ACR Electronics, Inc. (www.acrelectronics.com), a Cobham plc Company, designs and manufactures a complete line of safety and survival products including EPIRBs, P-ELTs/P-EPIRBS/PLBs, Bridge-based Information Systems, SARTS and safety accessories. The quality systems of this facility have been registered by UL to the ISO 9001:2000 Series Standards. Recognized as the world leader in safety and survival technologies, ACR has provided safety equipment to the aviation and marine industries as well as to the military since 1956.

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FORT LAUDERDALE--What gain on your investments did you get in 2005? For the price of an AquaFix™ P-EPIRB, Michael Smith gained his life. Like many people, Smith didn¹t want the extra expense of buying an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) for his solo sailing trip from Rhode Island to the Virgin Islands. Fortunately, his wife insisted on it.

Just before his departure on November 6, 2005, Smith, 50, relented and purchased ACR Electronics' latest model, the AquaFix™ I/O P-EPIRB, with GPS interface for broadcasting critical latitude and longitude coordinates to search and rescue crews.

After what Smith went through, he said he would have "gladly paid a hundred times more" for the P-EPIRB. He survived an unexpected full-force gale that dismasted and rolled his 34-foot sailing vessel three times. "I don't give a damn about the price. You'll mortgage your soul when you're in serious trouble and you're alone on the radio with no one to raise. It works!" Smith exclaimed. "I'm so glad to have this thing. The one time I had it, it saved me. I didn't become a statistic."

The first leg of his trip from Wicksford, R.I. to Bermuda was calm sailing for five days. At 9:30 a.m. on November 10, everything was going so smoothly that Smith put the boat on autopilot and went below to make breakfast. Without warning, the vessel was slammed sideways so violently that Smith thought he had hit something. Before he could climb out of the hatch, it rolled three times in less than five minutes.

With conditions deteriorating, mast broken, no power, no one in sight and 260 miles northwest of Bermuda, Smith activated his AquaFix™, interfaced it with an on-board GPS and anxiously awaited help. Three hours later he heard the roar of a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) C-130 airplane. "There's no better sense of relief than hearing that C-130 arrive overhead," he said.

USCG Lt. Jody Popp was the co-pilot of the rescue crew from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. "It was pretty nasty out there. With whitecaps it was hard to see him without the (AquaFix™) 406 EPIRB to get us to his location," she said. "With the GPS we were able to fly directly to him. Once we dropped down to 500 feet below the squall line, it cleared up enough that we could see him."  They then were able to contact Smith via radio. Lt. Popp recommends having the proper equipment and registering it, like Smith did. "That way if a situation comes up, it helps us to find you," she said.

The Coast Guard directed two shipping vessels to his position and kept his family apprised of his situation. He abandoned ship and was picked up by the 500-foot bulk carrier, Clipper Eagle. He remained onboard for five days until it arrived at its next port of call, Port Alfred, Canada.

Smith never dreamed he would end up in snowy Canada rather than on a Virgin Island, but he's very happy that it ended the way it did. "None of this would have been possible without this P-EPIRB. It literally saved my life. When I travel again, I definitely will have my AquaFix™. No ifs, ands or buts, this thing worked flawlessly," he said.

"Though the particular model P-EPIRB had an internal engine to acquire GPS, Michael used the beacon's interface option to receive position data from his onboard GPS to assure acquisition," said Chris Wahler, ACR Director of Marketing.

A PLB/P-EPIRB/P-ELT is a satellite-signaling device of last resort, for use when all other means of self-rescue have been exhausted and where the situation is deemed to be grave and imminent and the loss of life, limb, eyesight or valuable property will occur without assistance. All beacons must be registered following purchase, simply go online to www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov.