Apple Watch throws out a lifeline to stranded paddleboarder

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Apple Watch saves life of paddleboarder
Nearly two years after this Apple event, the Apple Watch aids in the rescue of a stranded paddleboarder.
Screenshot: Apple/YouTube

A woman paddle-boarding windy ocean waters near Massachusetts was rescued after using her Apple Watch to call 911.

The breathless woman told a Lynn Fire Department dispatcher that the wind took her “out to sea,” and she was unable to paddle back to the shoreline at Nahant Beach.

The watch’s GPS provided pinpoint coordinates for harbormaster police to make the rescue Monday afternoon, according to The Boston Globe, which posted a recording of the 911 call with the story.

The woman tells the dispatcher she was embarrassed to call but the growing winds kept pushing her further from shore.

“Ma’am, don’t worry about being embarrassed,” he told her. “It’s better you call now. Believe me.”

“I’m glad I have an Apple Watch, thank god,” she said.

https://soundcloud.com/the-boston-globe/saved-by-an-apple-watch-woman-stranded-on-paddleboard-calls-911

If you regularly watch live streams of Apple’s keynotes and product launches, you may remember an Apple Watch demo that featured a paddle-boarding employee demonstrating how the call app performed on a windy lake (see below for video).

In September of 2017, Diedre Caldbeck, a member of the Apple Watch team, was on paddle board when Apple COO Jeff Williams called her during the event.

Source: The Boston Globe

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