Legislation motivated by the awful loss at sea of two Tequesta teens last summer season advanced Wednesday in Florida House and Senate committees. The procedures by Rep. MaryLynn Magar, R-Tequesta, and Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, are focused on encouraging boaters to buy an emergency position sign radio beacon (EPIRB) or individual locator beacon for their [...]
A boater activated his EPIRB beacon after having problems at sea, but because the unit was an obsolete 121.5 MHz beacon it is no longer detected by the satellite systems. While the distress signal went undetected he was discovered when a vessel happened to pass by. 121.5 MHz distress beacons were phased out in 2009, to be [...]
On June 12th, 2013 Paul (49), Kenny (47) and Shane (44) Bolger who were all brothers and natives of Passage East of died. It has been found that the signalling device which should have sent a beacon to the emergency services when their vessel ran into trouble failed to go off. Evidence found during the investigation by [...]
Florida lawmakers Sen. Joe Negron (R-Stuart) and Rep. MaryLynn Magar (R-Tequesta) are introducing bills that would reduce annual boat registration fees for vessels with EPIRBs or PLBs installed. They were joined by Blu Stephanos, the father of one of the teens lost last summer has made boater safety a personal mission. The boys left Jupiter [...]
A West Australian coroner has asked the state government to recommend skippers train their crew on activation of EPIRB beacons after an examination into the drowning of a 49-year-old recreational angler. Paul Gregory Clifton had been fishing with his sibling and two companions in June 2013 when his watercraft began to take on water and rapidly sank in rough oceans. The [...]
