Emily Sweeney for The Boston Globe:
An afternoon of paddle-boarding almost turned into a nightmare for a woman who ventured into the waters off Nahant Beach [Massachusetts] on Monday and discovered that she couldn’t get back to shore. “The wind blew her way off the beach,” said Swampscott Police Sergeant Bill Waters.
Luckily, the woman was wearing an Apple Watch and she was able to call 911 while she was stranded in the water, he said. Waters said the 911 call went to Lynn fire dispatch, and her GPS-enabled watch provided the exact coordinates of her location.
The Lynn Fire Department provided audio of the 911 call, which showed the drama that was unfolding. The woman told the dispatcher she was embarrassed she had to call for help, but the wind was too much for her to paddle against, and she was drifting farther away from shore. “Ma’am, don’t worry about being embarrassed,” the dispatcher said. “You know what? It’s better you call now. Believe me.”
“I’m glad I have an Apple Watch, thank God,” she said.
The Swampscott Police Harbormaster Unit — which includes Waters, Sergeant Jay Locke, and Officer Michael Bowden— went to the Swampscott pier and deployed the harbormaster boat and located the woman… “She was fine,” said Waters. “A little shaken up, but fine.”
MacDailyNews Take: Another one saved!
Coincidentally, Apple used paddle-boarding to highlight the addition of cellular to Apple Watch during their September 12, 2017 special event when Apple COO Jeff Williams phoned an Apple Watch employee, Diedre Caldbeck, who received the call while paddle-boarding on Lake Tahoe to demonstrate just how well Apple Watch functions “in the middle of a windy lake.”
In the recording there is no mention of the GPS, they are getting her location from her description of landmarks. Use of the GPS would have been great.
and from the story: “Waters said the 911 call went to Lynn fire dispatch, and her GPS-enabled watch provided the exact coordinates of her location”
Presumably the 911 call collects the GPS info from the caller.