We’ve finally done it. We have converted our weekend Pets Aboard photo feature into a contest thanks to the folks at ICOM radio.
ICOM, which makes marine VHF radios and navigational electronics, has agreed to sponsor our first ever Float ’n’ Fetch photo contest for dogs. First prize is an M92D handheld VHF; second prize is an M36 handheld and third prize is an M24 handheld.
To be eligible, the photo must consist of a single dog in a nautical setting. Use the high-resolution setting on your camera. Pets Aboard will continue to welcome photos of seagoing cats, multiple mutts and pet owners with their animals, but for contest eligibility a single dog is the rule.
The reason is that readers are going to help select the finalists, and we wanted to ensure a degree of basic equivalency—a level playing field.
Here’s how Float ’n’ Fetch will work. We will select shots of dogs from all Pets Aboard entries received over the past year and from now on until the deadline for entries, which is Nov. 1, 2014. We will pick 30 images.
These 30 images will be posted on the website on an interactive page that will allow website visitors to vote for their favorite photo. Then we’ll pick Float ’n’ Fetch winners from the top vote-getters after a month of balloting. Winners will be announced in a subsequent issue of PassageMaker magazine and then online.
Now about those ICOM prizes:
The M92D incorporates GPS and therefore has the ability to place DSC calls, including automated distress. It can be used for small boat navigation, and, when used in a dinghy, the M92D can be position polled from the mother ship. It also incorporates active noise cancelling on both the user voice transmission and incoming calls. Real handy on a windy day.
The M36 has all the features you’d expect in a standard floating VHF radio, including the same noise canceling properties of its big brother. Like ICOM’s other handhelds it meets military specifications for temperature, vibration, shock, pressure and humidity.
The superlight M24 handheld floats, fires off flashing LEDs if dropped overboard, transmits at 1 or 5 watts and boasts a powerful 600 mW audio on the receive side. It is powered by a cell-phone-style replaceable 3.7 volt Lithium-ion battery. It weighs 11 ounces.
To enter the Float ’n’ Fetch contest, send your dog’s picture via email to [email protected]. We will continue to accept cat photos and pictures of multiple dogs and dogs and owners for Pets Aboard, but only images of single dogs in a nautical setting can advance to the Float ’n’ Fetch finals.
Be sure to include the names of the human companions, the make, model and name of boat, homeport, and a paragraph that provides context for the image or describes what makes your pet special. And remember we need that image in high resolution to be able to print it in the magazine.
