How to set off a flare

[Peter Taylor]

At the River Hamble Sea Safety Day on Saturday there was a unit collecting out of date flares. They set off a couple - a hand-held orange smoke flare and a red hand held distress flare. It was windy and the orange smoke flare was remarkably ineffective since the smoke became dispersed a short distance down wind.

The photo montage below shows the technique for letting off the red distress flare. First you go a long way down a pontoon away from anything which might catch fire or be harmed.  You then don a large helmet with full face mask and put on a thick leather gauntlet.  Then you light the flare and hold it slanting downwind so the copious white hot embers which fly off the flare don't set fire to your clothing.

I was not surprised by this since I've set off a few flares in the past as part of a scientific study of airflow over ships.  Flares really are nasty things quite capable of burning you if held in a bare hand or setting fire to the boat if wrongly held, or worse, dropped from your burning fingers!  I'm surprised this is not given more weight when comparing flares with non-pyrotechnic replacements (there was a thread on this last year - http://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1143.msg7986.html ).

I have stopped carrying flares routinely on Seatern because the only place where they would be available for ready use - the cockpit locker - already contains the petrol supply for the outboard and spare butane cylinders for the stove; why add even more explosives which come with their own means of ignition?  The guys collecting the flares on Saturday were actually a bomb disposal team!

The most likely use for flares in the areas I sail (mainly Southampton Water and the Solent) is to indicate to the lifeboat which yacht you are amongst all the others.  Provided you have provided them with a reasonably accurate position one of the new very bright LED flares (the Odeo Flare Mk 3 was recommended by PBO , July 2016) should be adequate.  I think I'll look for one at a discount at the Boat Show!

Any comments?
Peter

[Peter Taylor]

The latest PBO came yesterday and the letters section  (p.12) has a test showing that in daylight conditions the Odeo Mk 3 LED flare was not visible with the naked eye at 1nm. I suspect a red distress flare would have been easily seen at that range.  A smoke flare less so if there was any wind.  This suggests that, to tell the lifeboat which boat is you, you might be better off waving a flag!

An alternative might be a PAINS WESSEX PERSONAL DISTRESS SIGNAL (FLARE) PACK. I've seen a flare from one of these fired during daylight and despite burning for only 5 seconds it was very effective in drawing attention.  These small flares look to be much less of a hazard to use compared to standard flares and are smaller and lighter to carry on a boat.  I suspect that, like all pyrotechnic flares, the downside is relatively high cost for short shelf life? However if you do want a pyrotechnic flare, perhaps these are more practicable for our size of boat.

Am now undecided as to what if anything to buy at the Boat Show!

Peter

[Colin Morley]

I am not experienced in this. My flares are out of date and I have not renewed them. Two Christmases ago my family gave me an personal EPIRB. Called a Personal locator beacon. This device is a similar size to a pager and fits in the palm of your hand. It is a McMurdo Fast Find. if you are in distress you pull off the top and once activated the unit transmits a unique identification signal along with your current position via the international search and rescue satellite system operated by COSPAS SARSAT on 406 MHz. The signal is then quickly passed to regional search and rescue authorities who can rapidly get to the scene.  It also sends off a directional signal that the local search team can home in on. It also includes a unique SOS LED flash light facility  to further assist in speeding up your recovery during night time rescues. The battery is said to last 6 years.

Once triggered the signal will be detected, whereas with flares that relies on someone seeing it. If you are well out to see or in an underpopulated area there is a good chance the flare will not be seen.

With this amazing technology I don't see the need for dangerous flares ever again.

[david]

Interesting topic all. I also have never set off a flare and mine also will be expiring this year.  I usually sail alone and on the Pacific in my BayRaider. My wife purchased a PLB for my birthday. a year or two ago. I have it attached to my life vest. There are times that flares will be ineffective, unless someone is actually looking for you. The video below is a good example  of where a PLB sent out the distress as these folks were to far off shore to be seen by anyone, even with flares! You can see the person in the middle has the PLB deployed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxIiN559Jms
The attachment has info on the PLB that I have. It is the same as the one deployed in the video.

Fair winds.....

[Peter Taylor]

Once triggered the signal will be detected...

...you hope! I have a PLB (McMurdo Fast Find) in a pouch on my lifejacket harness. If I set it off in the boat cockpit I think there is a very good chance of it being detected by the satellite. However I'm less sure if I had to set it off from in the sea, particularly if waves are breaking and there is spray. A small wet aerial has to transmit a 406MHz signal to a satellite order 20,000 km away. If it does get detected the lifeboat still has to find you and radio direction finding has its limitations particularly in rough conditions. I suspect that carrying a personal distress flare pack would be a useful short-range backup.

But then,  why not a waterproof handheld VHF?  In the end you fall overboard and sink due to the weight of the survival gear strapped to you! 

So... at the moment I just have the PLB and I try to make sure I stay on the boat. I won't be buying more (full-size) flares because in the circumstances I might use them I think that VHF or mobile phone is likely to be more effective. However I'm still undecided with regard to a personal flare pack.

[Colin Morley]

Hi Peter,

The problem with mobile phones and VHF is they are relatively short range. Certainly if you can see the shore. I think your mobile and hand held wont be powerful enough. The McMurdo Fast Find, as with all EPIRBS is designed to be use when you are in the water. I will look this up or contact the makers and see what they say.

[Peter Taylor]

So I went to the Boat Show and bought a RescueMe EDF1 LED flare. I had intended to buy an Odeo Mk3 as recommended by PBO because it is simpler to use - just twist the base to turn on. However if you twist the base the other way it would appear that the batteries fall out!  I'm sure everyone else would twist the base in the correct direction;  however for me, in an emergency, Sod's law would apply.

Compared to the Odeo, the RescueMe is cheaper (good), smaller (good), slightly brighter (ref. PBO, good) does not take standard batteries (bad), the supplied batteries have a 10 year shelf life (good; may well see me out). The cheapest price I found was from Cactus but check they do give you their Boat Show discount price - there was some confusion as to what I was charged. I still also intend to buy a personal flare pack (which were not available at the show).

Colin - I always do carry the PLB as a "long range" distress device... my references to mobile phone, VHF, and indeed, flares (LED or otherwise) is for guiding the approaching rescuer towards me (and in the Solent that means finding me amongst all the other yachts!). I did ask various sales-people at the boat show about the effectiveness of a PLB operated from in the water and they all said it would work perfectly well - but "they would say that wouldn't they"!

And of course, my hope is that buying the RescueMe Flare was a total waste of money!

Peter