Watershot Blog

Watershot’s new battery is called the eGrip.  We have hidden the battery inside a 150M rated housing that is ergonomically shapped to replace the handles on your camera rig.  The eGrip battery comes with a comfortable rubber grip that is available in a variety of colors.  The eGrip battery will power our 900 Lumen lights for 3hrs on HI!

We wanted to share the story below that was sent to us by Ben Bouchard. He called our office about a week after the event detailed below took place. We were excited to hear about the happy ending to this scary situation. Watershot is glad that our products played a part in ensuring the safe rescue of the divers!

Below is the story, word for word, that was given to us:

“I want to express my gratitude and appreciation for your tremendous lights. I was a fan before but the Watershot Strykr light’s strobe mode made it possible for us to be spotted by rescuers in rough seas Feb 2 2012.

Story is below:

I need to share something that has occured/happened/transpired, an accident, an avoidance of a worse fate, a blessing, a challenge that has and will likely change the landscape of what is doable, endurable for me, my son and 7 other divers and photographers.

The story is as follows as it is played out in the news this morning on Mexican Media. The meaning one gives it is personal.

A group of 9 divers, photographers,videographers; 7 men and 2 women, three of us dive masters and one a rescue diver, all of us adventurers were travelling across the channel from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen Mexico to dive with Bull Sharks. Our boat was struck by a rogue wave in building seas.The boat was overwhelmed in less than ten seconds. My wetsuit was half on and I quickly assesed the situation and knew we were looking at several hours maybe days at sea. I grabbed my dive gear, told my son Lukah to do the same jumped off the boat whose roof was quickly closing in on us. I turned my air on inflated my bc and then turned my son’s on and he inflated his. the boat which now hung by it’s bow, held up by lifejackets and and likely an air pocket, everyone accounted for, thousands upon thousands of dollars of gear , valuables and personal belongings drifted to the bottom of the strait some 2000 feet below. The group clustered and two of us started diving for gear that we would need for our trial. I had three very powerful Watershot Strykr dive and video lights that have a distress beacon strobe mode in a back pack tucked under the seat which intuitively I knew we would need in order to have a good chance at rescue, wetsuits for protection against sun and long term exposure. We floated these to the surface as the group was slowly drifting away, my son included, he was calling me to go back to him. I dove one last time down to look for my underwater camera. As I looked around the boat I then noticed that It was sinking and I was on it.I pushed off and put air in my vest and slowly floated to the surface as I watched our boat sink to the depths.

Back on the surface We gathered gear together, suits, bcds, water, my Watershot lights. We rejoined the group, I got my son into a suit, Kathy a doctor from Toronto had in her hand held up high a dryboxe which containd an Iphone. She calmed herrself and worked hard to hold it high and safe in the surf opened the box and managed to place on call at 8:30 am. the phone then was destroyed by the next wave. Assumed search is on.

The rest of the story plays like any human trial storyline, the father who witnesses his sons powerful, valient and daring skills, the son who would expect no less from his loving father, in this situation the father becomes tthe one who needs help, encouragement, direction.
Individuals being kind, diligent and helpful in the face of tragedy. Minutes became hours, currents, waves, obvious difficulty in searching wore the group down slowly.

People working together…….., Language, friendships, family…..all alliances that invisibly divide the whole.
It became obvious that our best chances at survival was being spotted, at first I wanted to save the Watershot lights for nighttime signaling but then remembered that they claimed that in strobe mode the durability of batteries was tremendous and the lights have a built in colour battery strength monitor which would tell me of their state so there would be no surprise and a plan could be made for usage. We started signaling in broad daylight and grace would have it we were spotted.

In short we were rescued but not before swimming and drifting 16 nautical miles some 29.6 km for nearly 5 hours, some holding on to coolers which represented DEAR life before being spotted by the Russian MegaYacht “ICE”which was skippered by a humble and intelligent captain who refused to give up the search.

Later that day while meeting the recue crew it was confirmed …..What did they see? My Watershot strobe lights offthe near of Punta Nisook,Puerto Morelos off the shores of Cancun.

Everyone is fine, one man has chaffed feet from finning, my son Lukah’s lips and face are blistered from saltwater and sun, my hips and knees are sore from frog kicking, most certainly all of us have subtle emotional stress to deal with but are all alive to tell the tale and more importantly to continue making the most of this wonderful gift that is life.
I speak for everyone that spent the day in the water on Thursday and would like to thank the people at Watershot for a tremendous product. It was a tool that gave us all hope and confidence while at our most vulnerable, not only that though, it was the key to our rescue.
Thank you from all of us.
Ben Bouchard,Lukah Bouchard, Kathy,Kevin,Gerardo,Jorge,Curtis,Victoria,Alejandro.
Nine saved souls.”

Ben – We are so happy everyone returned home safely and thanks for sharing!