When designing the new “Buddy” feature for the PRO CHARTS marine navigation app, MiraTrex president Jay Stripe had no idea it would potentially save his own son’s life.
“On Tuesday, December 22, 2015 my son Kevin and four friends decided to go duck hunting near Weeki Wachee,” Stripe says in a press release. “Around 6:00 in the morning, I awoke to a frantic phone call from Kevin saying the 17’ Mako boat they were in had capsized and they were in the water needing help. Thankfully, Kevin keeps his iPhone in a waterproof LifeProof case so his phone worked and he was able to make calls. The other boys’ phones were all lost when the boat overturned. Kevin also had our PRO CHARTS app installed on his phone which he was using to navigate to their hunting spot on the salt flats about 5 miles North of the Weeki Wachee River.”
Through the “Buddy” feature on PRO CHARTS, which allows you to track the exact coordinates of your buddies, Stripe was able to pass the latitude and longitude of his son’s location to the Coast Guard. By 7:53 a.m., Stripe’s son and his friends were in a rescue boat.
The PRO CHART app allows you to monitor not only your buddy’s current location, but also their location history for the previous 48 hours. That way, Stripe’s son and his friends were able to return to where they capsized and retrieve their lost fishing gear. The app also has a feature that lets you type up and email your float plan to friends and family.
The PRO CHARTS app is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and can be purchased from the iTunes store for $2.99/month or $29.99/year.
For more information, visit miratrex.com.
