First Amver rescue of 2010 was sailor near Wake Island

The following is the text of a press release issued by the Amver program:
 
(NEW YORK) — Amver’s first rescue of the year came when a sailor was plucked from
the ocean January 14th after his sailboat was damaged 200 miles east north east of Wake Island.
The sailor, Mr. George Shaver, departed Keehi Lagoon in Honolulu on November 18th
towards Guam in his 29 foot Lancer. He lost his rudder about January 12th in a storm and activated his emergency beacon.
Search and rescue personnel at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu received the distress alert and immediately launched a Coast Guard search aircraft whilerequesting commercial ships in the area to divert as well. Several merchant ships, including the Amver participating cargo ship Emerald Indah, responded to the request for help.
The Coast Guard aircraft was able to drop survival equipment and a radio to Shaver while one of the commercial ships searched for him. Unfortunately the first ship on the scene was unable to locate the sailboat despite searching several hours. The Coast Guard
aircraft was able to relocate Shaver and directed the Emerald Indah to his exact location.
The Captain of the Emerald Indah maneuvered his 77,000 dead weight bulker into
position and ordered his crew to prepare for rescue operations. Mr. Shaver was rescued without incident, suffered no injuries, and is aboard the Emerald Indah as it sails to its next port call in Hawaii.
“I didn’t think I would make it in the current sea conditions,†Mr. Shaver said to the
Captain of the Emerald Indah. “I was using the parachute from the survival equipment dropped by the aircraft to try steering towards Midway Island until I was rescued.â€
Amver, sponsored by the United States Coast Guard, is a unique, computer-based, and voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea. The Singapore flagged Emerald Indah enrolled in the Amver system in 1999 and has earned 7 participation awards. With Amver, rescue coordinators can identify participating ships in the area of distress and divert the best-suited ship or ships to respond. Prior to sailing, participating ships send a sail plan to the Amver computer center. Vessels then report every 48 hours until arriving at their port of call. This data is able to project the position of each ship at any point during its voyage.
In an emergency, any rescue coordination center can request this data to determine the relative position of Amver ships near the distress location. On any given day there are over 3,700 ships available to carry out search and rescue services. Visit
http://www.amver.com to learn more about this unique worldwide search and rescue
system.
By Professional Mariner Staff