Good point, Gary. I hate to hear stories of people just being stupid and requiring a tax-payer's helicopter trip. Once, we found ourselves lost in a large powerboat that had a 3 foot draft. We were in the middle of a group of oyster bars and just needed to know if we had passed the channel or not (it was dark and our GPS got zeroed out... don't ask me how). When we contacted the CG, they were a little taken aback by us telling them that we were lost and then passing them our exact coordinates. We all had a good laugh over the radio, then we told them that we knew exactly where we were, we just didn't know where the channel was. Hindsight... a chart would have been nice. The Coastie on the other side told us that we were in the middle of a bunch of shoals and that we should stay put until high tide the next morning. For liability reasons, he couldn't give us any information on the channel because he was afraid we would tear the boat up trying to get back to it. He said he would send a boat to come get us, but we would have to leave the boat in place and find a way out to retrieve it the next morning. This was not an option for several obvious reasons. After some negotiations and pleading/begging, he told us that we had passed the channel and it was now to our south. We thanked him and proceded to play "bump and grind" back to the channel. We made it back to the ramp with just a few scrapes in the gelcoat. On our way home, we were gassing up at the only gas station in town and a couple of Coasties pulled up towing a zodiac. They asked if we were the same "Sea Sprite" that had called in for assistance. We were. Again, laughs all around. The CG can be extremely helpful in many occasions, but Gary is right, they are focussed on their mission and towing is usually not part of their mission. I stay real close to my launch point while I am solo because I know I can't soloright. The solorighting I have done has been without sails up on dry land. I am definately going to get a system and be well versed at it by the time the water cools off. It never gets too cold here .

-Rob V.
Panama City
Nacra 5.2