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!

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.

FOUND ALIVE!!!!!!

We are so happy to announce the missing boaters were found alive! We are so happy for them and their families as they have been reunited.

Missing Boaters Please keep your eyes open if you are out this weekend

Anything helps and all eyes are needed if they are out there someone can find them. Please pass this on.

From Twitter Coast Guard News Site

Coast Guard continues search for three overdue boaters in Gulf of Mexico | Coast Guard News http://ow.ly/lxMJ

Thank You for Your Business

Adrienne Rust

Triad Marine & Industrial Supply

1155 FM 518

Kemah,TX 77565

281-334-0815

Fax- 281-334-0041

arust@triadmarine.com

Missing boaters still not found!

I found something that has hit us in the safety business close to home. As much as we use safety equipment to make money we get a good feeling when someone walks out of our doors with and EPIRB, PLB or Life Raft. We are a small business and we try to be involved in our community and spread the good word about safety and the need for the proper equipment. Someone finally posted what we have been thinking for a while.

EPIRBs
If this doesn't make the case for requiring, by law, an EPIRB beyond the state water boundary, I don't know what would. I'll say another prayer for these men and their families.

This is from the fishing forum and I can't help but think about the way many of these situations could have ended differently.

A PLB is between $300.00 and $600.00 with a GPS on board the unit ....skip a weekend of fishing and use the $300.00 you would have spent for food, drinks, and fuel to buy a PLB! It could very well save your life!

From the Fishing forum in relation to the missing boaters

Taken from TBH, and still praying for their safe return.Will,Here's a link that shows all of the searches that we've done through today...
http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=644268

My office, and my guys, are in charge of coordinating all of the search efforts for James, Curt, and Tressel. So far we've conducted approx 30 searches, covering about 30,000 square miles, and have not found any signs of the boat, people, or debris. We continue to search though. Yes, we got the report about the yellow rope tied off to a rig and something underwater, but neither James' wife, or friends can ever remember seeing a yellow rope on his boat, so we don't believe that is related. Also, CBP (Customs) did have an aircraft in the air today doing a normal patrol, and we asked them to keep an eye out for James' boat, but they are not part of our organized search efforts. They have their own mission to complete, but are trying to assist us by offering more eyes in the sky. They also assisted by being comms relay between us and our aircraft further offshore.Also, just to clarify, there is no "3 day search limit" set in stone for any case. Each case is different and we evaluate each case based on a variety of factors. In this case, the biggest factor is the large search area, and possibility that they could be anywhere out there. I'll PM you my number if you want to give me a call tomorrow.

In relation to the missing boaters

There is a fishing forum a lot of guys from the area use and I will say this is a hot topic because it hits all of these guys close to home.
http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/index.php

Click on the home page and under hot topics you can read the thread. Lots of guys discussing and lots of prayers being sent out. We even got a shout out from one guy (thanks). We are true believers that EPIRBs , PLBs, life vests and life rafts along with proper abandon ship equipment are your best assets on the water. I have copied a couple of the comments I found very interesting.


How many of you guys go offshore without a raft?After life jackets my raft is the single most important piece of equipment on my boat period. I was really proud of my fishing partner this past weekend. We fished the tuna mania out of his 33 Contender. His raft failed inspection at Triad and he would not leave without a new raft. I have a well equipped ditch bag with a Pelican case with sat phone, epirb, handheld gps, handheld vhf, WATER, food, flares, parachute flares, mirror, whistles, strobes, batteries, space blankets, rain jacket, hand line fishing kit, and did I say WATER.You can't be too careful out there, be prepared for the worst.Just imagine, your running 100 plus miles offshore. Something happens, a storm, a thru hull breaks, whatever. You have to ditch. Would you rather be on top of that boat if it even floats or would you rather be in an enclosed offshore raft with your ditch bag and epirb? Suppose the current is running offshore, you could be in the water for days. I would rather be somewhat dry than floating with a jacket. You spend thousands of dollars on reals and tackle and 200 dollar rods. If your going to put friends and family members lives in your hands spend some of that money on a raft. Hopefully you'll never ever need it but I can guarantee the one time you need it you'll be glad you have it. Do you guys realize that you will die of hypothermia in 87 degree water, eventually.I hope these guys are OK, it teaches us that you can't take anything for granted when dealing with mother nature. Fishing is the most dangerous job on earth for a reason.
__________________Capt. Jeff Gerrans
http://www.chachingoffshorefishing.com/




Sent to me from CG Sir, I am a search and rescue controller that has been working on this case and I see that a lot of fisherman go offshore to this area. I can not figure out how to post on here, so can you post this for me?The USCG has been searching continuously since notification on Saturday. The 23' Sea Chaser Catamaran white with blue bimini top, 3 pob 2 white males and 1 black male. The vessel was last seen at East Bay Rig 110 at 1730 on Friday night. They were supposed to anchor or drift overnight at Hilltop or Hilldrop (a couple of underwater rock areas) then return on Saturday at 2pm. After the last sighting by the rig we do not know in which direction they were headed. So far we have done 5 Helo searches, 6 falcon jet searches, 4 C-130 searches, a shoreline search from Matagorda up to Freeport and we have a CGC that has been searching as well. We have covered 18,573 SQNM. We have covered the waters from Galveston South Jetty down to Port O'Connor and out 123NM with no sightings of the vessel, debris, or persons. We are asking that everyone who is going out to keep a sharp look out and notify the CG on VHF CH 16. We appreciate everyones help.
__________________http://www.sageleafcustomhomes.com/

I applaud the USCG in their efforts and I still hope this turns out to be a rescue and not a recovery. Thanks again to Captain Jeff for the shout out as well as the use of safety gear!

It can happen to anyone at any time (Missing Boaters off Matagorda)

Coast Guard searches for three overdue boaters off Matagorda
Aug 23rd, 2009
by cgnews.
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HOUSTON — The Coast Guard is currently searching for three overdue boaters approximately 70 nautical miles off the Matagorda coast, Sunday.
Watchstanders at Sector Houston-Galveston received a call at approximately 9 p.m. from the Matagorda Police Department Saturday, reporting three men overdue from a fishing trip. The men were scheduled to return home at 2 p.m. but failed to do so. The wife of the owner of the boat reported that the men launched the 23-foot center console catamaran from Riverbend in the vicinity of Matagorda. They were headed for a fishing destination approximately 70 to 80 nautical miles off the Matagorda coast.
At approximately 1:30 p.m. Saturday, crewmembers from an offshore oil rig reported seeing the 23-foot catamaran with the three men on board.
The owner of the boat, James Phillips, age 30, from Blessing, was reported to be wearing green shorts and a t-shirt. Fellow fisherman Curtis Hall, age 28, from Palacios, was reported to be wearing cut-off fishing shorts.
The Coast Guard is asking anyone with information regarding the location of three men to contact watchstanders at Sector Houston-Galveston at (713) 678-9053.
The following Coast Guard assests have joined in the search and rescue effort:
Coast Guard Cutter Manowar, homeported in Galveston
Coast Guard Air Station Houston MH-65C rescue helicopter and crew
Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi HU-25 Falcon jet and crew

It is with a heavy I heart we make posts like these. We hope for the safe return of these men to their families.
As we like to say prepare for the worst so you can enjoy the best!