Rescue authorities today criticised boat owners for failing to use essential equipment after two incidents including one which utilised massive resources in a wasted search operation.The Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre said today that on Saturday it received a call from concerned family members of two persons on-board power craft ‘Walk Tall', reportedly overdue from a fishing trip the night before.A spokesman for the Centre said: “The 21ft craft with two people on-board was believed to have proceeded offshore and had indicated to family members their intention to return early Saturday morning. Approximately nine hours later, concerned family members contacted the Maritime Operations Centre to report the vessel overdue.“Bermuda Radio commenced call outs to the vessel via Marine VHF Radio while also making unsuccessful attempts to contact either of the two crew on-board via cellular telephone, which were now believed to be out of range. Further calls were made to family members while port and harbour checks were conducted by the Marine Police.“Following preliminary communications, harbour and moorings checks with negative results, Bermuda Radio commenced Urgent Marine Safety Information broadcasts concerning the overdue vessel. Marine Police boats were tasked to the last known position and carried out an extensive search of the area without sighting the overdue vessel.“At 4pm, following extensive checks and calls via Radio, port and moorings checks and an offshore search by Marine Police, assistance was requested from the Rescue Coordination Centre in Norfolk, Virginia, for a fixed wing aircraft (C-130) to commence a larger offshore search, as the vessel was now believed to be possibly disabled and drifting further offshore.“Local searches of ports, moorings and offshore waters continued while attempts were made to establish communication with the vessel via VHF Radio or Cellular telephone. The US Coastguard aircraft now airborne to Bermuda had two hours search time on scene before returning to Elizabeth City, North Carolina.“At 6pm contact was finally established with the overdue craft ‘Walk Tall' who reported their safe arrival back at Jews Bay. Bermuda Radio informed the crew of the exhaustive search efforts that had been ongoing over the last seven hours and of the need to inform family members or Bermuda Radio when deciding to stay out fishing for longer than anticipated, and of the crucial need to also keep a good listening watch on VHF Channel 16. All marine and air assets involved in the search were stood down.”In another incident, at 12.09pm yesterday, Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre had yet another incident involving a power craft broken down and unsure of their exact position. There was no VHF Radio on-board which would have allowed Bermuda Radio to pinpoint the exact position of this vessel.The spokesman added: “It must be stressed the efforts and risks placed to the various parties tasked with the search for this vessel, including the use of resources taken from other potential incidents; the lack of a proper float plan with family or Bermuda Radio; and the vessels failure to maintain a proper VHF listening watch on Channel 16 exacerbated this incident.“Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre would like to emphasise the need for all mariners to keep a listening watch on VHF CH16 once out on the water and to ensure that proper marine safety equipment is carried on-board before venturing to sea.”