Sea Tow reports increased boater call volume over July 4th weekend

SOUTHOLD, N.Y. –  Sea Tow Services International, Inc., America’s leading commercial on-water assistance provider, reported a 47-percent increase in the volume of calls for assistance received by its national 24-Hour Dispatch Center over the four-day July 4th weekend, July 2-5, 2015, compared with the same holiday weekend period in 2014.

“We attribute this to good weather, lower fuel prices and holiday activities in most of the country’s popular boating areas,” said Capt. Joseph Frohnhoefer III, Sea Tow chief operations officer. “It was an awesome July 4th holiday weekend for boaters!”

05_02_084The Sea Tow Dispatch Center is open 24/7/365 to field calls from boaters on the water and immediately relay them to the local Sea Tow. The Center also reported that more than 60 percent of the calls for assistance it received over this year’s July 4th weekend were requests for a tow. Jump starts, aid with ungroundings and fuel delivery were other frequent requests for assistance by Sea Tow members and other boaters around the country.

Sea Tow Helps to Save Lives Over July 4th Weekend

Sea Tow Captains not only assisted with routine requests from boaters over the holiday weekend, but they also served as first responders when boaters encountered more serious trouble on the water. For example, on Friday morning, July 3rd, Sea Tow Jacksonville (Florida) received a distress call around 8 am from a Sea Tow member who reported that his boat was rapidly filling with water about five miles offshore. A Sea Tow boat raced to the scene, where it joined a U.S. Coast Guard boat returning from deployment. The Coast Guard Crew rescued all the passengers and then Sea Tow was able to flip, dewater and bring the boat back to shore safely.

In Cape Cod, Mass., on the night of July 4th, Sea Tow Cape and Islands (Mass.) helped to rescue 10 passengers from a boat after it hit a rock on Collier Ledge off the coast of Osterville, Mass., and began sinking. The distress call came into the local fire department at 11:24 pm, following the local fireworks display. Sea Tow Cape and Islands immediately dispatched a boat, along with the Barnstable Fire Department, Coast Guard Station Woods Hole and the Barnstable Harbormaster. The Sea Tow boat was first to arrive on the scene and safely got all 10 people off the boat, then transferred them to other rescue boats.

“We are happy that our local Sea Tow operation was able to assist in this and in the Jacksonville incident,” said Capt. Frohnhoefer.

Additionally, over the 2015 July 4th holiday weekend, Sea Tow members saved more than one million dollars on the cost of on-water assistance services that are covered by their low annual membership fee.

“All in all, it was a very happy July 4th weekend for boaters across the country, and we are happy that our local Sea Tow Captains were able to provide our members with priority service, getting them back to enjoying their remainder of the holiday weekend,” Frohnhoefer said.