Excellent preparation by this guy! With our strong currents, he'd end up in North Korea before boots experiences a moment of lucidity and concludes Obama is no longer in the White House! LOL 

I do the same even when I take my PWC (jet-ski) or sailboat out into the ocean. I have a waterproof VHF radio and have it attached to my vest in the event I'm overboard. Fortunately, never needed to summon for help but I've got it in the event I end up in trouble like this guy! Now only if hikers would prepare instead of solely depending on their cell phones with questionable coverage on some of these hikes.