In September 1983, Capt. Joe Frohnhoefer Jr. purchased a 24-foot Privateer Chesapeake, painted it bright yellow, and launched the first Sea Tow operation, which assisted stranded boaters on the waters of eastern Long Island.
Since then, those yellow Sea Tow boats, along with red TowBoatUS counterparts, have become virtual lifelines for boaters who need assistance but aren’t yet in distress. Combined, they’ve assisted millions of disabled boats over the years, freeing up US Coast Guard resources for emergency-response and interdiction duties.
It turns out that one 13-month period coinciding with that first Sea Tow boat, now four decades ago, also marked milestones for cellular telephones, EPIRBs, GPS, and even the Coast Guard’s rescue swimmer program, which are cornerstones today of boating safety.
“It all comes down to the distinctive yellow boat showing up to help boaters. That hasn’t changed,” says Capt. Joseph Frohnhoefer III, Sea Tow’s CEO since his father passed away in 2015. “But the technology and the data we derive helps us do that better.”
Here’s a look at how technology has changed for both boaters in trouble and their rescuers.
VHF and Cellular Communication
Early Sea Tow operators installed tall radio masts ashore to receive VHF calls from disabled boaters, while the Coast Guard relayed radio messages from even farther—30 miles or more offshore. Radio over Internet Protocol, beginning in 2005, allowed Sea Tow’s far-reaching VHF shore stations to connect remotely to captains’ cellphones, but radio still ruled.
It was also in 1983, coincidentally, when the first portable cellular phone, Motorola’s DynaTAC 8000x,
came to market. Over time, boaters began to call their local Sea Tow operator directly. “The turning point was around 2003, when cellular became predominant,” Frohnhoefer says. This was the same year that Sea Tow launched its continuously staffed nationwide call center, which now fields more than half of Sea Tow’s assistance calls. (TowBoatUS inaugurated its fleet of red boats in 1987, along with its first 24/7 call center.)
While cellular is more familiar to most boaters, Frohnhoefer stresses that calling on VHF Channel 16 is still the quickest way to reach the closest Sea Tow boat. It’s also preferred when calling the Coast Guard, even though, since 2001, the Federal Trade Commission’s Enhanced 911 program streamlined Coast Guard transfers from 911 dispatchers and required latitude and longitude for most 911 mobile-phone calls.
EPIRB and PLB Satellite Rescue
Up through summer 1982, EPIRBs were detected only by aircraft flying overhead, and this provided rough position estimations at best. In October 1982, the first satellite-received EPIRB signal sent rescuers directly to the capsized 60-foot sailboat Gonzo, 350 miles off Nantucket. By 1984, satellites covered the globe. In 1987, newer 406 mHz EPIRBs and smaller PLBs added beacon-owner information and refined positioning capabilities. Beginning in 1997, integrated GPS receivers broadcast precise, near-instant beacon location.
In 1982 and 1983, three tragedies claiming 374 lives spurred two enormous benefits for boating safety. Shortly after a commercial airliner was shot down for unknowingly entering Soviet airspace, President Ronald Reagan in September 1983 authorized civilian use of GPS, which was intended initially for military use. (The first civilian GPS receiver, Magellan’s NAV 1000, came to market in 1988, offering only intermittent satellite positions; GPS wasn’t fully functional until 1993.)
Another commercial airliner crash, this one into the frozen Potomac River near the US Capitol, and a 605-foot ship that sank just 30 miles offshore in the Chesapeake Bay, made it clear to the Feds that the Coast Guard needed rescuers trained to deploy into the water. Congress finally authorized funds for Coast Guard helicopter rescue swimmers, who have saved more than 100,000 souls since records were digitized in 2002.
Electronic Charts and Auto Routing
Navigation displays have been helping boaters stay off sandbars since the first chart plotter, Datamarine’s Chartlink, which first came out in 1985—two years after Capt. Joe’s first Sea Tow boat. Now plotters streamline requests for help.
“When we put in a [member’s] position, we see where they are on the chart screen,” Frohnhoefer says, and thanks to automatic-route-planning advancements over the past 10 years, plotters can quickly generate a towboat’s travel time. Sea Tow’s Digital Dispatch System, first launched in 2016, integrates information from a stranded boat’s first phone call with the member and boat details accessed at the dispatch center, and then relays this information directly to the responding captain, and even generates a reassuring text message with the towboat’s ETA back to the stranded boater.
Smartphones
Sea Tow’s smartphone app, launched in 2012, brings automation aboard stranded boats. One button initiates a phone call to the dispatch center. The app displays numerical latitude and longitude as well as a Google Maps pin marker on the user’s smartphone, and boaters can choose, if they wish, to share that position via text message with the responding Sea Tow vessel, or anyone else.
The TowBoatUS app, available since 2011, includes weather and tide information, and also ties into BoatUS membership and Geico insurance accounts.
Other apps are equally helpful. “I’m amazed at how often our captains use Google Earth to identify shoaling and find safer ways to get to boaters stranded off the main channel,” Frohnhoefer says. Navionics’ app becomes a great backup (or primary) chart plotter. MarineTraffic and AIS allow disabled boaters to identify nearby commercial ships. A cellular internet connection brings times for tides and sunset, weather, and even entertainment while awaiting a tow.
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Better Boats
Forty years of technological advancements also might eliminate the need for a tow. Once-common engine issues such as fuel-pump vapor lock or a flooded carburetor are all but unheard of now. Radian IoT, one of Sea Tow’s preferred vessel tracking and monitoring systems, highlights how vessel monitoring can send preemptive alerts if batteries, bilge pumps, or even engine-room temperatures seem amiss.
While technology might streamline response, Sea Tow’s core benefit remains exactly as it was in 1983. “[It’s comforting to know] that if something goes wrong, you can always call Sea Tow,” Frohnhoefer says—exactly as his father envisioned more than 40 years ago. “Be prepared to be out on the water longer than you planned. At the end of the day, you don’t want to be out of food, out of water, and then all of a sudden, find out that the boat doesn’t start.”
