As posted on http://www.amazon.com/ SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger Reviews:

I Cannot Believe the SPOT Device Saved my Life the Day I Received it!

On April 5, 2009, at 11:00 AM, we left the Losandres Yacht Club in Maracaibo, Venezuela heading to Tucacas, Port Cabello, with intermediary stops in San Carlos and Punto Fijo. The Captain of our sailboat was Alejandro González Molina, who officially is a Second Class Captain. The passengers were Owner Carlos Serrano Pérez and Socartes Cisneros. All on-board were Venezuelans.

On the night of Sunday, April 5, 2009, we anchored in the San Bernardo/San Carlos Bay where we spent the night. On the morning of April 6, 2009, we continued our route via Punto Fijo at 10:30 AM and sailed the entire day of the 6th and the night and early morning of the 7th without a hitch. At approximately 3 AM, winds came up with speeds of 40 to 60 knots with waves between 4 and 8 meters in height. (Possibly as a result of recent tremors in the area or possibly Atlantic coastal winds.) The result of the situation was that one of the mast shrouds suffered physical damage at the base, which we repaired half of the night using tools and extra parts that we brought on board. We made it through the windstorm and by sunrise we evaluated the damages suffered during the windstorm and decided to return to the Port of Maracaibo at about 6:30 AM.

Now returning headed toward the entrance canal to the Lake of Maracaibo at approximately 1:17 PM on April 7, 2009, the rudder tiller broke leaving the sailboat Lissett unable to steer and complicating a safe entrance into the canal. In virtue of the situation, we activated the security device that we brought on board, SPOT, which emits an emergency HELP signal via satellites to my sons, who acted immediately to contact the relevant authorities (The Captain’s Office in Maracaibo, Coast Guard and Marine Firefighters of San Carlos) giving them our exact coordinates, with which the Coast Guard ship Alcatraz used to carry out our rescue at 1:30 AM on April 8, 2009. They towed us for 8 hours to the Port of Maracaibo and we arrived on solid ground at around 9 AM on April 8 with the 3 members aboard alive and well.

Thanks to God, my children, SPOT and the Venezuelan Coast Guard with their ship Alcatraz from the command from Maracaibo, Zulia State, they rescued us alive and healthy.

-Carlos Serrano, Venezuela

The red coordinates were when we activated the SPOT and the green coordinate signals the instant that we saw the rescue ship.

After SPOT made it possible for thousands of friends and family to track our Alaska expedition to the summit of Denali, in spring 2008, I wanted to demonstrate to the Hong Kong Regional Scout Association how SPOT could track scouts on camping and hiking trips. After using SPOT and sending an OK message during training Scout leaders in survival techniques at their Gilwell Scout Camp, the following evening we hooked up a laptop computer and I searched emails for that all important This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it message. It worked! SPOT sees Hong Kong - that is provided you get out from beneath towering office buildings and give it open sky. One week later I used SPOT to mark a position while climbing limestone in Tonsai, Thailand. Just like GPS, there is no reason to leave camp without SPOT.

SPOT in Asia:

1. http://maps.google.com/maps

2. http://maps.google.com/maps

The Nome Alaska Volunteer Fire Department and Search and Rescue Unit

Kevin Knowlton, of the Nome Alaska Volunteer Fire Department and Search and Rescue (SAR) Unit sent in a great story of how his SAR team helped rescue someone through receiving a HELP message. Using the buddy system is another great way that SPOT can be there for you in a survival situation. Through creative ways of using the HELP message, such as in this case, we are able to share this story today:

"I am a member of the Nome Alaska Volunteer Fire Department and Search and Rescue Unit. At approximately 5:30 pm on February 24, 2009, we received a tone out for a search and rescue. Upon reporting to the fire hall, we learned that a hunter out alone on snowmobile hunting musk ox had activated his SPOT using the HELP feature. The e-mail message had the hunter’s coordinates and we were able to see on the Google map the type of terrain that the signal was coming from."