{"id":94419,"date":"2025-12-24T02:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T02:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/94419\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T02:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T02:11:08","slug":"southwest-florida-boaters-utilize-technology-for-safety-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/94419\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Florida boaters utilize technology for safety | News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the search for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winknews.com\/news\/lee\/day-3-search-efforts-strengthen-for-missing-2-boaters-off-swfl-coast\/article_e11bbc5e-22bb-4449-959d-22be8f0668a7.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">two men missing off the coast of Southwest Florida<\/a> remains suspended, boating experts are urging people heading offshore to focus on preparation and safety, especially when traveling miles from shore.<\/p>\n<p>Charter captain Bill D\u2019Antuono, owner of Offshore Naples Charters, says one of the biggest dangers on the water is underestimating conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can misread the weather forecast,\u201d D\u2019Antuono said. \u201cThere\u2019s stuff floating out there that you could hit. A lot of preparation and planning goes into spending a day on the water, especially long-range trips.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>D\u2019Antuono says mechanical problems can quickly turn a routine outing into an emergency, particularly far offshore where help may be hours away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt could happen in an instant,\u201d he said. \u201cYou hit a wave wrong, or you hit something in the water, and now you\u2019ve got a big problem and you\u2019ve got to be prepared for those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He recommends carrying emergency locator technology both on the vessel and on your body. A boat-mounted EPIRB or Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon can automatically send a distress signal and location to satellites if a vessel capsizes or sinks.<\/p>\n<p>Personal locator beacons, which are small enough to clip to a life jacket or pocket, can also alert rescuers if someone falls overboard and becomes separated from the boat, even when there is no cell phone service.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey make smaller life jackets that are sleek that you could wear all day and clip that to you,\u201d D\u2019Antuono said. \u201cIt\u2019s better to be safe than sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also recommends filing a float plan before heading offshore, letting someone on land know where you are going and when you expect to return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the search for two men missing off the coast of Southwest Florida remains suspended, boating experts are&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[50352,50357,50354,28,30,29,50353,50356,50355,723,1521],"class_list":["post-94419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-cajun-navy","tag-cellular-telephone","tag-emergency-locator-technology","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-hurricane-katrina-disaster-relief","tag-indicating-radio-beacon","tag-locator-technology","tag-rescue","tag-southwest-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}