash. Any unused funds received will be deposited into the Clean Shores bank account for use during our next round of cleanups being planned for March 27th. Hopefully with more participation other ports and coastal communities on the Texas coast will benefit from our efforts.Donations can be made directly through PayPal (use captlowtide@airmail.net for now) or by pledging an amount for every 100 pounds of trash removed and hauled to the landfill. I already have had interest in pledges from 25 cents up to $1.00 per hundred, any donation will be greatly appreciated.Feel free to contact me via email, PM or by cell phone at 361-564-7032 with any questions or comments. Looking forward to cleaning up and making a difference- Curtiss Date- Saturday September 26thTime- 6:00 am until 5:00 pmPlace- Froggie's Bait Dock, The Fishing Center and Clark's Marina
__________________Make a difference- Donate a day for the bay

USMSA Information you may want to read

United States Marine Safety Association
Your International Resource for Marine Safety ********************************************************************
Coast Guard Authorization Bill 2010
The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 has been introduced by RepresentativeOberstar (H.R. 3619) to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard forfiscal year 2010, and for other purposes.It once again calls for revocation of the approval of survival craft that donot keep the occupants out of the water. USMSA members may take pride in theyears of hard work by our members on this issue and the efforts of thoseserving on the Small Passenger Vessel Initiative committee for continuing topromote and further this initiative.
USMSA will continue to work on this important issue. We encourage members to get involved.The act also contains many of the same initiatives previously contained inHR 2652 (see June 4, 2009 eblast below)H.R. 3619
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USMSA News Flash! H.R. 2652 - A Bill Concerning Marine Safety Issues6/4/2009
United States Marine Safety Association
Your International Resource for Marine Safety ********************************************************************
New Marine Safety Bill ~ H.R. 2652A new bill has just been introduced in the US House of Representatives to amend title 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations concerning a variety of marine safety issues. Some of the proposals addressed in this bill were previously contained in last year's Coast Guard Authorization bill, which was not passed. Among the issues of interest to our industry: - Fishing vessel safety - Unsafe operation and termination of voyage - Equipment approval - Survival Craft - revokes approval of survival craft that do not ensure that no part of an individual is immersed in water - Merchant mariner licensing - Blended fuels in marine applicationsYou are encouraged to download and review the portions of this bill that are of interest to you and your business. We will need your insight and comments as we develop our positions on these issues. More information to follow after we have had the opportunity to review this further.HR2652

Free PLB for the 8 day survivor!

After surviving 8 days in the Gulf of Mexico floating on a capsized catamaran James Phillips has a lot to smile about. Saturday with the help of our friends at Revere Supply Company, Triad Marine gave him one more reason to smile. Pictured above Mike Goforth presented James with a FREE McMurdo Fastfind 210 PLB. We were so thrilled to meet and talk with James and we hope he enjoys many more years of fishing. Now armed with his new PLB he can fish with a peace of mind that should the unthinkable happen he has a great weapon of defense.

We enjoyed our visit with James, his wife and some of their friends, we talked safety and also about their amazing tale of survival. He is even asking his wife for a ditch bag for Christmas and she seems plenty happy to get it for him. Go catch the big one James and may the rest of you tales about the sea be happy ones!

SPOT messenger or PLB you decide!

What’s the difference between a SPOT and either a Personal Locator Beacon or an EPIRB?We like to say it’s an apples to oranges comparison. If your intention is to buy a life saving device, the most important part is to do your research and ask the right questions. We like the SPOT product, it’s a neat little tracking device, but it’s absolutely not a replacement for an EPIRB or Personal Locator Beacon.

What are the power and frequency differences?Power and Frequency are two key areas to consider when researching a life saving device. If you’re not an engineer, these two subjects can be a little intimidating. Think about it like this: Satellites are thousands of miles away from earth, so your beacon’s signal needs to have enough power to travel that far and be able to go through anything between you and the satellite (trees, weather, out of slot canyons, etc.).

Power

SPOT is powered by 400 milliWatts while ACR 406 MHz PLBs and EPIRBs use 5 Watts. Think about the Total® cereal commercial where they show you how many bowls of the other cereal you need to eat in order to get the nutrition from one bowl of Total. In our example, you would need 12.5 SPOT units to equal the POWER of one ACR PLB or EPIRB. When your signal has to travel 22,000 miles to reach a satellite, you want to make sure you have more than enough power to get it there!

Frequency

The basic principles of frequency are that the lower the frequency, the easier it can penetrate buildings, trees and meteorological activity that appear between the transmitting device (PLB, EPIRB or SPOT) and the receiving device (the satellites). FM radios and TV channels work on a lower frequency which is why they can penetrate buildings and the environment pretty easily. Now think about radar which uses a really high frequency. Radar works by hitting an object and bouncing off, that’s how radar knows where to place an airplane on the radar screen. So the higher the frequency, the less likely it can penetrate things in between, the lower the frequency, the easier it can penetrate. 406 MHz PLBs and EPIRBs use a dedicated frequency set up by the search and rescue community that is in the same range as UHF TV stations. SPOT uses the 1.6GHz frequency which is four times higher in the frequency spectrum. This means SPOT’s frequency is four times less likely to go through an object or weather than the lower 406 MHz frequency.

Summary

Considering power, combined with frequency, ACR’s 406 MHz beacon stands head and shoulders above satellite messenger systems like SPOT. ACR has 12.5 times more power and is four times more likely to penetrate objects in between the beacon and the satellite than SPOT.
Testing and ApprovalsSPOT is not a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). We’ve seen some websites calling it one, but make no mistake, it is not a PLB. Personal Locator Beacons, like EPIRBs, must be submitted to an independent test lab that verifies the frequency, operating life, testing in extreme temperatures, environmental testing, etc. From there, the product must go to Cospas-Sarsat, USCG and finally the FCC (or other comparable agencies in each country) for approval to certify that the EPIRB/PLB meets the standards for Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) and that it exceeds required operating and mechanical conditions that will appear in the marine environment. PLBs and EPIRBs are rigorously tested by governing agencies to confirm they will work properly in the environment. This is a big difference from SPOT which only has to self-test and self certify that it meets Part 15 FCC. If you are not familiar with Part 15, check out your garage door opener, it is approved with the same self certified rule.

Made in the USA vs. Made in China

ACR PLBs and EPIRBs are MADE IN THE USA, SPOT is made in China. While outsourcing a product to Asia can ultimately reduce the cost to manufacture a product, you also lose process control over the manufacturing, which is key to Quality. ACR strongly believes that products whose sole intention is to save lives must work the first time every time, PERIOD. The only way to meet this goal is to oversee the entire manufacturing process and test, retest, and test again during the process. If you watch our factory tour videos on our website, Facebook or YouTube, you will see the extreme steps we take to make sure we have a zero defect ratio. We actually had to email SPOT’s customer service to find out where they manufacture their units because they do not mark this information on the box, in the product support manual or on their website. “Axonn is the manufacturer and they out source labor in China” – Raquel Talarico, SPOT Inside Sales and Marketing (raquel.talarico@findmespot.com).
What does Search and Rescue (SAR) say about the differences?A 406 MHz signal coming from an EPIRB/PLB is recognized by SAR as a true emergency, and they act immediately. By law, search and rescue is required to find and turn off any 406 MHz beacon once activated. Search and Rescue has made it very clear that SPOT and other tracking gadgets are to be treated as a missing persons report: until they get more information regarding the distress message, they are going to wait and see, and not deploy their forces for the possibility that someone simply has a flat tire on the side of the road and needs help. Additionally, if the SPOT unit is unable to download and retransmit a GPS position (see frequency and power issues above), SAR has no idea where the transmission has come from and will not put their forces in danger looking for a needle in a hay stack.

Redundancies

Murphy’s Law has taught us all that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. We embrace that philosophy with every product we make so that you are given every opportunity available to get rescued. PLBs and EPIRBs have multiple ways to contact SAR in order to get you rescued. SPOT has one single transmission method. PLBs and EPIRBs can contact SAR via 406 MHz, which locates your beacon using Doppler Shift, it can contact SAR using GPS data and it also has a 121.5 MHz homing frequency so when SAR forces get a few miles away from you, they can home in directly on your beacon and find you faster. SPOT uses GPS only to send its location. If you cannot download GPS, SAR will have no idea where you are.
Satellite Monitoring406 MHz signals are monitored by a governing agency in each country. In the U.S. that’s the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and in Canada its The National Search and Rescue Secretariat. These agencies maintain the registration, and alert search and rescue of any activation. SPOT has hired a company called GEOS to monitor and alert search and rescue of an activation. The Cospas-Sarsat and NOAA have had over 26+ years of experience monitoring these frequencies and alerting Search and Rescue. GEOS is relatively new and not well known to the SAR community and does not have authorized use of the SAR system.

Coverage

EPIRBs and PLBs use the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system which contains 2 different satellite systems (LEOSAR – Low earth orbiting and GEOSAR – Geostationary). These two systems cover every inch of the planet. SPOT tracker is part of Globalstar and uses the Globalstar (Nasdaq: GSAT) satellite system which only covers a certain percentage of the earth, but has quite a few locations that are undetectable.

Experience

If you had to have knee replacement surgery, would you have your family doctor do the procedure or would you rather have someone who has nothing but knee replacement experience, someone who helped write the latest surgery techniques, someone who teaches other doctors how to do knee replacement surgery? The Cospas-Sarsat satellite system has been in place since 1982; it is a collaborative system of the worlds search and rescue community dedicated to saving lives. The system is credited with saving over 24,500 lives thus far. Of all of the registered 406 MHz beacons, ACR accounts for more than 60 percent. We have over 25+ years of experience building life saving beacons, 53 years of experience building life saving signaling products. When you buy an ACR product, every single product comes with that experience, knowledge and lessons learned of how to effectively build the world’s most quality life saving products available. The Globalstar satellite system began commercial service in 1999 and has had a shaky operating life thus far. The satellite system was designed for voice communications and SPOT (launch in December of 2007) is their first product aimed at providing a form of safety.

Overall

One other thing to be aware of is that SPOT requires an annual subscription fee of $99 or $149.99 if you want tracking. The device cannot be used until the subscription fee is paid. The 5 year ownership of a SPOT unit is much more expensive than a PLB or EPIRB: $149 unit cost, $499 in subscription fees, $250 for tracking fees, plus GEOs insurance (total 5 year cost can range between a minimum of $648 to as high as $1,649). If the Globalstar company were to close, your SPOT tracker would not work anymore. EPIRBs/PLBs do not require a subscription fee since they use the Cospas-Sarsat satellites (a humanitarian SAR system fully funded by member states of the U.N.). If you are looking for a tracking device that does not have to work every time, get a SPOT. If you want a life saving device, designed and manufactured to work when your life depends on it, get an ACR EPIRB or PLB.

This was taken from the folks at ACR and I thank them for taking the time to write this!

The Tale of Two Life Rafts

The tale of two rafts
Once upon a time in a factory far far away two life rafts were packed …twins in fact. Packed with care and shipped out to their new owners. One lucky raft got an owner who cared for him and serviced him according to the manufactures book. The other poor raft was tossed on the boat in a storage locker and never serviced. Twenty years and many safe trips later the good owner took his faithful well cared for raft to be serviced and as thing turned out a life raft ages when you inflate it with the CO2 gas. This would be his fourth time to get gas inflation, and as it turns out life raft years are not people years they are more like dog years. The poor life raft could not pass his inspection and so the good owner let him go and ordered a new one. The twin raft lived a much different life and had never been serviced. His owner took him off of the boat wiped off the years of dirt and grime and snapped a great picture. He then placed the picture on the internet with a for sale sign. Some poor shopper thought it was a great deal to pick up this fine piece of life saving equipment for only one fourth the costs of a new one. So after completing the sale the new owner noticed the inspection on the raft was not current and diligently to it to be serviced. After 20 long years of hanging out in the sun, rain, cold and wet the poor old raft was in terrible shape and was ashamed to even be opened in front of anyone for he knew he could save the life of no one. His valves did not work, his CO2 bottle only two thirds full his seems dried and aged. He knew he could not hold the air or even survive the CO2 inflation for this is hard on an old life raft. As the service tech fired the bottle and the raft inflated only half way and the seems were barely holding. All his equipment was old and unable to be used as it had been wet for many years causing it to mold and mildew. The smell oh he knew he would smell awful and was glad he could not cry tears for he would have many. Packed all those years ago with such love and care given a job like no other; possibly saving someone’s life oh how great he was. But the years of neglect were showing now and the new owner was in disbelief, how someone could sell him something so bad. As the new owner sign the condemnation he thought for a moment and though he was out some money at least he and his family would not be in the ocean when they discovered the poor old life raft was past his prime and unable to do the job of saving them.
THE END

A Free PLB for James Phillips (Found Boater)

I posted this to the fishing forum and hope James see this and comes down to get his PLB from me as I would love to here the amazing tale in person.

My first words to these guys are welcome home. We have been following the threads on the fishing forum from work and home just waiting to see the words FOUND ALIVE… and when we did we were all thrilled. We realize you may not be ready to get back on a boat any time soon but when you are we want to make sure it is a trip you make with peace of mind. That being said we would like to offer James Phillips Captain of the boat a free PLB. This is made possible by Revere Survival Products. We get McMurdo EPIRBs, and PLBs from them as well as selling and servicing their life rafts. We appreciate them for this, helping the community by doing outreach programs and life raft demonstrations are very important parts of our business. We are so glad you all had the will to survive and we are still all amazed and thankful you are home safe. To any of the other boaters out there I want to take a moment to remind you we never want to read this kind of thread again…. We love a good fish story that’s what we want to read so if you need a life raft I will be discounting the Revere Life Rafts until September 20th, 2009 as well as the McMurdo full sized EPIRBs. I have the Fastfind 210 PLBs in stock and on sale. They are only $279.00 equipped with 406 MHz signal as well as GPS. We want you to know we are not just trying to sell you things but we are also here to answer questions and discuss any concerns you have. If you want to see a life raft demo please let us know we do them on a pretty regular basis and they are FREE! We can help you get all the safety gear you need to enjoy your time on the water. I also have to say to the boating community you guys are an awesome bunch …the out pouring of support for these guys was something unbelievable and we should all be so lucky to have that kind of support from strangers.

To all 3 survivors again we are glad you are home.

Please contact me at arust@triadmarine.com we would love to chat with any of you about the best solutions for you and your vessel.