Coast Guard crews coordinated a rescue Monday for a sailing vessel approximately 1,250 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass.
Watchstanders from the 1st District Command Center received a distress signal from a personal locator beacon at approximately 8:30 a.m. from the 40-foot sailing vessel Wacawa.
The Canadian mariners were sailing from Spain to Canada when the vessel ran into foul weather and was diverted off course toward New York. On their new course, they activated their PLB because one of the mariners was suffering from chest pains.
Because of the distance offshore, the Coast Guard contacted vessels in the area to assist. The 506-foot motor vessel Renate Schulte, an Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System member, responded to the distress call.
“The Coast Guard relies heavily on our Amver vessels to respond during these long ranged cases,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Joquin Alayola, a 1st District Command Center search and rescue controller. “This extends our search and rescue capabilities outside the normal operating area.”
Amver is a computer-based voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea.
