Good news and celebration for GTop from ACR –one of GTop’s valuable partners that four transatlantic rowers on the OAR Northwest Rowboat bound for Miami completed 2,700 miles of the intended 3,500 nautical mile journey from Dakar, Senegal which began on January 23 - were capsized and the journey was cut short on April 7^th. The four rowers were rescued and two days later so was their boat.

After the rescue event ACR hosted one of the four rowers -May 1^st, Jordan Hanssen, on a mini press tour. Part of the press tour included a visit to ACR. Jordan was very excited to meet the team at ACR and see where their GPS beacons were made. “The goal of this past mission was to reconnect the public with the outdoors, water sports and conservation; with safety being a top priority”, the rowers quoted in the press. All of the four were equipped with ACR’s ResQlink the personal locator beacon (PLB) which uses GTop’s FGPMMOPA6B GPS module.

“ResQlink PLB has already saved many lives ever since it started shipping on July of 2011, but what makes this particular case so interesting is that these people were saved on the high seas -pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It was reported to me that the GPS coordinates (very accurate to say the least) became available on the very first 406MHz burst radiated by their beacons,” said one of ACR Senior Engineer.

Related coverage:

Years of preparation was well worth the work!

TODAY Show "Capsized rowers grateful for 'flawless' rescue in Atlantic"

Fox News "4 men attempting trans-Atlantic rowing trip rescued"

Sun-Sentinel "Four rescued after rogue wave capsized boat"

Huffington Post "Capsizing ends trans-Atlantic rowing attempt"

Source: ACR Electronics