- Having a big footprint, think Sasquatch or dinosaur,
can come in really handy.
I mean seriously, if you're looking for mouse
or ant prints, you're gonna need some readers.
The bigger the footprint, the easier things are to find.
And if you get yourself lost in the wilderness
or get in trouble at sea,
you want your footprint to be huge,
even if your shoe is a size 5.
Here's Alie Ward to explain.
(upbeat music)
- Imagine how difficult it is
for aerial search teams to locate a single person
who is lost at sea or in the hills,
especially amid stormy conditions.
If they can't see you, they can't save you.
So longtime Hawaii resident and outdoors enthusiast
Dr. Robert Yonover came up with a compact streamer
that, when deployed, increases your visibility
if you're lost on land or at sea.
- The See Rescue Streamer is designed
to make the target of your person larger.
Your head's only this big.
That's as big as a rock or a coconut,
but a rock with a 25- or 40-foot-long orange tail
makes it obvious. It's like a big exclamation point
or arrow pointing to you.
I am here.
- The See Rescue Streamers currently come in two versions,
a 25-foot personal model and a 40-foot large model,
both used by consumers and the military
in both land and sea applications.
(light music)
I flew over the Pacific Ocean to the Hawaiian Islands
to see this innovation at work.
So now this is the fighter pilot version.
- Right, exactly, so when it hits the water, these dissolve,
and instead of rolled up, it's Z-folded,
so it just pops out.
- Okay. - I'll show you now.
It'll pop out. - All right.
Oh my gosh!
- And now I'll walk it out,
so we'll see what the wind does to it.
If a twist develops, it twists all the way out.
It's a big, long, orange tail, and it's continuous.
It stays there forever.
And then these lights go on and off at night,
so they'll flash for three nights in a row.
- No matter how long I grow my orange hair,
it can't compare to a streamer this size.
The struts that help keep the streamer afloat
are made of polyethylene, filled with air and sealed.
So you need something with a little buoyancy
to keep those struts-- - Buoyancy and rigidity.
So by filling it with air, that gives you the flotation,
yet they were strong enough that they don't bend.
- Now how long did you spend in this very field
testing different streamers?
- Longer than I'd like to admit,
but, for instance, some of these coconut trees
I grew from a coconut, that's how old I am,
and that's how long I've been working on this.
- In fact, Rob has proof of his tenacity,
kept here in his own handwriting,
a notebook complete with ideas and sketches from 1985.
(upbeat music)
It was time to head for the dock and out to sea,
that vast body of water that is a dichotomy,
both calming and potentially dangerous.
So we are on your boat, Rob.
Now, you're willing to do a demonstration of the See Rescue.
- Absolutely.
I'm gonna get in the water and show you what I look like
with and without it.
Without it, I'll be looking like a coconut,
you may lose me.
With it, I'll be a coconut with a 40-foot-long orange tail.
(upbeat music)
- Once in the water,
Rob quickly becomes harder to see
as he floats away from the boat.
But notice, when looking down at the ocean from the air,
how even on a clear day he appears smaller and smaller
until he is nearly invisible.
But when he starts to deploy the streamer,
your eye is drawn to his location,
even if you can't immediately see Rob himself.
A simple and small safety device
that can let you enjoy an island paradise
knowing you've packed what could one day become a lifeline.
(upbeat music)