Last week, a 48-year-old yachtsman got into trouble 100 nautical miles West of Kaitaia when his yacht began taking on water at an alarming rate. Luckily the sailor had both an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon and a satellite tracker on board and was able to alert the Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand.
He set off his Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon and then evacuated his yacht for its life raft and began contacting his wife via a 2-way messaging satellite tracking device that is believed to have been a DeLorme inReach satellite tracker. This line of communication ensured that the emergency responders were able to precisely locate the life raft whilst his wife kept in constant contact with him through the 2-way messaging function, ensuring he was in a safe and stable condition at all times.
The yacht sank quickly but the sailor was rescued by helicopter around three hours later.
'He did all the right things, had all the right equipment, and did everything he could to help save himself - when his solo trip circumnavigating New Zealand turned to potential disaster.' Maritime NZ.