Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN), a leading producer of global-positioning systems, has a strong market position, meaning its stock should deliver nice profits if purchased at the current low valuation.
It was just about midnight, on a chilly and rainy Dec. 10, when the diesel engine of my 42-foot sailboat, “Southern Cross,” suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the Delaware Channel, just north of the Elbow of Cross Ledge, two thirds of the way up the Delaware Bay from Cape May.
I knew I was in trouble.
The green-and-red bow lights of a big freighter less than a mile behind me indicated that I was smack in the middle of his intended course. And with my 11-year-old daughter sleeping deeply down below as my sole company on board – and I was powerles
s and adrift in one of the most-narrow shipping channels with the highest freighter traffic in the world – I understood that I had to react fast.
Within a couple of minutes I had my mainsail up and was able to steer clear of the channel, as I was being hailed over the Marine VHF radio band by the freighter whose captain realized that I had trouble and was tracking my navigation lights visually and my course and distance via his radar. With the immediate danger resolved, I needed help to re-fire the motor and then to navigate in the middle of a rainstorm that featured the additional challenges of poor visibility and a brisk breeze. Without any help on board, I had resort to sail power. And I would have to get under way, and under sail, by running parallel to – but outside of – the channel, and to keep from running aground, despite my deep nine-foot draft.
Just a few years ago, this would have been thought too risky, or downright impossible, forcing me to drop anchor outside the channel, and then to radio for help. Fortunately, however, I’d brought along my state-of-the-art handheld Garmin GPSMAP 478 course-plotting global-positioning system. Made by Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN), the Cayman Islands-based leader in portable navigation systems, the marine GPS unit enabled me to confidently steer my course, outside the channel. By watching the chart displayed on the unit’s bright screen, I watched my sailboat’s progress, watching the channel details and depth readings as I did so.
I realized that I must call Sea Tow – the AAA of the sea – immediately, if I wanted to get assistance getting my engine restarted.
