RYA calls to end the compulsory carriage of flares on leisure craft.

[Kukri]

I have had two white flares handy at night for ... ye Gods... fifty years!* I did use one once. Forget your night vision, but the ship will certainly see you!

*(not the same two flares)?

 

[Sandy]

The French love setting their old pyrotechnics off on Bastille Day. Perhaps we could all assemble on either The National Firework Competition, for us based in Plymouth or on Guy Fawkes evening and set them off?

I have posted before I am quite sure that nobody at the RYA have ever been involved in SAR work as pyrotechnics are brilliant at giving search teams/boats/helicopters a really good fix on you from 5 miles.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I hate it when my tar barrel spills. Such a mess! They should be banned by the RYA.

 

[dunedin]

At the RYA Cruising Conference on 21/03/2021 it clearly stated that if you wanted to carry pyrotechnics then there is nothing stopping you. The legislation is for boats over 13.5 meters. I wonder how many leisure boats are above that size?.

And smaller craft that need to be coded (such as charter boats)?

 

[st599]

Presumably a reply to the current public consultation on flares: Future arrangements for the disposal of maritime pyrotechnics

 

[Sandy]

And smaller craft that need to be coded (such as charter boats)?

Indeed.

 

[Mark-1]

"the MCA would no longer be offering a public-facing service for the receipt and collection of TEPs ...

However, the MCA would continue to ... deal with the removal and destruction of flares that are abandoned around the UK coast"


Certainly saves people a drive.

 

[zoidberg]

Flares?

I didn't know the RYA had made anything compulsory, illegal or fattening.
But... just so long as they don't insist I wear them....

 

[Daydream believer]

As for the reliability of phones. i consider those the most unreliable piece of emergency communication equipment of all.

 

[Boathook]

I have had two white flares handy at night for ... ye Gods... fifty years! I did use one once. Forget your night vision, but the ship will certainly see you!

I like to keep out of the way anything bigger than my boat ....
I did have a selection of flares onboard but being of different manufactures the firing mechanisms all seemed to be different.
For night time I now have a fairly powerful torch now along with radar and AIS. If I was going further afield than the Englsih Channel I will reconsider what I carry.

 

[Never Grumble]

How many UK yachts have used flares to get assistance in the past decade?

It would be interesting to see an analysis of how much of UK coastal waters don't have mobile phone coverage but do have a cat in hell's chance of a flare being seen. Also what is the effective coverage of Coastguard DSC reception?

Lots of assertion from the RYA's greenwashing department, bit short on actual facts.
"“Modern technology such as radios, phones and other satellite connected technologies provide safer, affordable and significantly more reliable alternatives to pyrotechnic flares. "
I think some people have unreasonable expectations of the timescale involved in a rescue initiated by 'satellite connected technologies'.

It is perhaps a debate we need to have, but maybe the RYA has gone off at half cock here?
How many RYA-approved SIs and NoRs still mandate the carrying of flares?

I also carry a life raft I never hope to use and an EPIRB. I will continue to carry pyrotechnic flares. I have given my own response to the consultation.

BTW what are SIs and NoRs?

 

[Ningaloo]

When did flares become compulsory in the UK for leisure craft?

They are compulsory at 13.6m boat length.

 

[ip485]

Well overdue.

 

[25931]

They are compulsory at 13.6m boat length.

That baffles me. I would imagine that most situations calling for flares occur in coastal waters .Are boats over 13.6 more likely to need flares or do you need so much space to store them ?
.

 

[Kukri]

That baffles me. I would imagine that most situations calling for flares occur in coastal waters .Are boats over 13.6 more likely to need flares or do you need so much space to store them ?
.

???

At 16.5 metres you get storage space in a pair of self draining cockpit lockers. That actually was a design feature of the boat, back in 1973... further outboard there is (drained) stowage for six more gas bottles for use when crossing the Pacific, etc.

 

[Koeketiene]

The French love setting their old pyrotechnics off on Bastille Day. Perhaps we could all assemble on either The National Firework Competition, for us based in Plymouth or on Guy Fawkes evening and set them off?

I thought everyone was doing that already?
When we still lived in the UK, I always 'disposed' of my recently expired flares on Bonfire Night or NYE.
And before anyone gets all hot and bothered about setting of distress flares at all - the chances of the RNLI getting called out to deal with an emergency in Hemel Hempstead were pretty slim.

 

[mainsail1]

My main complaint about flares is the short time to the expiry date from new. I suspect they could make flares have a 10 year life if they wanted to and that would greatly help with the disposal problem as disposal would be less frequent.

 

[mainsail1]

I thought everyone was doing that already?
Wjen we still lived in the UK, I always 'disposed' of my recently expired flares on Bonfire Night or NYE.
And before anyone gets all hot and bothered about setting of distress flares at all - the chances of the RNLI getting called out to deal with an emergency in Hemel Hempstead were pretty slim.

Letting off parachute flares on land is a substantial fire risk. Surely you don't include them?

 

[zoidberg]

Letting off parachute flares on land is a substantial fire risk. Surely you don't include them?

They're awlrite on Salisbury Plain. The Royal School of Artillery uses some real big ones.....

 

[LittleSister]

Cool down. If you want to continue to carry pyrotechnics then you are free to do so.
All RYA are saying is that pyrotechnic flares should not be COMPULSORY.

But the reduced sales because of the combination of the proposed lack of compulsion for coded and larger vessels, and the advice from the RYA effectively being not to carry them, will likely lead to them becoming unavailable or at least difficult and even more expensive to buy.